World Table Tennis (ITTF)

For the Japanese sports magazine, see World Table Tennis (magazine).

World Table Tennis

Abbreviation	WTT
Formation	2019;6 years ago (2019)
Website	worldtabletennis.com

World Table Tennis, stylized as WTT, is an organization created by the ITTF in 2019 that runs commercialized table tennis tournaments. ^[1] Its inaugural tournament was held in November 2020 in Macao. It is distinguished from the predecessor ITTF World Tour by various rules changes and big prize money for commercialized purposes. ^{[2] [3] [4]} The head of its council is Liu Guoliang, a former Olympic gold medalist and former head coach of China. ^[2]

Background

In 1926, the ITTF was founded by William Henry Lawes of Wymondham, England. The nine founding members were Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Germany, Hungary, India, Sweden and Wales. The first international tournament was held in January 1926 in Berlin, and the first World Table Tennis Championships was held in December 1926 in London. ^[5] It was the only event for over 50 years that was run and managed commercially by the ITTF.

In 1980, the ITTF World Cups was introduced, followed by the ITTF World Tour in 1996. Until 2003, commercial rights for these events were passed on to the local organising committees (LOC) but a different approach was taken to centralise rights through the creation of TMS.^{[ clarification needed ]} TMS was tasked to manage these rights on behalf of ITTF, until 2017 when ITTF decided to buy back the rights to be taken in house. ^[6]

In 2018, professional consultants Deloitte and Withers were engaged to assist with remodelling the way that the ITTF does business. ^[7] Through full models and financial understanding of our events and other worldwide properties, ITTF sought to understand the untapped commercial potential of table tennis. One key finding led to the idea of separation between the management of the professional and institutional structures of table tennis.

On 30 May 2019, ITTF announced the idea of World Table Tennis (WTT), ^[8] a new commercial vehicle for table tennis. To launch WTT, the ITTF executive committee appointed a selection panel. The panel included ITTF President Thomas Weikert, ITTF Deputy President Khalil Al-Mohannadi, ITTF Executive Vice President for Finance Petra Sorling, ITTF CEO Steve Dainton, and ITTF Marketing Director Matthew Pound. ^{[7] [9]}

Recent hires

China News Service newsreel about the WTT, September 2024.

WTT also announced the hire of Philippe Le Floc’h, former Chief Commercial Officer at FIFA and marketing director at UEFA, as Senior Commercial Strategy Consultant, in line with WTT's aim to commercialise the sport. ^{[10] [9]} Shortly afterwards, Stephen Duckitt, who had 15 years of sports management experience, primarily with WTA and ATP, was announced as WTT Event Strategy Director. ^[7]

On 29 June 2020, WTT announced that China Table Tennis Association President, Liu Guoliang had accepted the role as Chair of the WTT Council. The WTT Council is tasked to ensure the healthy development of WTT and to be at the helm of the future development of table tennis. ^{[11] [12]} WTT Macao was announced on 11 September 2020 to be held between 25 and 29 November 2020. ^[13] The debut event was a promotional showcase featuring 16 of the world's best male and 16 of the world's best female players. The event implemented a brand new format with innovative scoring methods. It also featured a prize purse of US$800,000 with players paid a minimum of US$15,000, and earning more prize money per match they win. ^{[14] [15]}

Next to join was Melissa Soobratty. Announced on 4 December 2020, the former vice president, Media at Football Marketing Asia joined as WTT Senior Media Director to oversee all areas related to content, to further professionalise the organisation's expanding media operations. ^[16]

WTT event structure

Tournaments		2019−present
Tiers	I	Grand Smash
	II	WTT Series	WTT Finals (WTT Cup Finals)
	III		WTT Champions (WTT Champion Series)
	IV		WTT Contender Series	WTT Star Contenders
	V			WTT Contenders

Grand Smash

The Grand Smashes will become the pillars of the sport and the most important events in the table tennis calendar. The events will feature both Men's and Women's singles draws with more players now receiving automatic entry into events. There will be fewer seeded players and a separate qualifying draw to ensure that the excitement kicks off right from the start. Doubles and Mixed Doubles events will also be played during the Grand Smashes. ^{[17] [18]}

