Dainton discussed the changes the ITTF are making to the World Table Tennis Championships, with the competition expanding from 2021.

This will see players from all member associations have the chance to qualify through their respective regional World Championship stages. 

"We have been working hard to create a robust system, which is fair and reasonable for all regions of the world, but which also allows us to grow our markets globally," Dainton said.

"We want to have as close to 100 per cent of our member associations participating in the regional stages of the World Championships, which will increase the visibility of our sport around the globe.

"Ahead of this year's World Championships in Budapest, we will show that we have a professional plan in place, ready for the Board of Directors to then pass final approval for the 2021 World Championships."

The year 2021 will also mark the beginning of a significant rights cycle for the ITTF.

"As approved by the ITTF Executive Committee, we will be setting up a commercial vehicle to house our commercial rights, which we will be looking for strategic partners to invest into to accelerate the growth of our sport," Dainton said.

"The ITTF is currently working with Deloitte to make this a reality and the tender to look for partners for the commercial vehicle starting from the 2021 rights cycle will be released in the coming months.

"This is the most important focus area for the future of the ITTF, as getting this right will determine the financial resources of the ITTF for the next decade or so.

"It will enable us to keep improving our key products, the World Championships, the World Tour and the Challenge Series, whilst continuing to raise prize money, to help better meet market demands.

"All of this is most beneficial for the athletes, who ultimately are the stars of the show. 

"We strongly believe that, at present, their benefits in international table tennis properties are far below what they should be, which is purely down to our current commercial situation.

"We are looking to turn this on its head, not only increasing their prize money, but also the services on offer to them and treat them like the stars that they are."

Moving back to 2019, Dainton mentioned the second season of the T2Diamond taking place this year.

T2Diamond consists of three world-class events featuring the the world's elite players, with the inaugural season in 2017.

"We hope to see that the T2 model will prove to the market how best to commercialise table tennis," said Dainton. 

"At the ITTF we are flexible and open to new ideas of taking the sport to a new level and success for the T2 events would demonstrate that there is a much better chance for table tennis to grow as fast as we'd like."

Dainton then concluded his update with news of ITTF's plans to create a home for table tennis. 

"This won't just be an office, but a permanent base for our high performance strategy and state-of-the-art training facilities," he said.

"The ultimate goal would be to have a mini museum, TTX tables and a retail store too. 

"We want people to stop by and enjoy a game of table tennis. 

"Hopefully this is the place that can help create the next stars of table tennis. 

"After all, we need to be nurturing a new generation of star players from different parts of the world to ensure an exciting future for the sport and one which will attract more and more spectators and supporters from across the globe."