ITTF

Apart from through the award winning ITTF Development Programme, ITTF-Oceania has not had full-time staff previously; this investment will provide significant opportunities to grow the sport throughout the region.

The ITTF will work very closely with ITTF-Oceania to develop and implement their 2017-2020 Strategic Plan. The goal is to improve continental events, to have them all meet the quality and presentation standards set by the ITTF-Oceania Cup. Also the aim is to make the sport more popular in the region with an increased push in communications overall, especially through media and social media and ultimately to create table tennis stars from Oceania who can compete on the world stage.

“I am very excited with this new Strategic Investment Agreement with the ITTF. This agreement will allow more resources for our Continental Federation and our National Associations so we can all become even more capable and sustainable. I am very pleased to see the opportunity to have more full-time staff on the ground and I applaud our President Thomas Weikert and his ITTF team for understanding our commitment to best practice with our soon to be adopted Strategic Plan, which aligns to this Investment very well and will have many benefits moving forward”, James Morris, ITTF-Oceania President.

Positive responses from Thomas Weikert and James Morris; it was the same from Michael Brown, the ITTF and Africa-Oceania Development Co-ordinator who was instrumental in making the deal happen.

“In recent years ITTF-Oceania has been putting a lot of hard work into developing the ITTF-Oceania Cup, which has seen considerable improvements within its commercial viability. It was evident that the improvements to these major events have assisted in building the profile of table tennis within Oceania. Through the new investment made by ITTF, these improvements will be seen across more ITTF-Oceania events, including the Championships, as well as establishing the ITTF-Oceania Tour.” Michael Brown

It is a milestone moment in the history of table tennis within Oceania, that will create opportunities and benefits for both ITTF-Oceania, ITTF and table tennis in general.