Dates: Fixed dates on the annual WTT Calendar

Players: 64 Men's & Women's Singles, Doubles & Mixed doubles draw

Length of event: 10 Days + Qualification

Prize Pool: Up to US$3 million

Number of events: Up to 4

Singapore Smash
Year	Men's singles	Women's singles	Men's doubles	Women's doubles	Mixed doubles
2022	Fan Zhendong	Chen Meng	Fan Zhendong Wang Chuqin	Wang Manyu Sun Yingsha	Wang Chuqin Sun Yingsha
2023		Sun Yingsha
2024	Wang Chuqin	Wang Manyu	Ma Long Lin Gaoyuan	Chen Meng Wang Manyu
2025	Lin Shidong	Sun Yingsha	Wang Chuqin Lin Shidong	Wang Manyu Kuai Man	Lin Shidong Kuai Man

Saudi Smash
Year	Men's singles	Women's singles	Men's doubles	Women's doubles	Mixed doubles
2024	Wang Chuqin	Chen Meng	Ma Long Wang Chuqin	Chen Meng Wang Manyu	Wang Chuqin Sun Yingsha

China Smash
Year	Men's singles	Women's singles	Men's doubles	Women's doubles	Mixed doubles
2024	Lin Shidong	Sun Yingsha	Liang Jingkun Wang Chuqin	Qian Tianyi Chen Xingtong	Lin Shidong Kuai Man
2025

United States Smash
Year	Men's singles	Women's singles	Men's doubles	Women's doubles	Mixed doubles
2025

Europe Smash - Sweden
Year	Men's singles	Women's singles	Men's doubles	Women's doubles	Mixed doubles
2025

WTT Series

The WTT Series will serve as the platform for all professional players to compete internationally. The series is split up into 3 tiers to give the athletes adequate playing opportunities: Cup Finals, Champion Series and the Contender Series. WTT aims to hold these events in unique venues around the world that include theatres, bars, clubs, stadiums and more to create a unique, interesting and intimate opportunity for fans to interact with the athletes. ^{[18] [19]}

WTT Finals

The WTT Finals are split into Men's and Women's events that will be held separately. The top 16 players of the year will qualify for this year-end event together with the best 8 pairs. Qualification will be determined by the player's performance throughout the WTT season and reflected through their Table Tennis World Ranking.

The first two editions of WTT Finals (2021 and 2022) was known as WTT Cup Finals. WTT stated that the winners of the WTT Cup Finals would win the prestigious ITTF World Cup trophies in March 2021, but the winners have been actually presented with WTT Finals specific trophies since the inaugural edition.

Players: 16 in Men's & Women's Singles, Top 8 pair in doubles

Length of event: 5 days

Prize Pool: Up to US$1.5million each

Number of events: 2

Year	Host city	Men's singles	Women's singles	Men's doubles	Women's doubles
2021	Singapore	Fan Zhendong	Sun Yingsha	not held	not held
2022	Xinxiang, China	Wang Chuqin
2023	Doha, Qatar (men) Nagoya, Japan (women)			Xiang Peng Yuan Licen	Wang Manyu Sun Yingsha
2024	Fukuoka, Japan		Wang Manyu	Alexis Lebrun Félix Lebrun	Honoka Hashimoto Hitomi Sato

WTT Champions

The WTT Champion Series is exclusive to the top 32 men and women in the world. Four separate men's and women's event will be held with up to US$5million up for grabs. The matches will be played on one table to ensure that the best TV production and best entertainment is presented to fans.

