This year’s Metropolitan Table Tennis Championships is shaping up to be a great weekend and will be the biggest in its 8th year of reincarnation.

Being held across two venues, Croydon and Districts Table Tennis Association in Kilsyth and the Greater Dandenong Table Tennis Association, 80 plus teams will compete on Saturday 17 June for the title of Metro Champions while individuals will compete on Sunday 18 June. 

The Metropolitan Championships first commenced back in 1952, when Table Tennis Victoria (previously the Victorian Table Tennis Association) decided to split the inter-zone final into two separate events, thus a Country Championships and a Metropolitan Championships were born.

The all time team entry record for the Metro Championships was last year, with 60 teams entered. Those numbers have been smashed this year with over 80 teams entered.

There will be teams from Sunshine & LOOPS, to Coburg & Manningham, to Croydon & Dandenong, and more entered in the two-day event with teams spread out over 15 grades. Players will also play in an Individual Tournament.

The team format has changed slightly, with "C" Grade and below will not have any doubles matches, meaning each singles player will play 3 singles matches each per team match. These changes have been made to ensure that team matches do not finish too late. "A" and "B" Grade will have the same format as 2022.

Metro Championships Tournament Director and Table Tennis Victoria (TTV) Board Member Greg Bristowe is keen to see the tables at his home centre buzzing with action once again.

“This number of entries has been one of our goals for several years since reviving Metro Champs after a 10-year hiatus in 2013 to get more teams playing. We looked at how great the Country Championships has been for such a long time, and we knew there had to be a way metro affiliates could do something similar,” said Bristowe.

“With the help of the other Metro Affiliates over the last several years and as well as Table Tennis Victoria, we think that it is really exploding in interest, as seen this year in how the Metro Championships continues to grow in numbers.”

“The interesting aspect of these two – Country Championships and Metropolitan Championships, is that they were born out of the same decision made many years ago, and not many people would have realised this – they started at the same time."

"This year we have got a record entry of 84 teams, we have even had to find an extra room to fit in 26 courts at the Kilsyth stadium. We have some new affiliates playing this year – Miao Table Tennis Academy with 12 teams!! Other new affiliates joining are Peter’s Table Tennis Academy and Albert Park."

"Again we are spread over two venues, with Dandenong allowing us to use their venue. We hope for 2024 we can get more teams from MSAC joining, plus more from the Western Metropolitan affiliates.”

Table Tennis Victoria CEO Gen Dohrmann echoes Bristowe’s excitement about the growth of the Metro Championships.

”We are very excited about the record number of 84 teams for the 2023 Metro Championships. To have so many players taking part over the two days will be excellent and there is sure to be some fierce competition,” said Dohrmann.

For information on both Championships, including tournament information, team lists, draws and results, ladders and more please visit our website - Metropolitan Championships