Then I read one of your articles about your vision of table tennis..I do not agree with you that to slowing up the game should be the main goal for the future. You have also  argued that it is a possibility to approach the Chinese top players. In my eyes it is quite the contrary at the moment. I think we should be proud of the characteristics of table tennis such as speed and  tempo. That’s it what makes table tennis interesting. And the Chinese will always be the strongest nation, it is not for nothing “their” sport. But I agree that it is something one can have a different opinion.

The question of aster or slower is a completely different matter and is of course a matter of opinion. One thing for sure is that I do not encourage our game to be even faster than now as we have already a lot of problems to sell our sport to TV for that reason. But also we do not do anything to make the game slower on purpose. The game will evolve according to the players and coaches and according to trends. The ITTF does not control that. As for the Chinese, or any dominant force in sport, of course the others have to challenge and find ways to beat them. The most sad spectacle I ever saw in sport was the german Team celebrating winning the semifinal match to get to the final of the Olympic Games. They celebrated this win as if they won the Olympic Games, then their match with China was flat and lost in advance. This is not good sport. If you enter an event you try to win  till the ned and you must believe you can win and you fight for your life to win. This is how upsets are created and this is how the top is challenged, never to accept defeat in advance. China was very dominant as well in the early 1980s winning all events. But then Sweden found a way to defeat them for several years. All is possible. This is sport.

For me the ban of booster/tuner is not correct for other reasons as well. There is definitely no way to test booster right now. The result is that in my opinion 80-90% of the top player booster.  For the players like me, who are honest and play without any racket-doping there are only disadvantages. I am a student and do not only focus on table tennis. But if a talk to professional players who make a living playing table tennis you always listen to the same arguments. If you do not booster, you play with such a strong handicap that you have to fear to lose your level and therefore salary and premiums.

Yes, this is the typical argument. Unfortunately in our sport, and most sports, winning is more important than ethics. You see it all the time. In Football if the Referee is not watching anything can happen, then the players plead innocence. In Athletics, Cycling and Weightlifting it seems that all athletes take drugs. To say that because we can not test for the rule it means we cancel the rule is ridiculous. Can all parents watch their kids 24 hrs per day to see if they are taking drugs. No, of course. Does that means we make drugs legal? In sport, your point is correct, some athletes will benefit and those that follow the rule will be hurt. I agree with you. It means that the majority of the athletes are NOT ethical. This is more an educational problem than a rules problem. As a governing body of the sport we must enforce our rules, we try to check the best we can, and we hope that the players follow the honour system. We know that 90% do not follow the honour system. So we must educate, we must teach that cheating is wrong and we must also improve our testing methods and at the same time we must consider if "so called" safe "additives" should be allowed. We are in a transition period and we must wait and see how things develop.

Thus my second questions: Which advice would you give a professional player in the current situation? Should he play clean and accept the heavy disadvantages?

Yes, of course, they should follow the rule. But I know that they are at a great disadvantage and I know they prefer to use non-detectable boosters. Inside the ITTF we say "one step at a time". We believe we eliminated VOCs from the glues. This is a huge success and we achieved our goal. Now new problems and ways to break the rules have emerged., The second step is to find the right way under these new circumstances. This is what we are doing now. Players should just be patient and all will be clear soon.

It is a pity that there is not one single top player who speaks out his position in public. I mean they all know the players who cheat.

This is normal. In Athletics they all know who uses drugs, but they do not point the finger. In our sport all the top players have found a solution for themselves, some use Haifu Oil, some use very low VOC boosters (not detectable) and some have found good solutions with new rubbers from the factory made special for them. So, why point the finger? 

To this day I can’t see  any improvement in the control methods. Where are the new boxes which find out every treatment of the racket?

It is taking longer than expected because every day we discover something new. As I said, this is a transition period and we must be patient.

Coming to an end I have two last questions. What do you think about the new trend that the companies “prepare” the rackets of their top players in the factories? Is this also forbidden? For me It is exactly the same delict as if an amateur player booster his rubbers. Is there a possibility to force the companies to stop this behavior in the future?

It depends how it is done. If the sponge is boosted at the factory level when it is being produced. Then after production iit is aired and free of VOCs, then it is OK. No problem according to our rules. However, if the booster is ADDED after production and after approval by ITTF, then it is also illegal. We have both cases of course. For the players they feel better because they can say that they themselves did not do anything wrong.  We are talking to the manufacturers and trying to work together to control the situation.

And at last I would like to know your opinion about the situation in China. I have talked to Chinese players who participated in the Chinese National Championships some weeks ago. It seems not even  to be a subject, the ban of speed glue. The two biggest companies have developed new glue methods. So the result of my respondent was that every(!) player had prepared his racket. And if a follow the Pro Tour Tournaments like the Danish Open today it is pretty clear for me that the sound of the rackets is not normal.

The Chinese use VOC-free glue. But they also use the Haifu Oil which expands the sponge and stretches the rubber and gives the speed-glue effect. They claim that it is VOC free and poison-free. We are now analyzing it to see if it's true. If in fact we could have a very safe product that gives the speed-glue effect, then why now. This is just my opinion. However, at the moment even Haifu Oil is breaking our rules 2.4 and 2.4.7, but we can not detect it with our current equipment. However, we have become very strict with the 4mm thickness rule because this is an effect of the oils and boosters is that they expand the sponge.

I want to say sorry for my English and for the length of this email. I am really engaged in the theme. Thank you very much for giving the opportunity to contact you!

Your English is fine, it was my pleasure to answer your questions and please feel free to circulate your questions and answers to anyone you want. The more people have these answers the better (if they agree or not is OK) .

Best regards!

Lennart Wehking