Guernsey Referee Officiates Table Tennis World Cup Final

A table tennis referee from Guernsey was selected to officiate the final match of the Mixed Team World Cup in China. Ben Foote received a personal invitation to serve as an official at the International Table Tennis Federation’s (ITTF) Mixed Team World Cup in China, an event held between December 1st and 8th. Mr. Foote acted as umpire for the final, which saw China defeat Korea Republic. The match was televised and played before a full 7,000-seat stadium in Chengdu. He stated that officiating the final was a “real honour,” and his greatest apprehension was not dropping the coin used to decide which team served first. Mr. Foote qualified as an umpire in 2010, subsequently taking his international umpire exam in 2013. He was one of only four non-Chinese referees chosen to officiate the tournament. “It was fantastic. It was a really global end of season world cup event of 16 countries,” he commented. He added, “This was a real honour, because normally you apply and you hope to be selected for a tournament but this one was a direct invite from the ITTF, saying ‘would you like to come to china?'” He further noted: “I was lucky enough to get selected to do the final along with two others. I had to lead them out and do the coin toss. That was a real privilege, to be able to say I’ve officiated a world cup final.” For updates, follow BBC Guernsey on X and Facebook. Story ideas can be sent to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content of external sites. Information regarding our approach to external linking is available.