On the back of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) taking back in house its commercial & marketing rights, two new marketing staff have been added to the team.

Jonny COWAN comes on board as the ITTF Partnerships Manager and Iulia NECULA will be the new Event Marketing and Player Service Coordinator.

COWAN brings with him an extensive amount of sport marketing experience, previously being the Head of Marketing at Everton Football Club and working on various projects with UEFA, Rio 2016 Olympic Games and Premiership Rugby.

On his new challenge, COWAN from Northern Ireland stated: "I'm delighted to be joining ITTF Marketing & Commercial Director Steve DAINTON and the team on the next chapter of developing table tennis around the world, with a particular focus on Europe and enhancing the marketing and partnership elements of the sport."

"Having worked in the English Premier Football League and with other rights holders in different sports, I'm keen to increase our use of data and insight to build a global picture of our table tennis fans, to enhance their experience with table tennis across all touch points, and to add even more value to partners and sponsors by connecting their brands with table tennis and its fans in new and innovative ways."

NECULA, an MBA trained table tennis Olympian bring a perfect mix of professional table tennis experience mixed with business training to the ITTF.

The former Romanian national player stated: "It's a big pleasure and a challenge at the same time to be working on 'the other side of the net.' After more than 20 years competing as a professional player, it's time for me to move forward and do my best in the ITTF Marketing team."

"The main objective is to improve the communication between the ITTF, the players and the event organizers. It's time for table tennis to get more prominent and players to be treated with the level of importance that they deserve. There are many ways that table tennis can develop and I am very excited to be a part of it!"

ITTF President Thomas WEIKERT is equally excited with the two new members joining the team: "As the ITTF now has all our rights back in house, it is important that we boost our marketing presence in order to maximize all the potential commercial opportunities. Jonny and Iulia are fantastic hires, and I am sure they will be perfect assets to our already strong marketing team led by Steve DAINTON."

The duo will begin work immediately to increase ITTF's marketing presence world wide.