The difference between table football and table tennis

At the Annual General Meeting of the International Table Tennis Federation, on the occasion of the GAC GROUP 2011 World Table Tennis Championships, Adham Sharara, ITTF President, was delighted to announce that the membership had grown to 215 affiliated nations.

The figure represents the continued and phenomenal world-wide push by the International Table Tennis Federation to ensure that every nation on the planet plays table tennis.

It includes 100% coverage of Oceania and makes the International Table Tennis Federation the only International Federation to have members in every nation across a whole continent.

Newly Elected Nations
Wallis and Futuna, Curacao, Tokelau, Antigua-Barbuda, Mozambique and British Virgin Islands are the newly elected members.

Curacao replaces Netherlands Antilles which is no longer recognized as one nation but separate islands; Curacao is one of those islands.

Above Basketball
The move places table tennis above basketball and just seven nations away from over-taking volleyball (222 members).

Adham Sharara ITTF President said: "I am vey proud of this achievement and it shows how strong our development programme is as we continue to grow each year."

Kuwait Re-Instated
Kuwait, a country that was suspended due to a recommendation from the international Olympic Committee because of political tensions between them and the Kuwait Olympic Committee, has been reinstated.

The suspension placed by the International Olympic Committee lasted longer than anticipated and forced the cancelation of the 2011 Kuwait Open ITTF Pro Tour.