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The first Championships were held in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1982 and attracted over 400 entries.

Notably, the Championships had no official status but brought together veteran players from many parts of the world. They enjoyed the matches whilst renewing old friendships as well as enjoying the social gathering of participants and families.

A World Veteran Championship is an activity which fully expresses the principles of the Swaythling Club International. The SCI willingly gave the Championships its patronage and presented perpetual trophies for all the singles events. A committee was formed to include members of the Gothenburg promotion team and the SCI to organise future Championships to be held every two years.

The Swaythling Club International is proud that the World Veteran Championships have become a most sought after and popular event amongst the table tennis community.

A total of 19 World Veteran Championships have been staged, the most recent being in Las Vegas in the United States in 2018.

Players who have competed in 12 or more World Veteran Championships receive a special diploma.

As and from the 2023 World Veteran Championships in Oman the tournament will be under the jurisdiction of the International Table Tennis Federation.

YearVenueEntryHallsSpecial Comments
1982 Gothenburg (SWE) 400Unofficial
1984 Helsinki (FIN) 451Unofficial
1986 Rimini, (ITA) 1,100
1988 Zagreb (CRO) 1,650 3 First W80 category (four entries)
1990 Baltimore (USA) 1,100 1 1st WVC staged outside Europe
1992 Dublin (IRL) 1,300 3 Held in charming Royal Dublin Society
1994 Melbourne (AUS) 1,800 A magnificent Royal Exhibition Building
1996 Lillehammer (NOR) 1,950 3 1994 Winter Olympic Village – SCI software used
1998 Manchester (ENG) 1,400 1 Prior to event official trial run team event organised
2000 Vancouver (CAN) 1,850 4 36 players taking part in all ten events received an award
2002 Luzern (SUI) 2,750 3
2004 Yokohama (JPN) 2,500 1 Large Hall- 1st WVC in Asia- new age group 85+ was introduced
2006 Bremen (GER) 3,650 2 Record numbers, almost 14,000 matches
2008 Rio de Janeiro (BRA) 1,400 2 First time in Latin America
2010 Hohhot (CHN) 2,100 4 Oldest participant Mrs. Dorothy de Low, Australia (became 100 years old a few months after the Championships). Also 12 player who had
2012 Stockholm (SWE) 3,350 3 66 Countries – a record number
2014 Auckland (NZL) 1,638 1 57 Countries
2016 Alicante & Elche (ESP) 4,510 1 Record entry and number of countries, 68 (15,504 games), a new age category 90 years + was introduced
2018 Las Vegas (USA) 3,493 1 Record number of countries, 92 and new categories introduced 40-45, 45-49, 50-54 and 55-59
2023 Muscat (OMA) 1,1811 First time in Middle East, mixed doubles introduced

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