Elected earlier this month, Masaya Kawata, the new President of the Japan Table Tennis Association (JTTA), welcomed a World Table Tennis (WTT) delegation in Tokyo for a series of meetings to discuss the future of the sport in the country.

WTT Managing Director Matt Pound and Senior Commercial Strategy Consultant Philippe Le Floc’h joined WTT Japan General Manager Ai Fukuhara. Together with the JTTA team, led by the newly elected President Masaya Kawata, Vice President Ichiro Hoshino and General Director Miyazaki Yoshihito, they discussed hosting large marquee WTT events in 2023, and capitalising on the Tokyo 2020 success to grow the sport of Table Tennis in Japan– table tennis’ second-biggest market.

“We believe there are many opportunities to be seized in Japan from both perspectives of sport and commercial development, and we would like to see a WTT event hosted in Japan soon,” said Pound. “We are delighted to collaborate with the JTTA to achieve our goals, and we look forward to further growing table tennis together.”

With several players in the Top 10 and a new generation breaking through on the world stage, Japan presents a significant growth potential.

The market has also shown its potential during Tokyo 2020. The Olympic table tennis competition reached a total maximum audience of more than 21 million and a TV reach of 54.4% of the population.