Dear table tennis friends,
2019 has been an amazing and history-making year for table tennis on and off the court.
Our CEO, Steve Dainton, has already mentioned in his “ITTF CEO UPDATES” some of the highlights of the past year:
– The ITTF is planning ahead to set up a new Global Home of Table Tennis.
– We have started our Constitution review to be on track with all Good Governance and Compliance Regulations which have become a more and more important issue all over the political and sports world.
– We created World Table Tennis as a driver for greater commercial activities and to develop our events further.
– The ITTF Foundation was officially established in its new Headquarters in Leipzig, Germany, to take on humanitarian projects aiming to build solidarity through table tennis.
– Our ITTF team is growing stronger than ever with more recruitment of professional staff and a new staff structure in place to make the organisation more professional.
These are just a few things we have been working on together in 2019. There were many more.
We are happy with the progress made in all areas and it is our obligation to keep working towards more success in 2020. Let’s go ahead together!
A big thank you goes out for the support of our ITTF Executive Committee and our professional staff who have worked so hard to make this all possible.
As a matter of fact, we expect another history-making year in table tennis and the world of sport overall, which leads us to mention two outstanding highlights of the coming year:
In March 2020, the World Championships in Busan will mark the first time that our greatest annual event is held in Korea Republic.
In July 2020, the eyes of the world will be on Japan to celebrate the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Both events will be amazing, demonstrating the true universality of table tennis and showing to the world the peace-making function of sports. Our athletes are the focus of all activities of course and they will play an essential role to create the genuine spirit of sports.
Simultaneously, we are confident that all stakeholders will support the clean athletes by implementing the new Anti-Doping regulations in the WADA Code 2021, a necessary and vital tool to protect the ITTF and its stakeholders, and to safeguard our long-term credibility. We are sure to be on the right path and together we will manage these key tasks in education, prevention and implementation in due course.
We also have to present our beloved sport to the outside world to get media attention and to stand out from other sports. New ideas and conviction in our beliefs are very important in order to improve and to achieve this goal.
We all have to play our part in the upcoming activities. We are one family and, by supporting each other, we are able to prove our strength to everyone, inside and outside the ITTF.
Finally, we would like to thank all stakeholders for their tremendous support during 2019 and we are confident about receiving your support in 2020 in order to reach our ambitious goals of becoming one of the biggest sports in the world.
Thank you very much and looking forward to seeing you all in Busan!
Table Tennis. For All. For Life.