Jean Michel Saive vs Thomas Weikert - Who would you vote for?

Cool topic @haggisv here are our two podcasts with both candidates.

Jean Michel Saive Podcast:

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Thomas Weikert Podcast:

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Saive obviously really cares about table tennis. He's been a pro, so he will know what they need for the sport and will be better at predicting how changes will affect the pro scene.

In what way has Weikart been effective? Plastic ball situation by itself screams for new blood. Is JMS the right guy? I have no idea but can things get worse? Doubtful. At the end of the day ITTF will continue to be a corrupt organization as long as Presidents are elected by national organizations each one of which has an equal vote.

what are the national organizations? Are they like JTTA and all of those?

It would be interesting to see what Saive can bring to the sport. I'm somewhat skeptical because a great player and popular person, isn't always the best leader. Weikert sounds like an intelligent person with lots of ideas. The testing should prove if these ideas are actually improving the sport.

I'd like to see Saive's impact on the sport, but I'm not sure it should be in the specific function of president.

Listened to the Saive interview. I hope he wins.

Kelpo said:

what are the national organizations? Are they like JTTA and all of those?

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Yes. Also like USATT, ETTA, etc. But the vote from Solomon Islands TTA or Uzbhekistan TTA counts the same as China or Germany associations. And what sways their vote? Development funds from ITTF spent in their countries, even if they have basically no international players. A form of bribery that really does nothing for the sport, but is how Adham Sharara stayed president so long. That leads to corruption. It is straight out of the FIfA playbook. Good thing about Saive is he would be very new blood. Different from Platini.

I don't trust Weickert yet. Too much of an ITTF insider. Maybe I'm wrong. But I think we need big change.

Point is though that our opinions matter for nothing. National associations each get one vote. But we have to go along with whatever ITTF decides.

Maybe Saive needs to be onboard with the marketing/showman team. My question is... does even the presidency role have a big influence on changes made?

Plastic balls and TTX are enough. Go Jean-Michel and bring back table tennis to table tennis players.

Like seriously I clicked randomly on the podcast and I heard his idea would be to only serve with the backhand, I hope he is joking but this isn't kind of funny...

Less variety, less spin, less speed seems to be the main goal of ITTF but these caracteristics are the essence of our sport and why we like it !

Donow said:

Plastic balls and TTX are enough. Go Jean-Michel and bring back table tennis to table tennis players.

Like seriously I clicked randomly on the podcast and I heard his idea would be to only serve with the backhand, I hope he is joking but this isn't kind of funny...

Less variety, less spin, less speed seems to be the main goal of ITTF but these caracteristics are the essence of our sport and why we like it !

Click to expand...

This sums up my feeling pretty well.

I knew we were in trouble when Weikert was asked about the problems with the plastic balls at the Olympic Games and players complaining about those balls, and he tried to smile and pretend that there was no problems and no players were complaining.

To me, not to acknowledge that there are real problems with the plastic ball and that players at the Olympic Games definitely complained about them is totally disingenuous.

I personally don't care which plastic ball you like. I like the seamless and the Nittaku Premium. I would find the Butterfly G40+ pretty okay if they were round.

But the seamed balls that come from DHS and Double Fish are terrible.

However, regardless of being okay with Nittaku Premium, Seamless and G40+, I AM NOT OKAY with just how DIFFERENT each of those is from each other.

Back in the days of the celluloid 40mm ball, you could feel differences. Between balls from different brands. But I could train with Double Fish balls and play a tournament that used a Nittaku ball and have next to no adjustment to play with the Nittaku ball, and vice versa. But with the 40+, you really need to train with the ball they will use if you are going to play a tournament. It is a problem in and of itself that each of the balls play so differently to all the other balls. And a president who doesn't acknowledge that problem can't address it.


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Yeah.. Weikert can always fall back on beeing Tom Cruise's doorky looking, banjo playing half cusin.. let Saive have it..

I guess ITTF's main job is to grow the sport and catering for top players/competitions are only small part of their job.

How capable is Saive as a sport admin? He was a pro player until last year but running for top office job in all table tennis? Can a Belgium in this forum tell me his past achievement as a non-player because googling only tells me he's only been a chair of the European Olympic Committees Athletes Commission.

On the other hand, Weikert seems to lack vision and leadership but he'll follow Sharara's path as long as he stays as a chairman.

Elections will be rigged as ittf itself is all corrupt.

If you can't admit there are problems with plastic ball situation, you should not be ITTF president. Weickert is like Sharara in this regard. Big sign we need someone new. Its not that hard of a job. JMS will be an upgrade. He acknowledges reality.

But it won't be decided on basic of what is best for the sport. Unfortunately.

According to online stats, Saive will be president... oh wait the ITTF vote