Danton said: WTT’s goal is to help ITTF events and business upgrade in an all-round way, further promote the influence of world table tennis, and set a milestone for the development of world table tennis.
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 19-Steve Denton, CEO of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), published a long article on the 19th to deeply analyze the origin of the world table tennis professional league (WTT), it is said that the goal of this institution is to set a milestone for the development of table tennis.
Danton first reviewed the development of table tennis: from the establishment of the International Table Tennis Federation in 1926, he was only responsible for the World Table Tennis Championships for more than 50 years, to the men’s World Cup, the women’s World Cup, world Tour and other events have been born one after another. “In 2018, ITTF ushered in a brand-new and young leadership team. They worry that the current competition can no longer meet the needs of core stakeholders. In the rapidly changing and highly competitive sports market, the future of table tennis may encounter risks.”
“Table tennis is one of the sports with the highest participation, but the prize of the International Table Tennis Federation is not high enough. In addition to the World Championships, the rest of the events received little attention. Compared with other sports, the gap between business growth is widening.” Danton wrote.
The International Table Tennis Federation hired professional consulting agencies to assist in auditing in 2018, analyzed the previous commercial operation mode of the International Table Tennis Federation, repositioned table tennis products, and explored how to achieve growth. On this basis, WTT came into being and will be responsible for running all ITTF events from 2021.
Danton said: “WTT’s goal is to help ITTF events and business upgrade comprehensively, further promote the influence of world table tennis, and set a milestone for the development of world table tennis.”
Grand slam is the peak of WTT’s brand-new competition structure, with 4 stops each year, and the world’s top players will have the strongest duel. In order to create an atmosphere where you can enjoy wonderful table tennis events throughout the year, WTT series came into being, which will provide all professional players with sufficient opportunities to participate in world-class events.
Under the new competition structure, players will get more competition opportunities and compete for higher competition bonuses. In addition, women’s events are held independently, and the global focus is on the new generation of female players. World-class TV production brings great experience to fans around the world.
“We hope that through WTT, we can create a platform and organization that is really beneficial to players and fans, further optimize the competition structure and provide more competition bonuses. This is a huge project that will revolutionize table tennis.” Danton said.