Unfortunately, like very often in the press, the information you read is either not correct or you did not understand it correctly. Let me explain to you the facts point by point:
Olympic Games:
- The number of players per country (quota) to participate in the Olympic Games is determined by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). This quota has not changed since table tennis entered the Olympics in 1988. Each country is allowed a maximum of 3 players in men's singles and 3 players in women's singles. There is an additional quota for doubles, but the total any country can have in ALL events is 7 men and 7 women if all the players are different in all events.
- What you read in the newspaper is about the Continental Qualification. In the past, as many players from a country could participate, but only a limited number could qualify. In the case of China, in the past they could enter several players but only ONE could qualify from the Continental Qualification because China always had already 2 players qualified from the Ranking list. This time, the number of qualifiers from China has not changed, they can still qualify one player because they already have 2 qualified by Ranking. The difference is that the rule for ALL Continents is to enter in the Continental qualification the number of players equal to the spaces still available to qualify. In the case of China, Korea, Chinese Taipei, etc, they all already have 2 players qualified by ranking so they can only enter one player in the Continental qualification event. This rule is not new. It was applied this way in many continents before. But this year it must be applied to all Continents equally.
- By the way, all sports have limited quotas set by the IOC. The sports you mentioned all have quotas. USA could enter many more athletes in Athletics or other sports, but they are limited by quotas. The same applies to the Australian swimmers, and the Korean Tae Kwon-Do. In football the Olympic Competition is limited to players under 23 years of age. All sports have quotas. In each sport the quotas of course affect the best nations in that sport. In Table tennis it affects the Chinese. But in 1988 and 1992 it affected the Swedes. These quotas are not against any specific nation, they are set by the IOC to guarantee the concept of "universality". On one hand we have the best players, and on the other hand we need as many countries as possible to take part in the Olympic experience.
Changes to Rules:
- The change to a bigger ball was a Chinese proposal. It was the idea originally of Mr. Ichiro Ogimura of Japan, past ITTF President, which was then promoted and presented by Mr. Xu Yinsheng, former ITTF President from China. I supported this idea because it is good for our sport, not because it is against any country.
- The change to 11 points and the changes to the service rule are made because they are good for our sport, not because they are against China. Any change made in the rules of any sport will always affect the strongest players. This is normal. At the moment China is very strong so it seems like rule changes are designed against China. But all sports make rule changes to improve their sport. When rule changes were made to Volleyball, Football, and many other sports, they always affected the best players first. But this effect is only temporary, the best will always rise to the top. But the positive effect on our sport is long term.
I know that you are very supportive of your country and your athletes and that you think that the ITTF is unfair to your people. Please believe me that the ITTF and I personally only think about what is best for our sport. We never think what is best for one country or what is against another country. The Chinese team and the Chinese coaches have accepted the changes, they have adjusted and they are still the best in the World. It's now time that the spectators and the fans also accept these changes as an improvement for the sport and stop feeling sorry for the Chinese Team, because the Chinese Team is alive and well and fighting very well under any rules.
I hope that you can explain these ideas to your friends and that you continue to support your team.
Sincerely,
Adham Sharara
ITTF President
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Dear Sir or Madam,
How do you do?
I'm a girl from Beijing, China. I read a newspaper report this morning here and can't keep silent now. It's reported that ITTF modified the rule of how many players in a national team can take parts in the qualification of the Olympics. In that case, China national team will have to have one female player and one male player in the coming qualification, because we've already got four tickets to Athens. I know it's fair for each country but only when they've also already got four tickets.
Sorry for not knowing how to speak the standard specific language about the ping-pong/table tennis in English. But I still want to write to you and say what I want to say. Since ITTF's president & CEO Adham Sharara took a post, all of you have done all that you can do to make ping-pong more popular and fair. Yes, Chinese ping-pong is pretty good and some countries are too far behind to catch up with us. So you made the small ball bigger, changed the rule to 11 points scoring, ordered players to take the serve (or tee off?) aboveboardly, and so on. One by one, in my humble opinon, each was directed to China national team. For us, fortunately, one by one, we got them over. For you, maybe just the opposite, you don't see the justice in ping-pong. So without more ado, you started to restrict the quota of our players in the Olympics, huh?
We can do nothing but obey. But as a ping-pong fan, I still can say out anything, right? How can I keep silent and feel good after I read the report? Have you all (esp. honorific Mr. Sharara - I guess your reputation hasn't too good in China) think about this - to get the so-called justice, you've been making Chinese sacrifice the rights to own the justice (don't forget we have the rights too)? Have you all think about this - if we haven't tried our best to catch up with you, how can we still be on top of the ping-pong world? What we do isn't to let you do more to kill us, is it?
Now, please open your eyes, look at the ping-pong world. You've won much! You look at the men's match, how much do we lead other countries? Not so much as you think! If this only one Chinese boy can't get a ticket to Athens in the qualification, it'll be absolutely unfair for Chinese! And it's also your inability - all tricks have been exhausted, except this one. How many other sports have the hell of rule like this? At least, I don't see there's anything disadvantageous for Brazil national football team, USA national track and field team (also swimming team), Australia national swimming team, and so forth. Also, I don't see there's anything special fair for China national football team (I mean men's)! So ITTF is really a special organization, isn't it?
I never want to be disrespectful, and all above is just my own humble opinion as I said. Let me see, anything forgot? Oh yes, last, I believe Chinese national ping-pong team will get over any disadvantages you give us and be invincible like before.
Thanks very much for your reading.
Greetings from China,
Xiao Xiao |
