WTT forum focuses on future of table tennis

BEIJING - Newly-founded World Table Tennis (WTT) Tuesday invited several player representatives to participate in an online forum shedding light on the development of the sport as the new event structure is set to arrive in the near future.

WTT will introduce a brand new event structure starting in 2021, featuring Grand Smashes, WTT Champions, WTT Contender Series and WTT World Cup Finals.

After the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) CEO Steve Dainton briefed the origin of the WWT, other representatives from the ITTF and WTT offered their introductions from different aspects.

WTT matches are expected to be held in 34 cities across the globe, and 15 cities in China have been interested in staging the competitions.

"The new WTT event system is a bold innovation which helps to promote the sport across the world. I'm looking forward to participating in it," China's Grand Slam winner Ma Long noted.

Ding Ning, another Chinese paddler who finished the feat as Ma, recommended some other innovations to be included in the new system, such as adopting a mixed team format and allowing players from different member associations to team up to make matches more appealing to fans in the future.

Apart from Ma and Ding, participants of Tuesday's forum included Japan's Kasumi Ishikawa and Tomokazu Harimoto, Quadri Aruna from Nigeria, German veteran Timo Boll and American paddler Lily Zhang.