The national table tennis team kept up with their annual tradition of doing community work before the world champions, taking time out of their training to be at the Rainbow Centre-Yishun Park School on Tuesday morning.

Led by world No. 7 Feng Tianwei, the paddlers interacted with the students through activities such as making cupcakes.

Rainbow Centre-Yishun Park School caters to children with special needs such as physical and intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorder.

Said Feng: "It was very meaningful for us to see these children with special needs perform for us. It touched me greatly. Their conditions may affect them, but their perseverance is something we should learn from."

Added Singapore Table Tennis Association president Lee Bee Wah: "Today's outing really inspired our players further and we hope that our players will do their best and bring cheer to Singapore in the coming tournaments."

The World Team Table Tennis Championships (WTTC) begin in Tokyo next Monday. Singapore were runners-up to China at the last WTTC, but will be fielding a new-look team this year. Feng will lead a squad made up of Yu Mengyu, and local-borns Isabelle Li and Yee Herng Hwee.