The World Table Tennis Championships are table tennis competitions sanctioned by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
The World Championships have been held since 1926, biennially since 1957.
Five individual events, which include men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's double and mixed doubles, are currently held in odd numbered years.
The World Team Table Tennis Championships, which include men's team and women's team events, were first their own competition in 2000.
The Team Championships are held in even numbered years.
In the earlier days of the tournament, Hungary's men's team was a dominant force, winning the championships 12 times.
This was followed by a short period of dominance by Japan in the 1950s.
From the 1960s onwards, China emerged as the new dominant power in this tournament and, with the exception of 1989–2000, when Sweden won four times, China continues to dominate the sport.
China's men's team holds a record 21 world team championship titles.
In the 1950s, Japan's women team was a force to be reckoned with winning a total of 8 titles.
The Chinese women started their strong grip on the world team championships from the 1970s onwards.
They have only lost twice since 1975.
China holds 21 women's team titles.
Trophies
There are 7 different trophies presented to the winners of the various events, held by winning associations, and returned for the next world championships.
Singles competition:
St. Bride Vase for men's singles, donated in 1929 by C.Corti Woodcock, member of the exclusive St. Bride Table Tennis Club in London, after Fred Perry of England won the title in Budapest
Geist Prize for women's singles, donated in 1931 by Dr. Gaspar Geist, president of the Hungarian Table Tennis Association
Doubles competition:
Iran Cup for men's doubles; first presented at the 1947 World Championships by the Shah of Iran
W.J. Pope Trophy for women's doubles; donated in 1948 by the ITTF honorary general secretary W.J. Pope
Heydusek Cup for mixed doubles; donated in 1948 by Zdenek Heydusek, secretary of the Czechoslovakia Association.
Team competition:
Swaythling Cup for men's team, donated in 1926 by Lady Baroness Swaythling, mother of the first ITTF president, Ivor Montagu
Corbillon Cup for women's team, donated in 1933 by Marcel Corbillon, president of the French Table Tennis Association
The German women's team won the Cup in 1939, and the original Cup disappeared during Berlin occupation after World War II; the current Corbillon Cup is a replica made in 1949.
In addition, the Egypt Cup is presented to the next host of world championships.
The Cup was donated by King Farouk of Egypt in 1939, when the championships were held in Cairo, Egypt.
Championships
The ITTF held individual events and team events separately for the first time in 1999 and 2000 respectively, and 2001 was the last time individual and team events were held together.
Starting in 2003 individual events and team events were held separately again and each continue to be held separately every other year.
Individual events  Team events
Medal table
All-time medal table
Updated after the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships.
Doubles pairs from different associations were counted as five tenths.
thumb|Chinese women's team held the trophy for the 20th time in 2016.
The team have only lost twice since 1975.
Team events
Individual events
Multiple medalists
Top 10 medalists at the World Table Tennis Championships (including at team events) are listed below.
Men
Women
See also
Table tennis at the Summer Olympics
Table Tennis World Cup
ITTF World Tour
ITTF World Tour Grand Finals
References
External links
ITTF Museum
