From 2021, the ITTF’s core commercial assets will be held within a new commercial vehicle and fully ITTF-owned company called ‘World Table Tennis.’ The benefits of World Table Tennis are far-reaching and will facilitate more innovative conversations with potential partners, thus enabling the ITTF to modernise 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.

The ITTF Selection Panel, which consists of ITTF President Thomas Weikert, ITTF Deputy President Khalil Al-Mohannadi, ITTF Vice President for Finance Petra Sorling, ITTF CEO Steve Dainton and ITTF Marketing Director Matt Pound, met in Doha, Qatar to discuss the next steps of the extremely competitive tender process and determine who will be partnering with World Table Tennis.

The ITTF together with its consultants Deloitte Sports Business Group and Withers Legal firm started the process back in January 2019, when a total of 50 companies registered an expression of interest.

By June, eight companies were invited to submit formal business offers, proposing how they would work together with World Table Tennis. Subsequently, a shortlist of the five outstanding candidates was drawn up.

The ITTF Tender Team travelled across the world to meet with the five companies in their respective Headquarters to get a proper sense of their company culture and to determine if they would make the perfect fit to partner with the ITTF on its journey to revolutionize table tennis.

At the end of July, the final bid presentations were made in Singapore and, as of now, the five companies in question have submitted their final bid offers which the ITTF Selection Panel analyzed and discussed during their recent meeting in Doha.

As the bids, albeit in in different ways all satisfy ITTF’s goals of improving prize money, creating more marque events, improving the broadcast value if the sport and increasing the appeal of table tennis, the selection panel is going to take more time to make this important decision.

What remains certain is that World Table Tennis, together with its partners, will bring a fresh commercial approach to table tennis, enabling the sport to reach exciting new heights.