SINGAPORE - The World Table Tennis (WTT), a subsidiary created by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) in March 2019 to manage all its commercial and events business, was set up with good governance and financial compliance, independent consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) have concluded.
The review was commissioned by the ITTF executive committee in response to concerns raised by the German Table Tennis Association (DTTB) and supported by some other member associations, including the French Table Tennis Federation.
In a Nov 18 letter sent to the ITTF fraternity, the DTTB questioned the basis in which the WTT was formed, and said national governing bodies were not privy to how much power the WTT would have.
It claimed the WTT has "full control" over international tournaments and can sell the rights without consulting the ITTF's continental federations. It also alleged that the WTT's structure could make it vulnerable to accountability issues.
Welcoming the PwC report, ITTF vice-president Nestor Tenca said: "Our sport has always prided itself on an open, friendly and constructive dialogue between ITTF members, but unfounded claims have no place in our sport. We are therefore pleased to be able to clarify the true position.
"Table tennis is entering an exciting new era, one in which we hope our sport gets the level of global recognition it truly deserves."
Under the WTT, a new event structure will see a total prize purse of US$13 million (S$17.3 million) a year, more than double the previous amount. Modelled after tennis' Grand Slams, the top tier will comprise four US$2 million to US$3 million Grand Smash tournaments.
Its first event was the promotional showcase US$800,000 WTT Macau held from Nov 25 to 29.
ITTF chief executive Steve Dainton remained excited about WTT's future despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and said: "WTT is an innovative, dynamic and modern events platform in the table tennis family created to focus on turbo charging the commercial value of our sport.
"WTT is creating new events, increasing the total prize money, putting athletes first and at the same time working with new investors and strategic partners to enhance the overall fan experience via a dedicated, fully digitalised production team."
DTTB president Michael Geiger told The Straits Times his association has received only the conclusions of the PwC report so far, and was satisfied with the "legality of WTT's incorporation process around the master licence agreement"
"However, this was only part of the concerns we expressed in our letter," he added.
"Further aspects which are of vital importance for national associations were not addressed in the report - calendar of events, world ranking system, the importance of the Olympic Games, World Championships and continental championships (that these could have fewer ranking points than WTT events), as well as the conditions for national associations to be organisers of WTT tournaments.
"We need to stay in discussions with ITTF and national associations on these topics."
