The World Table Tennis Championships have been held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Five individual events, which include men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's double and mixed doubles, are currently held in odd numbered years. The World Team Table Tennis Championships, which include men's team and women's team events, were first their own competition in 2000. The Team Championships are held in even numbered years. In the earlier days of the tournament, Hungary's men's team was a dominant force, winning the championships 12 times. This was followed by a short period of dominance by Japan in the 1950s. From the 1960s onwards, China emerged as the new dominant power in this tournament and, with the exception of 1989–2000, when Sweden won four times, China continues to dominate the sport. China's men's team holds a record 20 world team championship titles. In the 1950s, Japan's women team was a force to be reckoned with winning a total of 8 titles. The Chinese women started their strong grip on the world team championships from the 1970s onwards. They have only lost twice since 1975. China holds 21 women's team titles.
Trophies
There are 7 different trophies presented to the winners of the various events, held by winning associations, and returned for the next world championships.
*Corbillon Cup for Women's Team, donated in 1933 by Marcel Corbillon, President of the French Table Tennis Association
*: The German women's team won the Cup in 1939, and the original Cup disappeared during Berlin occupation after World War II; the current Corbillon Cup is a replica made in 1949.
In addition, the Egypt Cup is presented to the next host of world championships. The Cup was donated by King Farouk of Egypt in 1939, when the championships were held in Cairo, Egypt.
Championships
The ITTF held individual events and team events separately for the first timein 1999 and 2000 respectively, and 2001 was the last time individual and team events were held together. Starting in 2003 individual events and team events were held separately again and each continue to be held separately every other year.
Individual and Team
Individual
Team
World Veterans Table Tennis Championships
Since 1982, the Senior Veterans Table Tennis Championships are held every two years by the Swaythling Club International have been held. All players who are at least 40 years old in the year of the event are eligible to play. The ladies and gentlemen play each in eight age groups, the seniors 40, 50, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80 and 85 in singles and doubles for the titles. A previous qualification is not required. The previous venues of the Senior World Championships:
Gothenburg
Helsinki
Rimini
Zagreb
Baltimore
Dublin
Melbourne
Lillehammer
Manchester
Vancouver
Lucerne
Yokohama
Bremen
Rio de Janeiro
Hohhot
Auckland
Alicante
Bordeaux