Hello from ITTF President

[adham]

Zitat von TSC

Nice to see you back, Adham. I already thought that you may have had enough of us.

Anyway, I have a question:

It appears to me that the number of international tournaments grew steadily in the past years (?) with the result that the top players here in europe have contracts with their clubs that allow them to focus on the international duties (most recent case with Dimitrij Ovtcharov announcing his move to belgian top flight Villette Charleroi).
I understand that the international tournaments offer potentially more interesting games as all the top players gather together but on the other side I see that the clubs are losing those players that attract a lot of the local audience, too.
It would be great to hear your personal opinion/thoughts and the one of the ITTF about this development, the reasons and possible future plans.

Thank you.

Thanks. Yes, there are more international tournaments but especially at the Junior elevel. We started with 5 Open Junior events in 2003 and now we have more than 20. However, at the senior level, it has been more or less the same over the last 10 years, we have about 16 Pro Tour events per year, plus the World Cup, the World Championships and some other special events. So perhaps about 20 or so events for the top players. Of course it's a question of balance. The players do not have to play in every ITTF event, it's up to them and their national association to choose the events in whcih they wish to participate. However, because of the Ranking, and because of the possibility to compete against the best, many players prefer to focus on the international scene. This is especially true for the younger players. You can see the results of Ovtcharov at the Danish Open, this in my opinion cannot be achieved by playing only at the club level. Now, why did he go to Belgium? I do not know for sure. But you may have a good point; because of less matches and perhaps a better contract financially. This is a question of open market. To answer your question, my opinion is that it depends on the player's goal. If the player wants to be the best in the World then he/she must play internationally as much as possible. If they just wish to have a good level and a steady income, then they can focus more on the club play. Werner Schlager said that he won the World Championships in 2003 because he was the player who played the most in the pro Tour and that was his focus. I also think if a player who is top ranked internationally plays a match in the club, then of course it attracts more spectators. So, at the end, I believe it's a question of priorities and a question of balance.

[TSC]

Zitat von adham

This is a question of open market. ... So, at the end, I believe it's a question of priorities and a question of balance.

Is this supported by The ITTF (and the continental associations)? I'd assume that the DTTB for example is in a difficult position as they'd love to keep their best players in the clubs (in support of the audience and maybe TV coverage) while the (top) players have other things in mind. On the other side, smaller associations with low-ranked players may be happy to send their players to international tournaments where they can gain experience (among other things) as the audience is not a matter for them.

Does the ITTF consider to increase or lower the number of tournaments?

[adham]

Zitat von TSC

Is this supported by The ITTF (and the continental associations)? I'd assume that the DTTB for example is in a difficult position as they'd love to keep their best players in the clubs (in support of the audience and maybe TV coverage) while the (top) players have other things in mind. On the other side, smaller associations with low-ranked players may be happy to send their players to international tournaments where they can gain experience (among other things) as the audience is not a matter for them.

Does the ITTF consider to increase or lower the number of tournaments?

We like to increase the number of tournaments for Juniors. I hope we have more every year. For the top players we do not plan to increase the tournaments. We have the World Championships, the World Cups and the ITTF Pro Tour, plus some special events such as the Tournament of Champions and the VW Cup (new in 2009). So not much difference than before. It's nice for players to play in Clubs, but if they want to be top in the World then of course they need to be active in international tournaments. Ovtcharov just had a great tournament in Denmark and played against 3 Chinese. he would not have a similar chance at the club level.

By the way, excellent effort for Ovtcharov, close final against Ma Long. Congratulations to Germany, they did very well in the Danish Open.

Adham

[Zuni]

Thanks for your anthwers

But refering to your anther to question 3) I think you didn't get my point for I read about the ITTFs constitution some pages before.
The question was why national associations propose rules that if you f.e. consider the one about frictionless pimples won't affect the international ITTF events at all (and that is referring to you what the ITTF rules are for).
You said: "Perhaps those that proposed the rule wished it implemented at the national level, or perhaps they did not want certain elements to come up to the international level." But why should they propose a rule to the ITTF if they wish to implement it to their national level if this their own job anyway (and not the ITTFs) ? Or were they really concerned that fricionless pimples would affect the international level in a great way ?

Refering to your anthwer to 'question' 4) I would agree with you that there would have been need for immediate action if it would have been a problem of physical health like drugs. But since it's been just a rule that affects the material to the advantage / disadvantage of certain players it would have had time to develop methods to proof at least most of the actual forbidden 'substances' (treated pimples, speed glue,tuner, booster). With just banning the material without handing a method to the national levels you hand over an advantage to cheaters over legal players who no longer use speed gluing etc.
If you will say again, that it's not the ITTFs job to take care of national levels you are maybe all right, but by knowing that all rules will be passed down to all national levels (except in Britain) you willingly accept it.

