Hello from ITTF President

[Neptune]

Hello Mr. Sharara,

thanks for all your statements.

I have one more big question to you.
You said you believe that 25mn applies to any rubber. Is that true? Also, as I remember right, every rubber/surface is not allowed to change from the authorized example and it must be even on all parts of the surface. How can that be? That would be pure confusion. Every inwarded pimpled rubber changes it's surface by using it. Most rubbers (especially 1. inwarded pimpled rubbers, 2. Antis, 3. short pimples) are slippery fast just by using it. Those rubbers mostly need only a small amount of ball contacts (from some Topspins for example) to change their sufarce, some don't like to much dampness, some are slippery all over or some are slippery on some parts and have grip on other parts of the surface........ That would mean, that any rubber which is used looses very fast the authorization the ITTF has given for them. I guess almost everybody is NOT playing legal material, it doesn't matter which material they choose, on one side of their rackets. So most of the members are using illegal material (in case it is not brandnew and not different from the authorized material). In conclusion tabletennis is mostly illegal by the rules the ITTF made because the players cannot really follow the rules (like always buying new rubbers)???

As you already stated, you as the president cannot change the ban. I understand that, though I'm not informed how everything in your organisation is handled. Most of the people here think you are their first point of contact. That's one of the reasons ( the other reason is, that all started in Germany) they write here and hope you can help them, because the ITTF made the rule/ban. You said that we should wait 1-2 years and see whether the situation changes or not. You also said that the rule can be taken back if the ITTF finds out that they were wrong in their decision. Could you please tell me in detail how such a taken back would be progressed? I guess nobody knows here how things really work.

You said "This is the choice that England made, and probably a good choice".
It's a pity that not all national assoziations think as logical as you and the Englisch assoziation. Regarding frictionless long pimples it would be the best that all national tabletennis assoziations would adopt the new rule just for the top leagues in their countries.

Thanks again.

Neptune

[Samsonov93]

Hello Mr. President from ITTF.

I have three questions:

1. What is your favourite rubber?
2. What is your favourite table tennis team (Tibhar, Stiga, Butterfly ...)
3. Who is your favourite table tennis player?

Samsonov93

[adham]

Zitat von Otterbock

No national association surveyed its members. The ITTF is expected by a majority - without a trial ?



The player now just refer to this association is not understandable. The ITTF have to represent the interests of all players.

OB

No, this is not correct. The ITTF is NOT a federation of players, the ITTF is a Federation of National Associations, this is the base of the ITTF's Constitution. We have 205 national associations members of the ITTF. The ITTF passes rules based on propositions made by the national associations. I am sure that decisions within the national associations are taken at the appropriate meetings depending on the structure of each association.

Adham

[wfox]

Dear Adham,

Zitat von adham

Any takers?

Yes, indeed.

The first topic i would like to raise is about the often mentioned vision of the ITTF. Where is the vision clearly stated? Whose vision is it exactly? Where can I find clear short and long term goals leading to this vision?
Btw: my vision would be something like „... establish table-tennis as the number one lifetime sport worldwide...“.

My second topic is more or less an organizational issue. As far as I understand, lots of complains stated here earlier are criticism on already taken decisions. Is there a way to retrieve, read, compare (maybe even understand ) relevant documents generated by ITTF boards like minutes, proposals, etc.?
Establishing e.g. an online-archive with those detailed information might lead to an more open and relaxed discussion.
I really highly appreciate that you are open to discuss here, but some kind of „Open ITTF“ would be my personal wish.

Best Regards,

Wilfried Fox

[adham]

@Neptune

Hi Neptune,

The ITTF rule on racket covering is clear. Please read it carefully. Rule 2.4.7.1 states "Slight deviations from continuity of surface or uniformity of colour due to accidental damage or wear may be allowed provided that they do not significantly change the characteristics of the surface."

Actually I am not the "first" contact, I am the "last" contact. I do NOT have a vote at our Annual General Meeting, I chair the meeting. I only have the deciding vote (if 50%050%) at the Board of Directors meeting. But I was happy to explain and answer questions. If you want your voice to heard and if in your country the majority thinks like you, then you should approach your Club, then your Land assocoation and finally the national association.

Any rule in the ITTF could be changed and any new rule could be proposed. A rule (or change of rule) is proposed by a national association. This is presented to the appropriate meeting: AGM for chapters 1 and 2 of our Handbook, and at the Board of Directors fro Chapter 3,4 and 5 of our Handbook. The proposition made by a national association is discussed by all the delegates (205 associations member at AGM, or 60 Board members at the Board of Directors), and then after some discussion we call for the vote. For Chapter 1 of the Handbook (Constitution) we need more than two-third majority; for Chapter 2 of the Handbook (TT Rules) we need more than 75% of the votes, for all other matters we need more than 50% of the vote.

