New and Exclusive Interview with Thomas Weikert, ITTF President

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Had a great opportunity to talk with ITTF President Thomas Weikert, I asked some questions on the progress of ITTF and what his plans and vision are moving forward, and then was blessed and humbled for him to respond to my question regarding the relationship between him and former ITTF President Adham Sharara, which he was very open about. See the interview below!

http://www.mhtabletennis.com/2018/09/weikerts-vision-and-leadership.html
 
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Why this thread has been active 7 hours and has only 5 likes is absolutely beyond my comprehension. One has to meet Matt in real life to know his potential for Trouble Making.

This is an EPIC and unparalleled interview.

POUND the like button dude !! Pls.
 
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Blessed and humbled? Almostg as if you were in the presence of a God in human form? Wow. I am sure your article put you well into the good graces of the current ITTF administration and will ensure you a future in the ITTF hierarchy.

Anyway, we all knew Sharara was awful so as far as I am concerned Weikert is an upgrade. It is not surprising that Sharara continues to be a pain in the rear for people actually trying to grow the sport rather than to corruptly profit from it. A few times Sharara appeared on TT forums (OOAK) to answer questions and he was blatantly dishonest and dissembling.

There have been some definite improvements in outreach. I am glad that Weikert states that trying to "rule-change"away Chinese dominance will never work and only hurts the game. In fact, I am glad that for awhile now there has been some stability so that people can catch a breath and sort of adjust to the game the way it is now.
 
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Doe sharara still have control in the background?

Is that even a question? Sharara has been pulling strings from behind the scene the moment he created the position of "ITTF Chairman" and assigned himself to that title in 2014. He made his intent so abundantly clear in the 1st minute of the interview below.


Sharara never stepped down and conceded power, in the strict sense. Like Weikert says, this needs to stop. Just outright kill off that position.
 
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Blessed and humbled? Almostg as if you were in the presence of a God in human form? Wow. I am sure your article put you well into the good graces of the current ITTF administration and will ensure you a future in the ITTF hierarchy.

Actually I'm not interested in working with ITTF, quite happy where I am, but thanks for implying that I'm a sellout. What's wrong with saying blessed and humbled? Thomas Weikert is a busy man, he doesn't have to sit down and take the time to answer my questions, why does showing a bit of appreciation for someone's time and forthcomingness in an interview mean that I'm idolizing him?
 
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Actually I'm not interested in working with ITTF, quite happy where I am, but thanks for implying that I'm a sellout. What's wrong with saying blessed and humbled? Thomas Weikert is a busy man, he doesn't have to sit down and take the time to answer my questions, why does showing a bit of appreciation for someone's time and forthcomingness in an interview mean that I'm idolizing him?
Because it is common knowledge that everyone associated with ITTF is evil and to be spurned at every opportunity, regardless of anything positive or logical they may have done. Talking to someone from ITTF immediately makes one's motives questionable and their sanity suspect. Bad luck, Matt.
 
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Ah, explains everything. Only the devil could dress someone like Adam Bobrow.
Because it is common knowledge that everyone associated with ITTF is evil and to be spurned at every opportunity, regardless of anything positive or logical they may have done. Talking to someone from ITTF immediately makes one's motives questionable and their sanity suspect. Bad luck, Matt.

Sent from my ZTE Grand S II LTE using Tapatalk
 
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Because it is common knowledge that everyone associated with ITTF is evil and to be spurned at every opportunity, regardless of anything positive or logical they may have done. Talking to someone from ITTF immediately makes one's motives questionable and their sanity suspect. Bad luck, Matt.

Bad luck indeed, hope I get a nice carbon fibre stake to be burned on when they catch me lol
 
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Bad luck indeed, hope I get a nice carbon fibre stake to be burned on when they catch me lol

I thought brandings are a little out of date. But, when you finally get your brand character, will you join the dark side of Senator Palpatine or the light side of Jar Jar Binks??? Hope you get my drift...;)
 
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I see where Baal is coming from, he has seen what has been happening the last couple decades and wrote about it as much as he could, so he is rightfully skeptical like the rest of us. He has seen time and time again the obvious deception, deceit, and corruption.

However, let's say if trouble maker Der_Echte gets invited to interview the USA President one on one for 5 minutes... regardless of who is in office or how I would disagree with the politics, that would be a pretty huge thing to me that very few get to do. I would feel pretty similar to Matt in that case. Prolly would use a couple different words, but we all communicate differently.
 
@Matt, good interview/write-up. My bottom line: what's in it for the US to be a player in world TT? I mean building an infrastructure here (not 1-2 training centers). At the middle-school upper school level? What's the ITTF going to do (action wise)?
 
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@Matt, good interview/write-up. My bottom line: what's in it for the US to be a player in world TT? I mean building an infrastructure here (not 1-2 training centers). At the middle-school upper school level? What's the ITTF going to do (action wise)?

Well I mean it's not ITTF's responsibility, it's USATT's and really the bottom line is that it needs enough infrastructure and resources in place to have the foundations of a professional sport. In my opinion at the very least that requires a national training center and some form of professional national league system in place.

If ITTF can help provide a training center of that scale it would be a step in the right direction. I don't really get involved too much in all of that operational kind of stuff as I'm really busy with the media and marketing side of things, but I think having ITTF's support in North America would be good, although at the end of the day it is up to the National bodies to take responsibility for development in their own countries.
 
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I thought brandings are a little out of date. But, when you finally get your brand character, will you join the dark side of Senator Palpatine or the light side of Jar Jar Binks??? Hope you get my drift...;)

Right, choose between the ultimate bad guy, or the good guy that everyone hates? :p haha
 
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I see where Baal is coming from, he has seen what has been happening the last couple decades and wrote about it as much as he could, so he is rightfully skeptical like the rest of us. He has seen time and time again the obvious deception, deceit, and corruption.

That's a good point you make. But in this case these worries aren't necessary and actually obsolete in my humble opinion.

I remember an interview with Thomas Weikert where he said he won't candidate for another period. Not sure if he retires completely or if he plans to continue his previous job as head of DTTB. So anyhow i think Weikert can be taken seriously and depending on who will follow up as president of ITTF he/she could change the personnel decision for their staff anyway, so selling out oneself wouldn't make a lot of sense IMHO.
Here's what was written after last years election at the WTTC 2017 in Düsseldorf.

http://www.wttc2017.com/en/news-detail/der-alte-und-neue-ittf-praesident-heisst-thomas-weikert.html

However, let's say if trouble maker Der_Echte gets invited to interview the USA President one on one for 5 minutes... regardless of who is in office or how I would disagree with the politics, that would be a pretty huge thing to me that very few get to do. I would feel pretty similar to Matt in that case. Prolly would use a couple different words, but we all communicate differently.

Absolutely. But Weikert seems to be a down to earth humbling person.
 
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