Houston, Chengdu to host 2021, 2022 table tennis worlds

BUDAPEST - The US city of Houston has won the bid to host the 2021 world table tennis championships and the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu will host the 2022 version.

The news followed Monday's historic vote at the International Table Tennis Federation's annual general meeting.

Strong bids put forward by the United States and Morocco had ensured that 2021 would mark the first time in 82 years that the world championships are held outside of Asia and Europe, since Cairo, Egypt hosted the 1939 competition.

"We're thrilled not only to be hosting the 2021 world table tennis championships, but also to have the chance to help commemorate that historic moment when Ping-pong Diplomacy was born," said Harris County-Houston Sports Authority CEO Janis Burke.

Chengdu beat Kitakyushu of Japan and Portugal's Lisbon to become the sixth Chinese city staging this tournament

"We are so happy to win and look forward to showing Chengdu to the entire world in 2022," said Liu Yi, vice president of the Chinese table tennis association.