But this was a progress in the game that became more attractive. So the European players needed to adjust and prepare in a different way. I still think that China is a great table tennis nation with the best players in the World. Don't forget that China won 4 Gold medals in Paris. This is a fantastic result. Congratulations to China. Also remember that the same result in the men's singles happened in 1997 when Waldner beat Samsonov in the Final. Also in the 1992 Olympic Games. That was still under the old rules and 38mm ball.
Please keep following our game and keep cheering for your team.
Adham Sharara
ITTF President
Mr. President:
Thank you very much. Whether you read it yourself, or it is just handled by your workmates, I was impressed by your work. Because I had never expected to receive a reply. The truth is that more and more Chinese people began to realize: it is ruinous for the development of every sport, if it is long-term monopolized by a single country. Please understand, we just emotionally can't accept the results or the changes. But we will in the future. As a 17 years old girl, if my words are not that pleasant, please believe: I didn't mean to. Maybe for the results of the game, we can put it that way: it is not perfect for china, but it is perfect for the whole world and its development. You have persuaded me. I love sports and table tennis, now and forever.
Thank you for your work again.
Candy
2003.5.28
I must assure you and all Chinese fans, that SPORT is SPORT. I am not a politician, I am a sportsman. I love sport and I love table tennis. Everything that the ITTF is doing is to promote table tennis all over the world. China won 4 Gold medals in Paris. This is a fantastic achievement. China is a very strong table tennis nation and we all respect this. All other nations must work very hard to win against China. The change of the rules is equal for all players. Maybe Samsonov also is not happy with the changes in the rules as he lost in the quarter finals. But we are not against Samsonov, and we are surely not against China. Of course as the President of the ITTF I am happy to see more countries win medals. This is very good for our sport and very good also for China to have more competition. We must give credit to these new winners and respect their achievement. We can not say that the new Champion won because we changed the rules. Mr. Schlager had very bas results when we changed the rules, but he found a way to adjust and have excellent results in Paris. I was also told that our new rules were against defending players, but yesterday a Korean defending player Mr. Joo won a silver medal. This is great for defenders all over the world.
Please understand, no one is against China, this is a SPORT and the rules are equal for all. If you disagree, it means that the rules must have been in favour of China before, and this also would be unfair.
Adham Sharara
ITTF President
Hello Mr. President & CEO.
I'm just a Chinese Ping-Pong fan, so are 13 million Chinese people. It doesn’t mean I like playing it, just because Ping-Pong is national ball in our eyes. Maybe you have achieved your goal in this Men's single championship, when you saw 4 players from different countries standing on the stage. At the same time, we saw it with broken hearts. Even though I’m not used to see a foreigner got gold medal, even though thousands of critical articles were published pointing out your measures against China on the net, I faithfully understand your thoughts of changing the monopolization. But as a Chinese, I completely believed in our outstanding players. They will soon make good use of the new rules, and make good performances in Olympic Games as they did before. I hope when my words come true, you WILL NOT change the regulations again. Because you know, Ping-Pong means more than a sports item for our Chinese, that’s the reason we call it “National ball”. At last, thanks for your dedications.
Have a nice day.
Candy
2002.5.26
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