Some of the country's best table tennis players will be showing off their skills when the Otago Open is held at the Edgar Centre on Saturday.
In total, 98 competitors will be taking part in boys, girls, open women, open men and veterans sections.
This is almost double the number that took part last year.
Otago Table Tennis association administrator, coach and player Ben Duffy said the competition would have the biggest talent and highest numbers competing in 40 years.
He was thrilled with the number of entries and even more pleased with the calibre of the players.
He said the open men and open women sections had a large number of top-ranked New Zealand players.
"The open men's section is that strong that our local No2, Andrew Marr, can't get a ranking."
Duffy (37) said that among the top-ranked male players were New Zealand No5 John Cordue, who lives in Auckland but plays in Germany, and Wellington's Ollie Scarlett, who is ranked No12 .
Scarlett recently beat New Zealand Olympic qualifier Phillip Xiao.
Duffy said both players were current New Zealand representatives and the fact they were coming to Dunedin showed the sport was alive and well.
For the open, Cordue is seeded No1, Scarlett No2 and Duffy No3.
Duffy, a former New Zealand representative, said it would be hard work to beat both men, but he was confident he could give them a good test.
"Once you get to the semifinals, anything can happen."
Duffy will also team up with Marr in the men's doubles, where they are the No2 seed.
The open women section has eight past or current New Zealand representatives competing.
The favourites are New Zealand No5 Catherine Zhou (Wellington) and Sarah Her Lee, who lives in Auckland but plays semi-professionally in Germany.
Zhou will also partner Duffy in the mixed doubles.
Duffy said he was delighted both women had travelled so far for the tournament.
Dunedin brothers Logan Xu (13) and Nathan Xu (8) will be competing in the junior boys and age-grade sections.
Duffy said both boys had some tough competition in their groups but he was confident they would do well.
He said the fact that the high-profile players had been quick to sign up had captured the imagination and interest of others, especially the juniors, who wanted to see these guys play.
The junior boys and junior girls start at 8.30am and the open men, open women and veterans sections start about 12.30pm.
Duffy said the open finals, which start at 5pm, would be the highlight of the day and would involve some highly skilled table tennis.
At 6pm a prize will be drawn, and one lucky spectator will win two nights' accommodation at a New Zealand resort.
