The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the entire world, including the sporting industry, causing the mass postponement of events. On Sunday 29 March 2020, the ITTF announced the suspension of all international table tennis events until 30 June 2020.

The knock-on financial implications of an extended period of not hosting events has led to all ITTF staff and president to decide taking voluntary salary reductions in 2020, with the ITTF Executive Committee reducing its expenses, to help support the sport during these challenging times.

During a video conference on Wednesday 1 April 2020 in which all ITTF staff were in attendance, ITTF CEO Steve Dainton underlined the need for all ITTF staff to stick together and make the sacrifice in order to help table tennis emerge stronger once the pandemic finally clears.

The ITTF is constantly evaluating the financial implications of event postponements, while exploring ways in how it can work with various governments around the world to minimise the financial impact.

These are the initial measures to ensure that the table tennis world will be stronger afterwards and best possibly equipped to enter the exciting new era of World Table Tennis (WTT), the new entity launching in 2021 to manage all of the ITTF’s commercial and events business, elevating table tennis to exciting new heights in the future.

Until then, the ITTF is doing all it can to support the table tennis community in these more challenging and completely unforeseen times.