Twenty-eight players, four coaches and four managers will compete in under-13, under-15, under-18 and open men’s competitions of the event which runs from September 29 to October 8.
Those players will have their final competition before they head to Auckland today, at the Edgar Centre, at the Otago Closed Open, a tournament for players residing within the region.
"It’s a good opportunity to blood a few more younger players at the higher level so they can see [what it is like]," Otago Table Tennis Association director of coaching and development Ben Duffy said.
"It’s a bit of an investment, about $23,000 worth of costs, but through fundraising we’ve managed to get pretty well covered."
Three-player teams will compete in matches which include three singles matches, a doubles match and then a further three singles matches.
The team which wins the most matches wins the overall contest. An individual competition will be held afterwards, along with doubles and mixed doubles.
The team would arrive in Auckland a day before the competition and have practice games against Auckland and New Caledonia.
Duffy said Otago may go close to having the largest team team at the tournament.
He said the game was experiencing a boom and that contributed to the increased numbers.
"We’ve invested in our coaching staff and we’ve got kids that are prioritising table tennis as their main sport.
"We’ve got good support from parents, good support from committee and everyone sings from the same song sheet and meeting the costs. It’s been one of the best seasons I’ve been involved with.
"We’ve introduced a new year 5 and 6 schools competition and our year 7 and 8 competition is continuing.
"All of a sudden since the juniors have got to a decent level, and there’s good parental support and a good vibe going on. We’re retaining more and more people who come in.
"The new ones are becoming quite keen. The under-10 and 11 girls now, we’re starting to get a good group of them coming along."
