The national table tennis team took time off from training this morning to visit patients at the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) at Kim Keat Road.

Paddlers, including world No. 4 Feng Tianwei and the men's team's world No. 16 Gao Ning, also played exhibition matches for them.

Taking time off for community work has become a tradition for the national team before leaving for the World Table Tennis Championships every year. With this year's competition just a few weeks away, this year was no different.

Said Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) president Lee Bee Wah: "We strongly believe that these visits not only allow our players to interact and reach out directly to the local community but most importantly, it provides our paddlers with the valuable opportunity to give back and experience the diversity of our local community."

The paddlers are scheduled to leave for New Delhi, India on Friday where they will compete in the quadrennial Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, before departing for the World Individual Table Tennis Championships in Paris later in the month.