England has chosen to apply the ITTF rules at a certain level only. Some associations are like England and some like to apply the ITTF rules 100%. This is up to them and according to their own rules. The ITTF does not impose its rules on any national association, but the ITTF rules are applied at any ITTF event. In most sports, I would say that the national associations like to adopt the international rules completely. This is based on my experience.

How about a new subject Neptune? We have discussed the rubbers enough, don't you think?

Adham

[adham]

Zitat von Samsonov93

Hello Mr. President from ITTF.

I have three questions:

1. What is your favourite rubber?
2. What is your favourite table tennis team (Tibhar, Stiga, Butterfly ...)
3. Who is your favourite table tennis player?

Samsonov93

I do not have any favourites for questions 1 and 2. But I can tell you that as a player I played with Yasaka Cobra 2mm, Yasaka Mark V 2mm and Sriver L 2mm. Regardiong blades, I used Stiga Alser, Stiga 2000 and Butterfly (cannot remember the model). But as a coach I used many rubbers, in addition to the above, I used short pimples (many kinds), long pimples (mainly Feit and some Chinese rubbers), Anti-Spin, etc. This was to teach the players I was coaching to play against different types of rubbers.
3. Favourite TT players (you will think I am very old):
Men: Guo Yuhua, Liang Geliang, Secretin, Atellan bengtson, Stipancic, Sarkhoian, Takashima, Kong Linghui, Legout, Douglas, Ofchtarov, Bosi, Waldner, Applegren, and any defensive player.
Women: Jill Hammersly, Chang Li, Nemes, Hirshmuller, Struse (my favourite), Toth, and any defensive woman player.

In general I like all the players that play with spin variation, speed variation and fight hard.

Adham

[adham]

Zitat von wfox

Where is the vision clearly stated? Whose vision is it exactly? Where can I find clear short and long term goals leading to this vision?...
...
Is there a way to retrieve, read, compare (maybe even understand ) relevant documents generated by ITTF boards like minutes, proposals, etc.?
Establishing e.g. an online-archive with those detailed information might lead to an more open and relaxed discussion.
I really highly appreciate that you are open to discuss here, but some kind of „Open ITTF“ would be my personal wish.

You know, in modern business now people are tired of Mission Statements, Vision, Values, within a strategic plan, etc. Often these are just written down and far from reality. Instead in the ITTF we developed a sort of practical Priorities and goals in form of a philosophy as a point of reference. We call it P4 because we use four main headings that start with "P": Planning, Participation, Popularity and Profit Financing. You can find a summary on the website, under President's Forum, under P4. Or if you write to the ITTF e-mail: ittf@ittf.com, I will make sure you receive a detailed PPT copy.

We try to be an open federation. All the propositions and the agenda and reports for the AGM and the Board of Directors are posted to our website. You can find the latest one under 2008 World Championships, and then click on the appropriate link to see all the documents. It is difficult to publish the discussions that take place at the meetings as these are all oral. But we do send the minutes of ALL ITTF meetings to the national associations and they are free to publish or distribute as they like. There are no secrets at all. Most of these minutes are also available on our website, under ITTF Museum, in the "Archive" section.

These need a bit of surfing to find because most people are not interested in these matters. We try to put the most popular sections up front and easy to find.

If you have any difficulty finding them, then just send me an e-mail (ittf@ittf.com) and I will guide you.

Adham

[adham]

Zitat von Mighty

What about that?

http://www.hardbat.com/index2.html

It is true. The national associations are the members of the ITTF and they are the ones that make the rules at the ITTF's AGM. The national associations are also represented at the Board of Directors with 32 members, plus the Continental presidents, plus the ITTF Executive Committee. So in fact, it is the decision of the majority of the national associations that wins. Of course we assume that the national associations represent the view of TT in their country depending on the structure of each national association.

But of course the top officials of the ITTF are not stupid people (I can assure you), and they do listen to players, umpires, officials, etc., in their own country and at ITTF events. And as you can see, I am trying to listen and learn from you.

Adham

[hanifah1]

Zitat von adham

I now believe that we need top agree to disagree and move on to another subject.

People made a decision, made a mistake, try to explain and in the end they do not wanne hear anymore about it.

The "low/non-frictionpimple ban" is the biggest problem for the players in Germany now. Nobody will hear them. The German Präsident of the DTTB does nothing !
So our last chance is to trying get help from the Präsident of the ITTF !

Mr. Saraha, what can I do now to play with non-frictionpimple again.
Please give me an answer, what shall I do ?!?

Thank you very much .

[TSC]

Zitat von hanifah1

So our last chance is to trying get help from the Präsident of the ITTF !

As far as I understood, the ITTF President is solely responsible for organizing and coordinating ITTF member sessions, committees, etc. and has little power itself (at least less power than the ITTF members). It would probably be considered overbearing if he'd approach the DTTB with what you'd like him to do.

Besides that, it is quite possible that a majority of both players and association officials actually support the ban. You may have to accept that.

Have you tried contacting the athletes representatives or any of the other local representatives in your region?