It’s not all about competing for the aspiring athletes attending ITTF World Hopes Week, which starts on Monday in Sheffield.

During the week-long programme, they will take part in training and educational sessions, eat together, and finally face off in the two-day competition which ends the week.

A total of 36 boys and girls from all over the world are attending with their coaches. Among them are English duo Sai Prasanna Kumar and Isabella Xiao Xu, who won through the England Hopes Challenge last month.

They will kick off the programme with a three-hour training session at EIS Sheffield, the home of the Elite Training Centre, on Monday morning.

There will be further on-table sessions on Monday evening and twice a day on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The Wednesday morning session will be preceded by an hour of physical training, with free time on the afternoon to allow players to rest.

The coaches have a strength and conditioning seminar on Tuesday and another theory and practice seminar on Thursday.

The World Hopes Week Challenge, which will see the top boy and top girl identified, starts at 10am on Saturday, with two sessions on each day of the weekend.

The full delegation will have breakfast, lunch and dinner together on most days, including an end-of-week dinner after the award ceremony on Sunday, 18 October.

The week also gives an opportunity for English coaches to share ideas with their international counterparts, and several members of the pathway squads will be involved as sparring partners during the training.

Table Tennis England Coach Learning & Development Manager, Evie Collier, said: “I think this is such a fantastic event because there’s a focus on the players, but there’s also an opportunity to bring together a massive number of coaches to learn and connect, and for us as Table Tennis England to bring some of our coaches in to see the environment, what’s happening and really give them that opportunity to see what world-class youth training does look like.

“I think it’s really important that collaboration is happening with our domestic coaches and international coaches as well.”

This is the second year in a row that England has hosted the event and Evie added: “I think it’s an absolute credit to the team that did a phenomenal job last year, working with the ITTF.

“I don’t think there’s been many that have hosted it back-to-back, so for us, it’s a real honour to have it back in Sheffield and to show off the facilities that we have as part of our programme.”

About World Hopes Week

The ITTF Hopes Programme has, for more than 15 years, played a central role in identifying and nurturing the next generation of table tennis champions. The programme creates a clear and inspiring pathway for players under 12 – from local discovery to global recognition.

The World Hopes Week & Challenge is the pinnacle of this journey, following National and Continental Hopes events. Players who reach Sheffield have already demonstrated exceptional promise and earned their place through rigorous international qualification.

The programme has proved a launchpad for some global superstars, including Paris 2024 Men’s Singles silver medallist Truls Moregard of Sweden, Egypt’s Hana Goda and Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico.

The English Institute of Sport (EIS) Sheffield is hosting the week for the second successive year, following a hugely successful event in 2025. It means that once again the GB performance pathway will host the best young players from five continents, as well as a cohort of elite coaches.

Up to 20 boys and 20 girls, born in 2014 or later, will undertake a week of intensive training and international collaboration, ending in the Challenge competition on the final two days.

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