2009 Joint World Championships and World Cup Info (From ISTF)

Updates as of 8/1/08

7/21/08 Update:

7/31/08 Update:

Here is some more information regarding the joint World Championships / World Cup event :

Men’s and Women’s World Cup

At the upcoming World Cup in Nantes, France, on January 8-11, 2009, there will be 2 separate events for Men’s and Women’s teams, with a maximum of 32 teams for the Men's event and maximum 16 for the Women's event.

The selection of the countries which will participate in the World Cup will be done through an Executive Committee’s vote, which will take into account the ITSF World Rankings of Nations and continental representation, as had been voted upon 2 years ago at the 2006 General Assembly in case there would not have been enough time to set up continental qualification tournaments before the next World Cup.

Number of players in a standard Men's team: 8 + 2 reserve players (minimum 6 men to make up a team)

Number of players in a standard Women's team: 6 + 2 reserve players (minimum 4 women to make up a team)

Each country is responsible for the selection of its national teams' members.

If a country has enough female players to make up a Women's team, then they can send both a Men-only team and a Women-only team to the Word Cup.

If there are not enough female players in a country to make up a Women's team, female players are allowed to be members of the Men's Team.

The deadline for confirming participation to the World Cup and the choice of the table for each team (the 2 teams from the same country can choose different tables) is September 30th, 2008.

How players qualify for the World Championships

There are several ways for players to qualify for the World Championships: ITSF Point Race; winners of the World Championship Series and International Series events; National Champions and Wild Cards.

National Champions

As last year, ALL ITSF member federations (regardless of their membership category) are entitled to send their national champions in the following categories (1 player in each Singles category and 1 team in each Doubles category):

 

-          Open Singles and Doubles

-          Women’s Singles and Doubles

-          Junior Singles and Doubles - these players can be male or female

Junior players have to be under 18 years old on December 31st, 2007; that is they must have been born in 1990 or after (players born before 1990 are not Juniors)

-          Senior Singles and Doubles - these players can be male or female

Senior players have to be 50 years & over on December 31st, 2007; that is they must have been born before 1958 (players born in or after 1958 are not Seniors)

All national champions must:

-          either qualify in the official national qualifying tournament in their country

-          OR be announced by national federations by October 31^st, 2008, at the latest, if there is no national championship in their country, together with the choice of tables for all players.  
When there is no qualifying event in a country, then the selection process must take place under fair, objective and democratic rules.

Wild Cards

As last year, all ITSF Regular Member federations benefit from special Wild Cards to have an extra team of players in the Men's and Women’s Doubles categories.
ITSF Associate and Provisional Members are not entitled to Wild Cards.

New this year: all ITSF Regular Member federations benefit from special Wild Cards to also have an extra team of players in the Junior and Senior Doubles categories. 
 
New this year: apart from these, ITSF Regular Member federations with a membership of more than 500 licensees benefit from extra Wild Cards in all the Singles categories: Men's, Women’s, Junior and Senior.
 

New this year: ITSF Regular Member federations with a membership of more than 2000 licensees benefit from yet extra Wild Cards in all Singles and Doubles categories: Men's, Women’s, Junior and Senior.


 

The names of these players will also have to be announced by national federations by October 31^st, 2008 – no late submission will be accepted after that date.

Each Regular Member federation will have to set up clear sporting rules for determining which players and teams will get the Wild Cards.

For example, the Wild Card could go to:

- the 2nd best player or team in the national championships

- the national federation’s best ranked player or team in the ITSF Rankings

- etc.

These rules will have to be made clear to all the members within each federation.

They will also have to be forwarded to ITSF.

http://www.table-soccer.org/world_championships/?tour=2008

New event category for disabled players

We are pleased to announce that there will be a special event for people in wheelchairs at the World Championships.

This new category is open to physically disabled players who suffer from paraplegia and limited mobility in the lower limbs. These players require a wheelchair for everyday use and compete in a wheelchair.
The eligibility requirement to compete in this category is a permanent substantial or total loss of function in one or both legs due to conditions such as spinal injury, ankylosis, amputation or other lower limb disability.

This category is open to male and female players of any age.

Players in wheelchairs will compete on specially designed tables.

Each ITSF member federation can send one player to represent their country in that category and must forward the name of that person together with the names of all the other national champions no later than October 31^st, 2008.