And even onthe international level thee are professionals caomplaining about the insufficient testing.

Enclosed an article by an german news-cast station - The problem of cheating was also mentioned by them during a broadcasted report about the EM.

http://www.n-tv.de/TTEM_in_St_Peters...1/1035358.html

Bad publicity on TV just because a (maybe good) rule was established to early / in a wrong way...

"it is impossible to catch every single person that cheats" - right, but you should be able to catch at least a third of them.

mfG Zuni

[adham]

Rules: I think that it was both objectives. On the one hand some national associations prefer that the rule they adopt is an ITTF rule. Also, they did not wish the effect to go up to the international level eventually. This is my opinion. Of course any national association can make any rule they want in their own country, I agree with you; but some prefer it to come from the ITTF.

Cheating: yes, I agree with you that it is much better to have a good detection method before you make a rule. But even with a good detection method, it is impossible to implement such detection at ALL levels. Your target of catching at least one-third is a very good one. perhaps the ITTF will try to do even better than that.

General Statement:
I said it many times in many forums and also inside the ITTF, for me personally I wish every player plays any way they like using any equipmnebt they like as long as we do not allow health hazards. But this is just my personal opinion. The majority in the ITTF does not think like me, they prefer strict regulations and controls on the type of equipment allowed. To be honest, in TT we have a lot of variety on equipment so I can accept some limitations as well.

[buddywow]

Finally: table tennis becomes a fancy sport amongst Hollywood superstars:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/fa...0tennis&st=cse

[noppen-lord]

Intresting is the colour of the rubber they play.
Good old times with not so much rules.
Every one plays what he wants blue ,green rubbers long pimples with and without friction ..........................

[TSC]

Adham,


I decided to ask/translate something that has already been discussed here previously but thought that your perspective might add something new:

China the superpower - has always been like that, is it currently and will always stay like that?


Worldchampions in the males singles competition, Worldchampions in the ladies singles, Worldchampions in the males doubles, ladies doubles, Worldchampions in both team events, winners of all olympic competitions, many many titles at pro tour events and not to mention the countless 2nd and 3rd places (and so on...).

They have the player-superstars Ma Lin, Wang Hao, Ma Long and Wang Liqin (the latter seems to decline a bit) plus a number of high-profile "second row"-players that every Nation would be very fond of.

In womans TT, their strength and dominance, including the chinese-born foreign players seems to be even more extreme.

What is the secret of the chinese success? Is it the mentality? Is it the huge number of players? Is it the way tabletennis is fostered? What is it?

With the Olympics 2012 in London (or the 2016 ones) in mind (or the future in general), do you see the possibility to seriously break through their dominance or will it just be a matter of occasional surprises?

Do the top chinese players only have to fear competition out of their own rows while other continents have to hope for a good day form of exceptional players such as Timo Boll or J.O.-Waldner in the past?

Are the chinese coaching methods transferable to other countries/continents or is such a system unthinkable? Who knows exactly how the chinese practice?

[adham]

Yes, the Chinese are very strong and may dominate for a long time. The reason for their success is all the factors you have listed, plus the fact that they treat the sport like their National Sport and invest huge amounts to make sure they remain the best. Their top players are heroes, so the young talented athletes like to join TT. In other countries the young talented athletes usually go to Soccer (Football) or the glamorous sports in their own country (Basketball, etc.).

However, many things haoppen in cycles. When a country dominates too much then the interest in that country starts to decline and things change. Tis happened to China in the early 1990s when the Swedes took over and also in the late 1970s with the Hungarians. But since 1995 the Chinese have been getting stronger and stronger. It's a remarkable longevity at the top (14 years). But there are always some exceptions like at the 2000 World Team Championships losing to Sweden, then at the 2003 WTTC in Paris where the Chinese men all lost. AND, just a few days ago Timo Boll won the Qatar Open beating Ma Lin in the final and other Chinese earlier. So, there is always some hope.

On the women's side, you are right. They are very far ahead, maybe only the Koreans or the Japanese could challenge them in the future.

The only thing I can say, is that other countries must try harder and some associations must make it a goal to become World Champions, like Sweden and Hungary did before.


adham

[Duque]

Hello Adham,

thank you for being in this forum and your patience to reply our questions.

Well, a matter of particular interest are the rules and regulations which will be subject to modifications for the upcoming season.

Can you give us an impression of what rules and regulations are under discussion at the ITTF at the moment. What can we await for the next months or next year?