Players: 32 Men's & Women's Singles

Length of event: 6 days

Prize Pool: Up to US$5million

Number of events: 4 men & 4 women

Tour	Host city	Men's singles	Women's singles
2022
WTT Champions European Summer Series	Budapest, Hungary	Tomokazu Harimoto	Wang Manyu
WTT Champions Macao	Macau	Wang Chuqin	Sun Yingsha
2023
WTT Champions Xinxiang	Xinxiang, China	Fan Zhendong	Sun Yingsha
WTT Champions Macao	Macau	Wang Chuqin	Wang Manyu
WTT Champions Frankfurt	Frankfurt, Germany	Lin Yun-ju	Wang Yidi
2024
WTT Champions Incheon	Incheon, South Korea	Liang Jingkun	Sun Yingsha
WTT Champions Chongqing	Chongqing, China	Fan Zhendong
WTT Champions Macao	Macau	Lin Shidong
WTT Champions Montpellier	Montpellier, France	Félix Lebrun	Satsuki Odo
WTT Champions Frankfurt	Frankfurt, Germany	Lin Shidong	Wang Manyu
2025
WTT Champions Chongqing	Chongqing, China
WTT Champions Incheon	Incheon, South Korea
WTT Champions Yokohama	Yokohama, Japan
WTT Champions Macao	Macau
WTT Champions Montpellier	Montpellier, France
WTT Champions Frankfurt	Frankfurt, Germany

WTT Star Contenders

WTT Star Contenders will consist of 6 events throughout the year featuring 48 men and 48 women. These events will serve as the platform for the next best in the world to earn ranking points to make the step up into the WTT Champions Series.

Players: 48 Men's & Women's Singles

Length of event: 6 days + Qualification

Number of events: 6

Tour	Host city	Men's singles	Women's singles	Men's doubles	Women's doubles	Mixed doubles
2021
WTT Star Contender Doha I	Doha, Qatar	Tomokazu Harimoto	Mima Ito	Lee Sang-su Jeoung Young-sik	Shin Yu-bin Jeon Ji-hee	Cheng I-ching Lin Yun-ju
WTT Star Contender Doha II	Doha, Qatar	Hugo Calderano	Hina Hayata	An Jae-hyun Cho Seung-min	Miyu Nagasaki Minami Ando	Shunsuke Togami Hina Hayata
2022
WTT Star Contender Doha	Doha, Qatar	Andrej Gacina	Miyuu Kihara	Benedikt Duda Dang Qiu	Miyuu Kihara Miyu Nagasaki	Emmanuel Lebesson Jia Nan Yuan
WTT Star Contender European Summer Series	Budapest, Hungary	Wang Chuqin	Wang Yidi	Cho Dae-seong Lee Sang-su	Sun Yingsha Wang Manyu	Wang Chuqin Wang Manyu
2023
WTT Star Contender Goa	Goa, India	Liang Jingkun	Wang Yidi	An Jae-hyun Cho Seung-min	Miyu Nagasaki Miwa Harimoto	Jang Woo-jin Jeon Ji-hee
WTT Star Contender Bangkok	Bangkok, Thailand	Lin Gaoyuan	Chen Xingtong	Lin Gaoyuan Lin Shidong	Chen Xingtong Kuai Man	Lin Gaoyuan Chen Xingtong
WTT Star Contender Ljubljana	Ljubljana, Slovenia	Fan Zhendong	Sun Yingsha	Lin Shidong Xiang Peng	Wang Yidi Kuai Man	Wang Chuqin Sun Yingsha
WTT Star Contender Lanzhou	Lanzhou, China	Wang Chuqin		Alexis Lebrun Félix Lebrun	Chen Meng Wang Manyu	Lin Shidong Kuai Man
2024
WTT Star Contender Doha	Doha, Qatar	Wang Chuqin	Sun Yingsha	Liang Jingkun Yuan Licen	Chen Xingtong Qian Tianyi	Wang Chuqin Sun Yingsha
WTT Star Contender Goa	Goa, India	Félix Lebrun	Cheng I-ching	Lim Jong-hoon An Jae-hyun	Shin Yu-bin Jeon Ji-hee	Lim Jong-hoon Shin Yu-bin
WTT Star Contender Ljubljana	Ljubljana, Slovenia	Hugo Calderano	Hina Hayata	Anton Källberg Kristian Karlsson	Miyuu Kihara Miyu Nagasaki	Tomokazu Harimoto Hina Hayata
WTT Star Contender Bangkok	Bangkok, Thailand	Tomokazu Harimoto	Mima Ito	Tomokazu Harimoto Sora Matsushima	Honoka Hashimoto Hitomi Sato
2025
WTT Star Contender Doha	Doha, Qatar	Tomokazu Harimoto	Kuai Man	Xu Yingbin Xiang Peng	Satsuki Odo Sakura Yokoi	Sora Matsushima Miwa Harimoto

WTT Contenders

Then the final tier, the WTT Contenders, allows the rest of the professional players throughout the world rankings to develop their talents in up to 14 events per year, each one lasting for four days.

