ITTF President Thomas Weikert has agreed to reduce his pay during the pandemic ©Getty Images

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has announced its President Thomas Weikert and senior staff have agreed to reduce their salary to help the sport through the coronavirus pandemic.

An ITTF Executive Committee meeting was held yesterday to discuss the ongoing consequences of the coronavirus pandemic for table tennis.

Germany's Weikert will take a reduced salary, along with senior staff.

The ITTF Executive Committee has also agreed to reduce their expenses.

The governing body said the agreement came as the organisation aims to save overall costs as part of efforts to manage their 2020 finances.

"The knock-on financial implications of an extended period of not hosting events has led to all ITTF staff and the President to decide taking voluntary salary reductions in 2020, with the ITTF Executive Committee reducing its expenses, to help support the sport during these challenging times," an ITTF statement read.

"ITTF chief executive Steve Dainton underlined the need for all ITTF staff to stick together and make the sacrifice in order to help table tennis emerge stronger once the pandemic finally clears.

"The ITTF is constantly evaluating the financial implications of event postponements, while exploring ways in how it can work with various Governments around the world to minimise the financial impact.

"These are the initial measures to ensure that the table tennis world will be stronger afterwards and best possibly equipped to enter the exciting new era of World Table Tennis, the new entity launching in 2021 to manage all of the ITTF's commercial and events business, elevating table tennis to exciting new heights in the future."

Table tennis events are currently suspended until June 30 ©Getty Images
Table tennis events are currently suspended until June 30 ©Getty Images

The ITTF added it was doing all it could to support the table tennis community during the pandemic.

Table tennis competitions have been heavily impacted by the outbreak.

On March 29, the ITTF announced that all its planned events had been postponed until June 30.

This includes all activities that involve international travel.

Proposed new dates for the 2020 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan are expected to be announced in the coming week.

The ITTF ranking lists have been postponed, with further evaluation of the implications related to the postponement of events, travel restrictions and other complications set to take place.