The world's top table tennis tournament set to take place in South Korea this year has been postponed to early next year due to lingering concerns over the novel coronavirus.

The organizing committee for the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan said Friday that following a request from the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), it will look for new dates for the competition, which was scheduled to run from Sept. 27-Oct. 4.

It was originally set for March 22-29 in the southeastern metropolitan city but was first pushed back to June 21-28 due to the coronavirus outbreak. Then in late March, the ITTF decided to shelve all international competitions and activities until June 30.

It was then determined on April 7 that the competition would take place in September.

The ITTF's Executive Committee then asked Busan's organizers on Friday to move the tournament even further back to the early part of 2021, citing the unlikelihood that many teams would be able to travel to South Korea in September this year during the pandemic.

The ITTF said its Executive Committee will meet again on June 23. (Yonhap)