ITTF marks 100 years in London, backs new constitution for future

The ITTF used its centenary moment in London to do more than celebrate a birthday. On the same city that staged the first World Championships in 1926, the federation backed a new constitution it says is meant to fit a very different sport, and a very different governing climate, than the one that existed a century ago.

The centenary championships opened with the kind of scale that would have been unthinkable in 1926. The 2026 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals run from 28 April to 10 May, with the opening stage at Copper Box Arena in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park before the knockout rounds move to OVO Arena Wembley. This edition features 64 men’s teams and 64 women’s teams, a reminder of how far the event has grown since the first World Championships in London 100 years ago.

The governance message was even more pointed than the pageantry. The ITTF Executive Board said it fully supports the new constitution, which the Annual General Meeting in London on 3 May will consider. The reform began with a mandate approved by the 2025 AGM in Doha, and the federation published a first draft of the new text on 6 February 2026.

ITTF says Phase 1 of the process reached 121 member associations and included 12 regional dialogues, plus written submissions, one-on-one meetings and direct exchanges with the ITTF Athletes’ Commission, governance experts and other sport bodies. That matters because the overhaul is being framed not as a cosmetic rewrite, but as a reset of how power, representation and accountability work inside the federation.

The centenary setting makes the point even harder to miss. ITTF says 2026 marks 100 years since both the federation was founded and the first World Championships were held in London. It also describes table tennis as having developed in England in the late 19th century, which gives the London return a layer of history that is bigger than a ceremonial anniversary. Petra Sörling has described the return to the city as a full-circle moment.

For players, coaches and officials, the practical question is whether this is real reform or just centenary language. The answer depends on what happens at the AGM on 3 May. If the new constitution is approved, the sport will have taken a concrete step toward a structure built around modern expectations of transparency, athlete voice and member influence, not just the habits inherited from table tennis’s founding era.