The first Open tournaments are on the horizon after a disappointing year of cancelled events. Today we are happy to announce the draft draw for the Dandenong Veterans Open has been released and can be found HERE.

Tournaments have been adapted to be COVID-Safe, and comply with government advice and regulations.

The 2021 Dandenong Veterans Open kicks us off this weekend at the Greater Dandenong Table Tennis Centre. The tournament will be aged singles only, with the O/60, O/50 and O/40’s competing on Saturday February 6^th, and the remaining age categories hitting the tables on Sunday the 7^th.

“It’s particularly pleasing to be back in the Dandenong area supporting GDTTA – they are a club with a great history and lots of fresh faces and energy on their committee,” Said TTV CEO, Ritchie Hinton.

“Entry numbers are strong, and we look forward to seeing lots of familiar faces throughout the events and catching up with friends.”

Plenty of names from the 2020 TTV Veterans rankings will be out for top finishes including players like, Buddy Reid, Belinda Strong, Igor Klaf, Pam Tait, Case de Bondt as well as a number of other Veterans stalwarts that are sure to provide some quality competition to start 2021.

Moving on to the following weekend, Saturday February 13 will see the U/21’s and Paras start off at 9am, the Open players will take over from 12pm and the O/30s will close out the day starting at 4pm.

Again, the second weekend is also aged singles only and will consist of round robin groups of 4, 5 or 6: all best of 5 (except main draw of Open, which will be best of 7). Top 2 go into the Main knockout draw while 3^rd to 6^th go into a Consolation knockout draw.

A number of fantastic players in all categories will be on display including, Heming Hu, Finn Luu, Lin Ma, Melissa Tapper, Parleen Kaur, Xavier Dixon and plenty more!

With the year of lockdowns behind us we are very eager to see whose method of home training has paid off the most!

Wrapping up the competition will be the Juniors on Sunday 14^th. The tables will be playing host to some of the best young guns in Victoria and plenty of Juniors ready to mark themselves as Victoria’s future stars!

The likes of Connie Psihogios, Chermaine Quah, Daniel Noura, Parleen Kaur, Lucas Lum and more will not only be taking on the Junior category but competing on the Saturday as well so make sure you keep your eye on some of the best young talent in Australian table tennis.

“It’s fantastic to not only see Dandenong back on the tournament schedule, but tournaments back in general!” Said TTV ECO, Claire Montgomery.

“With about 275 entries over the 4 days, Dandenong is going to be a cracker of an event! Tournaments might not look the same as we are used to for the foreseeable future due to COVID restrictions, but we have been able to get back on the tables in some form, and that’s better than being stuck at home.”

It is gearing up to be a fantastic event to get us going in 2021 and we can’t wait!