Tiered Open Tournaments

Tiered open tournaments will be hosted concurrently on designated dates at local and zonal levels, with support offered locally through the Area Networks. 

Hosts will be approved by Table Tennis England every quarter and allocated against designated calendar dates, in order to avoid clashes and provide greater assurance of a spread of events around the country. The allocation process will incentivise preferred formats and categories, such as inclusion of U11/U13 at Cadet Opens, U23 at All-Ages (Senior) Opens, or Women and Girls’ categories. 

At local level, non-designated dates may also be approved with county support – events may choose to be ranking or not, a simplified flat-rate levy will be introduced, and requirements for venues and officiating will be reduced. 

There will be fewer but enhanced national open tournaments, which will receive resource from Table Tennis England at U15, U19 and All-Ages (Senior) levels as pinnacle events. National Opens will comprise the qualifying route to Cadet, Junior and All Ages (Senior) National Championships from 2025/26. 

The emphasis will be on flexible events, with playing formats, singles/doubles/teams events, age-group sub-categories and pricing to be set by Organisers. 

Table Tennis England will create detailed guidelines to support delivery of Open Tournaments and illustrate preferences to tournament organisers – including length of day, preferred formats, preferred categories, provision for players and spectators. These guidelines will be based on the practical processes of event allocation, plus specific member feedback from Phase I of the competition review. 

1*, 2* and 4* competitions will continue for 24/25 but with some amendments including reduced officiating and physical requirements at 1*, and a simple flat-rate levy for 1*/ 2*/ and 4* events. In 25/26 1*, 2* and 4* competitions will cease to exist and will become Local, Zonal and National Opens with a clear framework to delivery which can be found below. Grand Prix competitions in England will cease being delivered by Table Tennis England staff centrally in Season 24/25, and instead will initially become Senior 4* in 24/25 and then National Opens in 25/26, delivered by clubs through an application process. The ‘Satellite Grands Prix’ in Jersey and Cardiff will remain in place in Season 24/25, and then transition to Zonal Opens in 25/26. 

In Season 25/26, all current 1* competitions will naturally fit into the Local Open category. Current 2* competitions may become Local Opens or Zonal Opens depending on how they compare to the criteria laid out for each competition. Similarly, current 4* competitions may become Zonal Opens or National Opens.

Two key points are that: i) the competition opportunities themselves will not be lost, and ii) each tier will represent a meaningful step-up in size and standard – more tables, more players.

As you go up the pyramid there are naturally fewer but larger and better events.

Downloads

Further detail on what is planned to happen and when, plus an overview of the three new tiers, and an overview of the quarterly assessment and allocation process: