Like all sports, table tennis has been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite having such major events as the Tokyo Olympics and the World Team Championships on the 2020 calendar, the majority of professional players spent the year in lockdown. Thanks to the unique physical separation between opponents due to the nine-foot table between them, table tennis was among the first sports to return, albeit in modified form. The new normal for table tennis meant goodbye to such familiar customs as trading ends between games, shaking hands, blowing on the ball, and wiping hand sweat on the table. All tournaments were held in secure bio-bubble formats. Players got used to frequent testing and precautionary quarantines. Doubles was also eliminated to maintain social distance. Despite the abundance of caution, people in the table tennis world still got sick. Romania’s world #31 Elizabeta Samara contracted the novel coronavirus last summer. Over the winter, USA Table Tennis CEO Virginia Sung also contracted the disease. Yesterday, it was revealed that International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) head writer Ian Marshall is also recovering from the deadly illness. These are only a few of the publicized cases; the full extent may never be known. Now comes the sad news of the passing of Roland Delhoux, President of the Belgian Table Tennis Association from 1998 until 2018. Delhoux succumbed to COVID-19 after over two weeks in an ICU. We extend our condolences to his family, colleagues and many friends. To date, 122 million people worldwide have been infected with COVID-19, and 2.7 million have died as a result. The long-term physiological effects on survivors are not yet understood. The pandemic is not over. Please stay safe.

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