Ask ITTF President Thomas Weikert a question on the TTD podcast!

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Hey guys, we are pleased to announce that one of our next guests on the TableTennisDaily podcast is ITTF president Thomas Weikert. Thomas Weikert became president in September 2014 taking over from Adham Sharara. Thomas is arguably the important man in the world of table tennis today. He has the final say on all of the decisions made by the ITTF so should be a great guest and have some really interesting things to share. If you have any questions you'd like to ask personally submit your questions here on this thread and we'll pick the best and ask him on the show!

Simply submit your question below! We will do our best to feature your question in the podcast!

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Thomas Weikert - Photo by: en.ytsports.cn
 
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Do you think it is possible to increase the number of camera recordings from the current 2 to say, 4?

Do you think it is possible to hire more commentators to make matches more interesting, rather than solely relying on Adam Babarow for the more advanced rounds? (even though Adam is very good, it still won't be a bad idea to have variety)

Is it possible that you can improve the quality of the recordings?

Why so many rule changes recently? If the reason is to make table tennis more popular to the world, do you see a possibility that instead of changing the game, upgrade the promotion of table tennis (more cameras, more media exposure, more events)?
 
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All sports are dependent on external sponsorship to grow and thrive. Table Tennis is a massive international sport and yet operates and presents it's biggest events like a much smaller, obscure sport. The presentation quality of the TT world championships is put to shame by even English county cricket and yet the global audience, at 450 million (ITTF figures) is greater than even a Formula One event. Why isn't the ITTF securing vastly greater corporate sponsorship deals for the sport when the audience is this big? Is it because the ITTF have some reason they don't want to attract more money into the sport or is it because they don't have the skills within the organisation to go out and win it?
 
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Is there any momentum towards standardizing the table tennis ball rather than having all the different types that play differently?

Have you watched any of Gregg Lett's youtube videos criticizing the ITTF with cartoons and if so what do you think of them?

Is there any plan to either legalize or test for boosting and to legalize or clean up the service rules so that we can all play on a more level playing field rather than letting people who are willing to cheat get an advantage?

Do you think people who create shorter versions of ITTF videos are good or bad for the sport's popularity and shouldn't they be brought into the ITTF umbrella and partially compensated, rather than being punished as copyright cheats?

How do you plan to make table tennis more appealing for youth in the age of computer games?

Are there any plans to introduce more types of table tennis events? Exhibition or synchronized table tennis would encourage the rally part of our sport which tends to appeal to spectators.
 
Do you have participation numbers (percentage or numbers) that quantify increases/decreases on each continent? Is there one continent with explosive growth and one in major decline? On any in decline, what is the ITTF doing to make improvements?

Thanks,
Chuck
 
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I have nothing more left to say , I thing the whole podcast can be conducted on the below questions
Is there any momentum towards standardizing the table tennis ball rather than having all the different types that play differently?

Have you watched any of Gregg Lett's youtube videos criticizing the ITTF with cartoons and if so what do you think of them?

Is there any plan to either legalize or test for boosting and to legalize or clean up the service rules so that we can all play on a more level playing field rather than letting people who are willing to cheat get an advantage?

Do you think people who create shorter versions of ITTF videos are good or bad for the sport's popularity and shouldn't they be brought into the ITTF umbrella and partially compensated, rather than being punished as copyright cheats?

How do you plan to make table tennis more appealing for youth in the age of computer games?

Are there any plans to introduce more types of table tennis events? Exhibition or synchronized table tennis would encourage the rally part of our sport which tends to appeal to spectators.
 
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Is there any momentum towards standardizing the table tennis ball rather than having all the different types that play differently?

Have you watched any of Gregg Lett's youtube videos criticizing the ITTF with cartoons and if so what do you think of them?

Is there any plan to either legalize or test for boosting and to legalize or clean up the service rules so that we can all play on a more level playing field rather than letting people who are willing to cheat get an advantage?

Do you think people who create shorter versions of ITTF videos are good or bad for the sport's popularity and shouldn't they be brought into the ITTF umbrella and partially compensated, rather than being punished as copyright cheats?