Players: Flexible playing system

Length of event: Flexible playing system

Number of events: Up to 14 events

Tour	Host city	Men's singles	Women's singles	Men's doubles	Women's doubles	Mixed doubles
2023
WTT Contender Durban	Durban, South Africa	Hugo Calderano	Qian Tianyi	Chen Yuanyu Lin Shidong	Zhang Rui Kuai Man	Lin Shidong Kuai Man
WTT Contender Doha	Doha, Qatar		Fan Siqi	Yu Ziyang Zhou Kai
WTT Contender Amman	Amman, Jordan	Lin Shidong	Mima Ito	Liu Yebo Xu Yingbin	Cheng I-ching Li Yu-jhun
WTT Contender Lagos	Lagos, Nigeria	Zhou Qihao	Shin Yu-bin	Jang Woo-jin Lim Jong-hoon	Jeon Ji-hee Shin Yu-bin	Xiang Peng Liu Weishan
WTT Contender Tunis	Tunis, Tunisia	Anton Kallberg	Miwa Harimoto	Jang Woo-jin Park Gang-hyeon	Sutirtha Mukherjee Ayhika Mukherjee	Lin Yun-ju Chen Szu-yu
WTT Contender Zagreb	Zagreb, Croatia	Lin Gaoyuan	Miu Hirano	Lin Shidong Yuan Licen	Jeon Ji-hee Shin Yu-bin	Wang Chuqin Sun Yingsha
WTT Contender Lima	Lima, Peru	Marcos Freitas	Shin Yu-bin	Mizuki Oikawa Sora Matsushima		Álvaro Robles María Xiao
WTT Contender Rio de Janeiro	Rio, Brazil	Mattias Falck	Hina Hayata	An Jae-hyun Lim Jong-hoon		Lim Jong-hoon Shin Yu-bin
WTT Contender Almaty	Almaty, Kazakhstan	Lin Yun-ju	Kuai Man	Lin Shidong Xu Yingbin	Chen Yi Kuai Man	Cho Dae-seong Joo Cheon-hui
WTT Contender Muscat	Muscat, Oman	Hugo Calderano	Hina Hayata	Patrick Franziska Dimitrij Ovtcharov	Ng Wing Lam Zhu Chengzhu	Lin Yun-ju Chen Szu-yu
WTT Contender Antalya	Antalya, Turkey	Félix Lebrun		Lim Jong-hoon An Jae-hyun	Orawan Paranang Suthasini Sawettabut	Tomokazu Harimoto Hina Hayata
WTT Contender Taiyuan	Taiyuan, China	Liang Jingkun	Wang Manyu	Lin Gaoyuan Lin Shidong	Chen Xingtong Qian Tianyi	Lin Shidong Kuai Man
2024
WTT Contender Doha	Doha, Qatar	Timo Boll	Jeon Ji-hee	Lim Jong-hoon Lee Sang-su	Jeon Ji-hee Shin Yu-bin	Wang Chuqin Sun Yingsha
WTT Contender Taiyuan	Taiyuan, China	Liang Jingkun	Chen Xingtong	Ma Long Lin Gaoyuan	Chen Yi Kuai Man	Lin Shidong Kuai Man
WTT Contender Rio de Janeiro	Rio, Brazil	Hugo Calderano	Miyu Nagasaki	An Jae-hyun Oh Jun-sung	Honoka Hashimoto Hitomi Sato	Lim Jong-hoon Shin Yu-bin
WTT Contender Mendoza	Mendoza, Argentina	Benedikt Duda	Sakura Mori	Horacio Cifuentes Santiago Lorenzo	Sakura Mori Miyu Nagasaki	Yuta Tanaka Miyu Nagasaki
WTT Contender Zagreb	Zagreb, Croatia	Alexis Lebrun	Hina Hayata	Alexis Lebrun Simon Gauzy	Sakura Yokoi Satsuki Odo	Tomokazu Harimoto Hina Hayata
WTT Contender Lagos	Lagos, Nigeria	Dimitrij Ovtcharov	Sreeja Akula	Harmeet Desai Manav Thakkar	Sreeja Akula Archana Kamath	Lim Jong-hoon Shin Yu-bin
WTT Contender Tunis	Tunis, Tunisia	Tomokazu Harimoto	Miwa Harimoto	Sora Matsushima Tomokazu Harimoto	Satsuki Odo Sakura Yokoi	Tomokazu Harimoto Hina Hayata
WTT Contender Lima	Lima, Peru	Darko Jorgic	Satsuki Odo	Florian Bourrassaud Esteban Dorr		Henrique Noguti Giulia Takahashi
WTT Contender Almaty	Almaty, Kazakhstan	Lin Shidong	Shi Xunyao	Lin Shidong Xu Yinbing	He Zhuojia Liu Weishan	Lin Shidong Kuai Man
WTT Contender Muscat	Muscat, Oman		Kuai Man	Yuan Licen Xiang Peng	Yang Yiyun Zhu Sibing
2025
WTT Contender Muscat	Muscat, Oman	Chen Yuanyu	Shi Xunyao	Tomokazu Harimoto Sora Matsushima	Satsuki Odo Sakura Yokoi	Álvaro Robles Maria Xiao

