COVID-19 is playing the role of Lucy. Not the 3.2 million-year-old Australopithecus discovered in what is now Ethiopia, nor the comic genius Lucille Ball, but the one who always pulls the football away from would-be kicker Charlie Brown. Case in point: the 2020 World Team Table Tennis Championships. Originally slated for March 22-29 in the South Korean city of Busan, the venerable biennial gathering was wisely postponed by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Korean Table Tennis President Ryu Seung-min (pictured) has worked closely with the ITTF to weigh the many factors involved in such decisions. Ultimately, they placed public safety above the universal desire to enjoy familiar activities. The Worlds were initially postponed until June 21-28, but the ITTF accepted the infeasibility of this date range as the global health crisis worsened. The revised schedule of September 27-October 4 was subsequently announced. Now, just as competition-starved athletes and fans were salivating at the presumption of resumption, the ball has once again been yanked away. Yesterday, the ITTF announced that they are scheduling the Worlds "in the early months of 2021 due to the fact it would be unlikely that the majority of teams would be able to travel to Korea Republic in September 2020." This will make 2021 a hectic catch-up year, what with the already scheduled individual World Championships next spring and the postponed Tokyo Olympics to be held next summer. These events will be modified with new health regulations, and may even be played in eerie, echoing silence without fans. All of this, of course, depends on Lucy's mood, as we are all at the mercy of her sadistic whims.

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