The ITTF Leadership team comprising ITTF President Thomas Weikert, ITTF Deputy Present Khalil Al-Mohannadi, ITTF CEO Steve Dainton and Advisor to the ITTF President for Commercial Activities, Frank Ji, reported that the meeting with the President of the Chinese Olympic Committee and Minister of Sports Gou Zhongwen was extremely positive.

The leader of Chinese Sports Mr Gou was joined in the meeting by Deputy Secretary General of Chinese Olympic Committee Li Hui, Personal Assistant to President Xiao Miao, Chinese Olympic Committee Project Manager & Secretariat Wang Kan and Chinese Table Tennis Association Secretary General Lei Jun.

The key outcomes of the meeting were that both parties wanted more ITTF events to be held in China in the comings years to provide more engaging content for the Chinese public, as well as that both parties need to work closer together to raise the commercial level of the sport which is needed for table tennis to reach the next level.

The discussions and decisions from this meeting will be a perfect stepping stone to ITTF’s bold plans to reshape its commercial rights for the next cycle, which includes professionalizing the World Tour and developing the expanded World Championships.