The dinner brought together the table tennis community for a night of drinks, charity and entertainment with the funds raised to be devoted to three areas which are Para table tennis, development programmes supporting peace through sports and junior programmes to develop young talents.

The guest of honours was UN Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) Wilfried Lemke (pictured top).

"Our relationship with the International Table Tennis Federation is one of our most fruitful partnerships," said Lemke.

"Our young leaders from all around the world continue to benefit from the expertise of the ITTF."

The inaugural ITTF Dream Building Dinner took place alongside the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships.

Liebherr, the title sponsor of the World Championships, revealed at the event that they would donate $50,000 (£33,000/€39,000) to the ITTF Dream Building programme.

"We know that as a family-owned company active throughout the world, we carry considerable responsibility for society," said Liebherr chief executive Andreas Bohm.

"We are convinced that we shall only achieve long-term success if we remain aware of this responsibility in all our activities.

"Therefore we are very happy to participate in this project and we wish the ITTF Dream Building programme all the best for the future."

ITTF President Adham Sharara welcomed the huge donation from Liebherr.

"We are very pleased that Liebherr, one of our closest partners, has decided to support our development efforts with this generous donation," he said.

"Overall, it was a very successful initiative, and we plan to continue to expand on the idea and make it a tradition to assist us to run more programmes."

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