Some of the best 12-year-olds in the world are heading to Sheffield next month for World Hopes Week – but what is the week and what does it mean for England to be hosting it?

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.

This year, the English Institute of Sport (EIS) Sheffield will host up to 20 boys and 20 girls, born in 2014 or later, for a week of intensive training and international collaboration, ending in the Challenge competition on the final two days. A cohort of elite coaches will also be in attendance.

Two English players – Sai Prasanna Kumar and Isabella Xiao Xu – will join the week having won through the England Hopes challenge earlier this month.

It is the second successive year Sheffield has been host city, following a hugely successful event in 2025.

Table Tennis England Head of Pathway (Interim) Nat Green said: “It’s absolutely amazing for us as an organisation to be asked by the ITTF to host World Hopes Week and Challenge event once again.

“Obviously last year’s event was an exceptional success for us as an organisation and also the feedback that we received from the players and coaches from all around the world and the ITTF was really, really pleasing.

“When they approached us in January to see whether would be interested in doing it again, it was straight away a ‘yes’ from us and hopefully we can make this year’s event even bigger and better than last year’s.

“For us as a pathway to be able to host it again is really beneficial, not just for the players, but also for our coaches to get that collaboration of working with not only the ITTF staff, but also coaches from all around the world.

“And there’s further collaboration that we can use by getting some players a little bit further up the pathway in as sparring partners and things like that.

“So, although it’s aimed at the under-12 age group, there is obviously a big knock-on effect throughout the whole pathway that we can benefit from.”

World Hopes Week starts on Monday 12 October.