No, it isn't, but it's not the players fault and it's not China's fault either, because if "we" didn't allow them to play for "us" , "they" wouldn't be able to. We have created the situation ourselves by implementing the rules. Blame "us" or our national associations instead.
This doesn't only apply to non-European players. Many players play for a country they weren't born in or grew up in.
To give just a few examples: Amelie Solja isn't Austrian, Kreanga isn't Greek, Ovtcharov isn't German if you follow the "born in this country line".
How do we judge what is reasonable or not? Are you only allowed to play for a country where you were born? Or for a country where you got your table tennis education? Or only for a country were you look like the majority population? Are second generation players "European" if they were born in the country, but look Chinese, Peruvian, Indian or Kenyan? Where do you draw the line?
Judging by some comments above, players in the European Championships should look European, not anything else. I find that very restrictive and old-fashioned. The modern world we live in today and the movement of people between countries is reflected in the entry list.
Personally I think the current rules work OK. I just want to see great table tennis and play great table tennis. I don't care where people are from as long as they are nice and we enjoy the competition and learn together.
Exactly. Actually i didn't want to write anything, cause i just had this kind of discussion on another TT-Forum and i think this is totally backwards, outdatet, short-sighted and narrow-minded.
And besides that: we're getting a bit offtopic here.
Well mainly, to make it short, lookin' back in history, humans always went, where life offered them better opportunities.
Going back to the days of the homo erectus, to the early homo sapiens, to the days of the indo-europeans around 100 b.c., to the slavic mass migration around 700 a.d. to the european migration to the both americas 400 years ago.
So since this is going on so long, i don't think this is gonna stop so soon.
Now this is basically how it is. Some people should rather learn how to deal with it! ;-)
Its not banned in the Olympics but it's banned for major ITTF events (World Cup, WTTC and WTTTC). IMO, every country has its immigration policy. No one should complain if their country is doing what it needs to to keep the sport alive. Many of those players are raising the level of TT in Europe.
Absolutely right. Like e.g. Jie Schöpp, who became german women's national Headcoach after her career as a player...
I think people like Han Ying, Shan Xiaona or Li Jiao are uplifting for "european" tabletennis and giving european players the chance to learn how to play against chinese players.
.... but I am also looking to promotion of table tennis and in this case i agree to SpinQuark, that new people or who don't much see best table tennis matches can really see and think that all last matches of championships are played by asians (I mean semis/finals are usually widely streamed on TV) so it is like: "oh again asians playing in the semis/finals, probably this game is for asians only.. not interesting.."
I totally disagree. I think only narrow-minded, and slightly racist people would think that way. Let me tell you why.
If "our" players don't win against 3rd or 4th level chinese players, what can we expect if they play against top level chinese players??? Can someone please answer this question?
I really think this is a BIG chance for players to grow and I highly recommend rather not to miss it!