International Table Tennis Federation
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The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is the governing body for all national table tennis associations. Led by representatives of Germany, Hungary, and England, the International Table Tennis Federation (French: Fédération Internationale de Tennis de Table) was founded in 1926[1]. The first international tournament was held in January 1926 in Berlin. Austria, Germany, Hungary and Sweden were charter members.
The role of the ITTF includes overseeing rules and regulations and seeking technological improvement for the sport of table tennis. The ITTF runs numerous international competitions, including the Table Tennis World Championships that has continued since 1926.
Toward the end of 2000, the ITTF instituted several rules changes aimed at making table tennis more viable as a televised spectator sport. First, the older 38 mm balls were officially replaced by 40 mm balls. This increased the ball’s air resistance and effectively slowed down the game. By that time, players had begun increasing the thickness of the fast sponge layer on their paddles, which made the game excessively fast, and difficult to watch on television. Secondly, the ITTF changed from a 21 to an 11 point scoring system. This was intended to make games more fast-paced and exciting. The ITTF also changed the rules on service to prevent a player from hiding the ball during service, in order to increase the average length of rallies and to reduce the server’s advantage.
There are currently 205 member organizations associated with the ITTF. The seat of the ITTF is in Lausanne, Switzerland. The current president of the ITTF is Adham Sharara, a Canadian.
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[edit] Role in diplomacy
Unlike the organizations for more popular sports, the ITTF tends to recognize teams from generally unrecognized governing bodies for disputed territory. For example, it currently recognizes the Table Tennis Federation of Kosovo even though Kosovo is excluded from most other sports. It recognized the People's Republic of China in the 1970s and allowed some basic diplomacy[2] which lead to an opening for U.S. President Richard Nixon, called "Ping Pong Diplomacy".
[edit] Contests (Main Draw)
- Men's Singles
- Women's Singles
- Men's Doubles
- Women's Doubles
- Mixed Doubles
[edit] Men's Singles Contest
The men's singles contest consists of two male players playing against each other.
Current Men's Singles Competition
[edit] Women's Singles Contest
The women's singles contest consists of two female players playing against each other.
Current Women's Singles Competition
[edit] Men's Doubles Contest
The men's doubles contest consists of two pairs of male players (total of 4) playing against each other.
Current Men's Doubles Competition
The 2007 World Table Tennis Championship is currently held in Zagreb between May 21 to May 27, 2007 Current champions in the Men's Mixed Doubles Semifinals are:
- Ma Lin/Wang Nan defeat Ko Lai Chak/Tie Yana 12-10, 11-6, 11-8, 11-4
- Wang Liqin/Guo Yue defeat Qiu Yike/Cao Zhen 9-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-6, 11-3
(Source: http://www.ittf.com/_front_page/ittf.asp?category=General)
[edit] Women's Doubles Contest
The women's doubles contest consists of two pairs of female players (total of 4) playing against each other.
Current Women's Doubles Competition
[edit] Mixed Doubles Contest
The mixed doubles contest consists of two pairs of mixed players (total of 2 women, 2 men) playing against each other.
Current Mixed Doubles Competition
[edit] References
- ^ "International Table Tennis Federation". Encyclopædia Britannica. (2008). Retrieved on 2008-05-30.
- ^ McCurry, Justin. "Ping-pong diplomacy back on table as Chinese premier visits Japan", Guardian, 2008-05-06. Retrieved on 2008-05-30.
