July 16, 2025 | Paul Stimpson
The Elite Training Centre will host the ITTF World Hopes Week and Challenge from 13-19 October and Dora Jeter, Head of Operations, High Performance & Education at the International Table Tennis Federation visited Sheffield ahead of the city welcoming the biggest talent identification programme in world table tennis.
Dora took time out to speak to us about the programme, which sees the best under-12 talents from all over the world come through continental qualifying to take their place at the event.
Up to 20 boys and 20 girls, as well as around 40 coaches, will arrive in Sheffield for a week of intensive training and international collaboration, culminating in the Challenge competition on the final two days.
Dora said: “It gives both players and coaches the opportunity of connecting with other players and coaches, it gives them the opportunity to co-operate with high-level experts that are leading the training camps.
“It’s also an opportunity for the kids to connect and make friends with kids from other countries and other continents. Sometimes they don’t speak the same language, but they can still connect and they make it work and they become friends for life.”
The Hopes Programme has helped launch the careers of some of the sport’s brightest stars, including Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist Truls Moregard of Sweden and Adriana Diaz, the world top-20 player from Puerto Rico.
As host nation, England will receive two wildcard places – one boy and one girl – giving home-grown talent a direct opportunity to join the world’s elite in Sheffield. They will be selected via the England Hopes Training Day & Challenge at EIS Sheffield on 20-21 September.
We also caught up with Table Tennis England Head of Pathway Development Emma Vickers about the excitement in the athlete cohort at having the opportunity to qualify.
She said: “We’re aiming to build up some excitement amongst the players, something to work hard towards.
“We’ve never had a youth event of this scale in England, it is the biggest talent ID event globally and for our players to have the chance to be involved is massive.”
Watch the video in full below.