In recent months we have undergone a robust consultation on Table Tennis England’s current draft Transgender Inclusion Policy on gender eligibility within our sport, including consultation with multiple stakeholder groups and inviting feedback and lived experience on this topic.

The policy is expected to be finalised and released in early 2026 and will be implemented for the 2026/27 season.

The policy on gender eligibility will include the eligibility criteria for ‘Open’ and ‘Women’s’ gender categories for TTE-regulated competition at nationally ranked level. This aligns with the general approach being adopted across the wider sporting landscape.

Full details and guidance documents will be published alongside the policy in due course.

Because of the introduction of the gender eligibility terminology, there is the potential for confusion with the existing terminology used in competition event formats.

Therefore, we are launching one further round of consultation related to the terminology used in competition event formats, which indicate whether entry to a regulated event is restricted to specific groups or available to all eligible players. These are currently Open, Invitation and Closed.

It is proposed to change the existing names for competition event formats from ‘Open’, ‘Invitation’ and ‘Closed’ to ‘All-Comers’, ‘Invitation’ and ‘Closed’. This will allow ‘Open’ to instead be used within gender eligibility categories. All-Comers has been chosen as it is a term in widespread use in the sporting landscape and is well understood in this context.

The definitions of these competition event formats will remain unchanged:

• ‘All-Comers’ will refer to a competition that can be entered by any individual affiliated to TTE, including reciprocal affiliations (members of other home countries) and visiting players (members of other ITTF associations). This includes 1*/2*/4* Tournaments.
• ‘Invitation’ will continue to refer to a nationally authorised tournament which complies with all the regulations for an ‘All Comers’ Tournament, except that it is not open to every Affiliated Member. This includes National Championships, National Series and National Cups.
• ‘Closed’ will continue to refer to competitions that are authorised and regulated by a TTE affiliated organisation (county, club or league) and restricted to its bona fide membership.

To take part in the consultation around the new event formats naming convention, please click here. The closing date is Wednesday 10 December at 8pm.