• It is very unpleasant for me to report that after a relative good start, the implementation of the new Service Rule has rapidly deteriorated and has a reached a point that needs immediate attention and concise action.

After a good start at the Women’s World Cup and at the Korean Open, we noted a quick deterioration in respecting the new service rule. Unfortunately, some players have pushed the envelope to the limit and developed very “suspect” service; and more unfortunately some of our Umpires have not been able to implement the rule as it was intended. Our Umpires & Referees Committee has reacted very quickly and has produced several explanatory documents and visual aids to help the umpires better implement the new service rule.

• I have requested from the Umpires’ Secretary of the Umpires & Referees Committee to prepare a special emergency seminar, with the assistance of the German Table Tennis Association, at which International Umpires and Chairmen of National Umpires Committees would be able to attend and to be given detailed instructions on the “implementation” of the service rule and a set of “indicators” identifying a legal and illegal service.

• The Umpires & Referees Committee has worked very hard over the last year since its inception in Osaka in May 2001. The volume of work produced and the steps taken are to be commended. This is a very important function within the ITTF and we will ask the Umpires & Referees Committee to focus on the “Educational” aspects of the their plan in 2003 to further develop “Trainers” and “Course Conductors” as well as to educate our International Umpires on an ongoing basis.

• I met with our Programme Co-ordinator, Lilamani de Soysa, in order to be briefed on the progress regarding the ITTF Women’s Conference to be held during the World Championships in Paris.


• A lot of interest has been expressed by several associations and Ms. De Soysa is presently compiling the list of participants. We have requested advice from the IOC who has named a consultant to assist us in this endeavour. We will also ask the involvement of top officials from the International Conference on Women in Sports. More information will be provided in due time.


• The ITTF is now part of a pilot project with the Population Council targeted at empowering young women in rural areas. We have started a programme in rural Egypt (near El-Minia) in four villages. The Egyptian TTA will start the educational aspect of the programme in January 2003 with a follow-up visit by Glenn Tepper in March 2003.

• With our Executive Director, Jordi Serra, I met recently with Mr. Pere Miro, Director of Olympic Solidarity. We had a very positive meeting and it is evident that the ITTF’s efforts in development are greatly felt by the Olympic Solidarity programme.


• Here is an excerpt of a letter I received recently from Mr. Miro:
  “We thank you for your continued collaboration and once again, we commend the ITTF for the excellent work achieved over recent years towards the world-wide development of table tennis”

• As many of you know, the IOC programme Commission recommended the removal of three sports from the Summer Olympic programme (Baseball, Softball and Modern Pentathlon). After a general negative reaction to this proposal and especially regarding the process used, the IOC has decided to postpone this decision until after the Athens Olympics. The same applies to the reduction of events proposed affecting a dozen sports.

• I am extremely pleased with the progress made and participation level in our new Global Junior Programme. 2002 was a pilot year that was extremely successful culminating with the Junior Circuit Final in Stockholm; and 2003 is already fully planned and will culminate with the first World Junior Championships in Chile.


• TMS International has been successful in selling the Equipment Sponsorship for the Junior programme on a 5-year basis (2003-2007) and it is now attempting to secure a title sponsor for the programme.


• On behalf of the ITTF I congratulate Mr. Tony Yue (Chairman of the Junior Commission) and Mr. Mikael Andersson (Co-ordinator) and the entire committee for their excellent work.

• The planning for the Championships is progressing very well and the ITTF is in direct contact with the Organising Committee through inspection visits (Mr. Nicke Bergström) and through daily contact between the ITTF Staff and the OC/FFTT Staff.


• We expect a very high spectator turnout for the last 4 days of the Championships.


• We have requested from the FFTT to combine the FFTT booth and the ITTF booth into one joint booth at which ITTF items would be on display and on sale. We have also secured a space at which ITTF historical items (destined for the ITTF museum) will be on display next to the FFTT philatelic exhibit.

• I had a very good meeting in December with the Qatar Table Tennis Association in Doha (during a Sports Conference to which I have been invited) to discuss the preliminary arrangements for the 2004 World Championships. We will launch the Equipment Bids in January and we have agreed on the financial aspects of the contractual agreement between the ITTF and the 2004 Organising Committee.


• The ITTF EC has been invited to meet in Doha during the 2003 Qatar Open in March 2003 at which time the contractual agreements and directives for the 2004 World Championships should be signed. At that time Mr. Nicke Bergström will outline the schedule for the inspection visits.

• In order to streamline the selection of the WJC with the World Championships, with agreement from the Chairman of the ITTF Junior Commission, the Executive Board at its meeting in Stockholm in December allocated the 2004 WJC to Kobe, Japan (in agreement with the Asian TTU), and the 2005 WJC to Austria. The 2006 WJC would be selected at the same time as the 2006 World Championships. This would be done by the AGM for World Championships, and by the Board of Directors for the WJC at our meetings in Paris in May.


• Bid documents have been sent to some interested associations for the 2006 WJC. Any association wishing to bid should contact Mr. Mikael Andersson, Co-ordinator of the Junior Programme. The bid document will also be available on the ITTF’s web-site.

• The renovations of the Chateau de Renens-sur-Roche, future ITTF headquarters, are proceeding according to schedule. Mr. Jordi Serra visits the site regularly and attends meetings between the architect and the renovation contractors. It is anticipated to transfer our headquarters to the new location in autumn 2003.
  
• When completed the building will accommodate all of our needs in terms of offices, reception areas, audio-visual rooms, storage areas, museum section (historical exhibition), conference and meeting rooms, and sleeping quarters for occasional guests.

• It was decided in Zagreb at the ITTF’s AGM that the newly approved revised Constitution would come into effect as of the following ITTF AGM (Paris, 21 May 2003).


• A commemorative copy of the Constitution will be produced for the occasion in addition to the regular yearly printing of the ITTF Handbook.

• Our Competition Manager, Mr. Zlatko Cordas, has accepted an offer from the Qatar Table Tennis Association (3-year contract) starting on 1 January 2003. The ITTF will request from the QTTA the use of Mr. Cordas for some of the ITTF events in 2003 and 2004 including the 2003 World Championships and the 2004 Olympic Games. On behalf of the ITTF I wish Mr. Cordas a lot of success in his new position and thank him for his excellent work as Competition Manager of the ITTF.


• A special “two-step” training of Competitions Managers will take place early in 2003 to train several Competition Managers from which a select group will be chosen for a second training session after which ITTF events would be assigned to the finally selected CMs.


• In 2002 Mr. Roman Plece delivered a large number of ITTF Coaching courses and Olympic Solidarity Courses for a total of nearly 200 days in the year. In order to streamline the delivery of courses, we have agreed with Mr. Plece to be exclusively available for the ITTF and OS courses in 2003 in return for a contractual agreement. Therefore, the ITTF will try to use Mr. Plece as much as possible to cover all the days in his mandate.


• Technical Co-ordinator (new position): The time, and the need, has now come to open up this position and to advertise it in February 2003 for a target starting date by June 2003. The job description for the position will be prepared to reflect the current needs of the ITTF.

Sincerely,



Adham Sharara

President