The International Table Tennis Federation has announced three key initiatives to ensure commercial growth of the sport and a better influx of funds. The ITTF Executive Committee at its meeting in Chengdu, China, on October 20 and 21 has resolved to have a revised commercial, governance, and sustainability programmed.
The Executive Committee had agreed on the following three points:
- To fully go ahead with new commercial vehicle World Table Tennis under the proposed structure presented by the Tender’s Selection Panel.
World Table Tennis will house the ITTF’s core commercial assets from 2021. The benefits are far-reaching and will facilitate more innovative conversations with potential partners, thus enabling the ITTF to modernize its commercial business activities and, ultimately, unlock the full potential of table tennis so that it can compete among the highest-profile sports in the world. More information on this will be announced in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
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- To work on changing the ITTF’s current Governance structure, ensuring that the Continental Federations have a more vital role at the highest level of the ITTF.
The ITTF is currently reviewing the whole constitution, which includes a discussion for a possible change with regard to the participation of the Continental Federations, which would enable them (and their leadership) to be closer to the main decision-making bodies of the ITTF. The ITTF has seen in recent years that the relationship with the Continental Federations, even with more resources provided by the ITTF than ever before, is often not ideal and the ITTF believes that this has a lot to do with the current Governance structure.
- To create a Sustainability Working Group, ensuring that all future events and activities fall in line with current global needs related to protecting our environment.
The Executive Committee raised the issue of sustainability in today’s society and stressed the importance of reducing the negative impact on the environment. For table tennis as a sport, it was necessary to start thinking about how to find solutions, especially in the area of equipment sustainability, and strongly recommended the formation of a Sustainability Working Group, led by international experts.
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“Our Executive Committee meeting was a historic one, as the ITTF approved the structure of World Table Tennis, which will bring much-needed funds into table tennis and allow us to make significant strides forward with our products. In addition, we made good progress with our governance review as well as making the decision to be much more vigilant as regards making the sport of table tennis more sustainable,” said ITTF President Thomas Weikert
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