Table Tennis England has welcomed today’s Government announcement that indoor sports facilities will be allowed to re-open from Saturday July 25.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden made the announcement at a Government briefing today, paving the way for a return to indoor table tennis. The announcement also covered gyms and a number of other businesses, as well as the performing arts.
Table Tennis England Chief Executive Sara Sutcliffe said: “This is an important step forward and comes after an enormous amount of hard work behind the scenes by all sports National Governing Bodies and Sport England, in conjunction with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
“We are now awaiting confirmation of the detailed Government guidance which will enable indoor sports venues, and by extension table tennis clubs and leagues, to work towards resuming activities from July 25th. We will share this guidance with our clubs and individual members, and update the Ready to Return guidance on our website, as soon as we can.
“In the meantime, we should all continue to follow the current guidance which permits table tennis to be played outdoors in certain circumstances.”
Table Tennis England has been drawing up a series of guidance documents for clubs and venues and we have recently had positive feedback on our plans from a health and safety consultant and the DCMS, who are happy with the content of the current guidance provided for the return of table tennis indoors.
Click here to view this guidance on our Ready to Return page
Click here to view our Ready to Return webinar
Sport England has also welcomed today’s announcement. Chief Executive Tim Hollingsworth said: “For the millions of people who have missed going to the gym, playing their favourite sport indoors, heading for a swim or training with their team-mates, today’s news is an important step forward and testament to the hard work so many have put in to preparing to restart and reopen.
“Now, more than ever, there is recognition of the vital role sport and activity plays in supporting people’s physical and mental health so there is a massive opportunity as we emerge from lockdown to truly embrace the idea that exercise is essential to our wellbeing and to recognise the opportunities all around us to be more active.”