ITTF Press Release:
Rating Table Tennis Website
– Sheri Soderberg Pittman / Marius Widmer –
Frederikshavn, 25th January 2009
ITTF Website Ranks Third Among Olympic Sports Federations
Former president of USA Table Tennis Sheri Soderberg Pittman brought good news to the International Table Tennis Federation. At a recent marketing seminar she was participating in, it was discovered that
www.ittf.com had a very high ranking. The ITTF’s website ranks third among the 35 official International Federations (IF) websites.
According to the website
www.alexa.com that computes traffic rankings by analyzing the web usage of millions of Alexa Toolbar users and data obtained from other diverse traffic data sources, Yahoo ranks first, followed by Google among all sites on the web.
Comparing Sports Websites
FIFA, the international football/soccer federation has the highest ranked website among the IFs, with a ranking of 1,992 (in top 2,000 websites worldwide). Tennis is second with a ranking of 25,352, followed by table tennis with a ranking of 28,278 (in top 30,000 websites worldwide). Only five other IF websites rank in the top 100,000: Athletics, Skiing, Volleyball, Badminton and Skating.
A Positive Surprise for the ITTF President
President Adham Sharara enthusiastically exclaimed: "I always suspected that our website was very popular and fan-based. But I never imagined that the ITTF's website would be in the top three international federations in the world. This is amazing.”
How did this happen? The website appeals to a wide range of visitors from competitors to spectators, from juniors to veterans, and from able-bodied athletes to Paralympians.
President Sharara added: “We always knew that the number of visitors during our top events was astronomical – in the millions – during our World Championships, but now it's great to have it confirmed by an independent source, which is the world expert in assessing website traffic. I am extremely pleased."
Table Tennis TV Called itTV
Access to itTV allows viewers to watch events via live or delayed transmission. Pop-down menus exist for all major international tournaments. The ITTF online museum brings the sport’s history to life. An extensive photo gallery contains hundreds of catalogued pictures. There is even an interactive table tennis game.
The ITTF website contains a total of 16 distinct subject categories on its toolbar, with several other subcategories, pop up features, and articles accessible from its home page. The ITTF is currently analyzing this exciting information in order to identify innovative ideas to keep promoting table tennis and boosting the sport’s image and popularity.
“We can safely congratulate ourselves and thank our webmaster, Mohamed El-Shentenawy, for his tireless work and Mr. Ian Marshall for his prolific article writing and keeping our fans coming back to our website” concluded Adham Sharara.
For pictures, articles, results and further information please consult
www.ittf.com or contact me.
Kind regards,
Marius Widmer
Media Coordinator