New Delhi, Dec 7 (IANS): India's biggest table tennis carnival is back as the second edition of the WTT Star Contender Goa is slated to take place in Goa from January 23 to 28, 2024.

The tournament will be co-hosted by Stupa Sports Analytics and Ultimate Table Tennis under the guidance of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI).

One of the top events in the international table tennis calendar, the first edition of the WTT Star Contender Goa took place earlier this year and had some of the world’s biggest stars on the show, including the World No. 1 Fan Zhendong, Japanese prodigy Tomokazu Harimoto, World No. 4 Wang Yidi, and World No. 5 Hina Hayata, descending to Goa for the inaugural edition.

Besides that, the tournament also saw participation of 40 Indian players which was the highest for a WTT event.

The Star Contender was first brought to India by Stupa Sports Analytics, a leading homegrown global sports analytics firm.

“The first edition of WTT Star Contender Goa was a great success. Table tennis is still at a nascent stage in India and tournaments like this not only show the sport’s potential commercially but also encourage its overall growth,” Stupa Sports Analytics CEO and Co-founder Megha Gambhir commented.

The high-profile tournament is part of the six-star Contender series events where only the top 30 players are eligible to participate, with six players compulsory from the top 20 in the world rankings. The tournament boasts a massive prize pool of $250,000 and allows players to win ranking points and qualify for the WTT Cup Finals and WTT Champions Series.

World Table Tennis (WTT), conceptualised by the International Table Tennis Federation in 2019, serves as the epicentre for professional men’s and women’s table tennis events globally. The series encompasses a multitude of events throughout the year, with the four Grand Smashes standing out as the highest-ranked tournaments.

“Playing against world-class players or watching them from a close quarter always inspires the younger generation. This tournament is a great opportunity for our Indian players. We, at TTFI, extend full support to Stupa Sports Analytics and Ultimate Table Tennis to make the second edition a grand success,” Kamlesh Mehta, Secretary General of the TTFI stated.

China’s Liang Jingkun and Yidi had won men’s and women’s singles titles respectively in the inaugural edition of the tournament.