How do you plan to make table tennis more appealing for youth in the age of computer games?

Are there any plans to introduce more types of table tennis events? Exhibition or synchronized table tennis would encourage the rally part of our sport which tends to appeal to spectators.

All of you should hit the like button. Dan, I want you to have NextLevel there with you to help the interview. Add Greg Letts the the panel and you will have a top notch staff to brainstorm for the interview.

See all of Greg's cartoon videos for some deep insight into good questions to ask.

I really do want to know why it is okay to consider the 40+ seamed balls from China to be 3*** Stars? Why it is okay that the playing characteristics of all the 40+ 3*** Star balls have such vastly different playing characteristics.

In the 40mm Celluloid Era, all the 3*** Star balls were a little different but it was a very easy adjustment from brand to brand, from ball to ball. The G40+, the Nittaku Premium, the seamless and those pieces of junk from DHS and Double Fish all play so vastly differently.

Why do they all get the stamp of approval. Especially when some of them have completely inconsistent bounce characteristics.

Where are the YELLOW, or is it ORANGE, plastic balls. 2 years after the official ball change, why is this not more coordinated and fine tuned. Truthfully the 40+ Poly Ball has been a fiasco that has only hurt table tennis from the perspective of the grass roots fan base. How do you plan to deal with the major hit to the credibility of the ITTF that this whole fiasco has created:

Balls called "3*** Star" with ITTF Approval that don't bounce and break after one good hit. Pro players in the middle of tournaments being heard to say: "these balls are terrible," in words much harsher than those I just used.

Where is the positive side of this whole thing.



Sent from Deep Space by Abacus
 
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Please ask Thomas Weikert for better quality videos of the matches uploaded on ittf please... It's a joke what a terrible quality the videos are right now.

Shorter versions of ittf videos or in fact any table tennis matches as highlights are always easier to watch. It'd be insane if this was considered to be wrong thing to do. And they gain the most view count because most people don't have time to watch 40-50 minute long videos each match.
 
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One more thing to ask is why they are still going ahead with the old Flash based ittv and not finding out a way to transfer all live telecasting to anything which has HTML 5 support (e.g youtube :) ) , so that all international matches can be streamed to all devices. If table tennis is going to get popular it has to start with people being able to see HD quality telecast on their TV. With devices such as Chromecast and roku available , if they can stream to youtube atleast the the number of viewers will increase and if that leads to better sales of telecast rights , so be it. Atleast , it will bring revenue from media rights instead of equipment manufacturers !
 
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Is there a way to view what ITTF is actually working on in terms of bettering the sport? Is there even a communication gate between players and the ITTF? By looking at these questions alone and say equating table tennis to a version of software, the software is pretty broken. Most software companies post a log of bugs, fixes and updates - would it not make sense to be a bit more transparent to the world community about what this company does and what they are working on?

Otherwise I can see it as being an "us vs them" when the game gets changed or extremely obvious negative parts of the game stagnate.

This interview is a step in the right direction concerning communication to players.
 
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Do you ever look at the forum's yourself and see the complaints of the average players?

Do you think the change in ball size and material was a successful change?

If you could go back would you have made sure more testing was done before changing the rules for the new ball? There are still no training balls that are of decent quality for the plastic 40+ ball.

What other changes do you think would help make table tennis more of a spectator sport other than slowing down the game? Or do you think this is the best possible way to make it more entertaining for spectators?
 
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Ask him if the ITTF has any ideas on reducing the time between the points.
Even Timo Boll said that the time between two points is too long and especially the spectactors get bored when the players need 30 seconds or more to pick up the ball and get ready again.
As Timo also said it would make sense to copy the way the Chinese Super League handles this problem.
There they play with more than one ball and the umpire always gives the players a new ball if it is necessary so that the game can move on faster.
I personally can't understand why the ITTF doesn't cooperate with the Chinese League or at least copies some rules from the Chinese Super League where the're always much faster and smarter in making new rules...
 
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