Results Links

• https://tt-wiki.info/wttv-ranglistenturniere/
• https://tt-wiki.info/world-tour-grand-finals/
• https://tt-wiki.info/world-tour-turniere/
• https://tt-wiki.info/grand-smashes/
• https://tt-wiki.info/wtt-cup-finals/
• https://tt-wiki.info/wtt-champions/
• https://tt-wiki.info/wtt-star-contenders/
• https://tt-wiki.info/wtt-contenders/
• https://tt-wiki.info/wtt-feeders/

References

1. "Introducing WTT". Worldtabletennis.com.
2. "Table tennis requires change and innovation, says WTT Council Chair Liu". China Daily . 2020-12-01.
3. Hopkins, Steve (2020-11-30). "WTT Macau Recap: Raising the $ Bar for the Sport". ButterflyOnline.com.
4. "Frequently Asked Question" (PDF). WTT. 2020-06-11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-12-04.
5. "ITTF Archives". Archived from the original on 2011-03-01.
6. "ITTF and TMS International end exclusive marketing agreement". ittf.com. 22 November 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
7. "A Message from the CEO I World Table Tennis Origins". Around The Rings.
8. "ITTF ready for revolution through World Table Tennis". ITTF.com. 29 May 2019.
9. Carp, Sam (3 March 2020). "World Table Tennis plans include event revamp and double prize money". Sports Pro Media.
10. "Welcome to World Table Tennis!". www.gosports.com.my.
11. "China's table tennis chief Liu Guoliang named WTT Council head". Chinadaily. 29 June 2020.
12. McCullagh, Kevin (29 June 2020). "Chinese table tennis president appointed to lead WTT Council". Sport business.
13. Hua, Xia (12 November 2020). "WTT tournament to debut in Macao in November". Xinhua Net.
14. "Table tennis' biggest stars to compete at WTT Macao 2020 presented by Galaxy Entertainment Group". Government Information Bureau of the Macao SAR. 19 November 2020.
15. Hopkins, Steve (30 November 2020). "WTT Macau Recap: Raising the $ Bar for the Sport". Butterfly Online.
16. Cline, Warren. "Melissa Soobratty joins as WTT Senior Media Director". thesportyworld.com. Retrieved 5 December 2020.; Svenson, David (4 December 2020). "WTT appoints Soobratty to lead media rights strategy". Sports Business.
17. "Grand Smashes – everything you need to know!". Worldtabletennis.com.
18. Lee, David (4 March 2020). "Paddlers get bigger payout in new WTT format". Straits Times.
19. Houston, Michael (13 March 2020). "Bidding open for 2021 rebranded World Table Tennis events". www.insidethegames.biz.