It takes a lot to bring the world to an end. The World Table Tennis Championships, that is. For 94 years, the revered tournament has survived every disruption except the unimaginable chaos and horror of World War II. The 2020 edition was originally scheduled for March 2020 in Busan, South Korea. It was to be the teams championship, which the International Table Tennis Federation holds in even years, alternating with individual and doubles championships in odd years. In response to COVID-19, the tournament was initially rescheduled for June. As the global situation worsened, it was re-rescheduled for September, then February of 2021. Now, after a year of uncertainty and false hopes, the feared pronouncement has been issued from on high. Due to the worsening pandemic, not to mention the already crowded 2021 calendar, the 2020 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships are officially cancelled. It ended as it began, i.e. as the result of an agreement between ITTF President Thomas Weikert (pictured, left) and Korea Table Tennis Association (KTTA) President Ryu Seung-min (pictured, right), shown here in happier times when the tournament was announced. Upon receiving news that the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency banned all international events for at least the first few months of 2021, the two presidents conferred with the ITTF suits and decided it was not in anyone's best interest to keep dragging the 2020 World Championships farther into an already uncertain future. While an imperfect measure, and hardly the most dire, the cancellation of the World Table Tennis Championships is still a clear indication of the gravity of the global situation. Although the world is not currently at war in the traditional sense, the pandemic has nonetheless inflicted mass casualties and disrupted cherished traditions. In 1947, Paris, heavily damaged and still rebuilding from Nazi occupation, hosted the first postwar Word Table Tennis Championships. Houston, Texas is slated to hold the 2021 edition, but the United States' first shot at hosting is also up in the air. Whenever and wherever the first post-pandemic World Championships are held, the world will celebrate winning the worldwide war together.

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