Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 3rd, ITTF announced on the 3rd that ITTF decided to establish WTT world table tennis company to manage ITTF business and event assets from 2021, launch a new tournament structure including Grand Slam events and WTT series.
It is reported that the Grand Slam event has 4 stops per year, 10 days per station, and the bonus for the sub-race is as high as 3 million US dollars. Each male and female has 64 top athletes participating. WTT series includes Championship, World Cup, Star Challenge and general challenge, with a total prize of US $8 million, providing all professional players with sufficient opportunities to participate.
The International Table Tennis Federation said that the new competition structure will have a positive impact in many aspects, including more competition opportunities, independent holding of women’s events and innovative competition venues, the world-class TV production can also bring great experience to fans around the world.
Thomas Victor, chairman of the International Table Tennis Federation, said that he hoped to improve players’ satisfaction with the event bonus and event operation, and hoped to reinvest the member associations by improving the income to better support them.
“We hope to build a platform that is really beneficial to players and fans through WTT world table tennis company, further optimize the competition structure and improve the competition bonus.” Steve Denton, CEO of ITTF, said.
ITTF also announced that Philip Le Flok, who has more than 25 years of experience in the top sports industry, will be the senior business strategy consultant of WTT world table tennis company.