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And again, the people who suffer most from this are the fans and the sport. Because a SPORT that does not send its #1 ranked player to the Olympic Singles Event (a sport where the #1 player in the world is not qualified to play in the Olympic Singles Event) is not a sport that is presented to the public intelligently. The ITTF is the problem here. This is the kind of thing that cements the fact that Table Tennis is a marginal sport that will not get a great deal of Media Coverage. Stupid things like many of the rule changes, or the idea that they are going to change to a ball that is, once again, bigger, slower, and gets less spin, is an example of the same kind of bungling that the ITTF is famous for.
I agree with u, but the quote would get kinda big if I quoted the whole post I want to say some things about this though because I think the ITTF is (often) blamed for things they can't do much about. I'm not saying the ITTF are doing a great job, but I want to take away some possible prejudices that are incorrect in my opinion.
To start with the ball change: we all know this is a result of the celluloid production decline/ban. It is good that the ITTF gives manufacturers a couple of years the time to start working on a new ball, before they actually start using it. The glue ban was a result of the Olympic Committee threatening to ban table tennis from the Olympics. Since our sport is not big, the ITTF can't really stand up against the Olympic Committee. They wouldn't care if the Olympics had rowing instead of table tennis.
The same thing holds for the player restriction. Although I agree with all of you that this might be a stupid rule, it is not the ITTF's own idea. The Olympic Committee doesn't want a sport on the Olympics that is dominated by 1 country like China dominates table tennis. I believe I heard or read that this was also a reason why the Committee was considering dropping table tennis out of the Olympics. The idea of the Olympics is of course harmonization between countries playing sports together, and what they want to see is a race between athletes from all over the world until one stands out and takes the victory. China taking 8/12 medals (the 4 others were silver and bronze in the women's and men's team event, since China only has one team in both) isn't really a good example of that. In a desperate try to get at least one non-Chinese player on the singles podium in London, this was the ITTF's only possibility.
What makes more sense is the criticism on the qualification criteria. Assigning spots 1 year before the tournament is a little ridiculous. However, the WTTC was the last big individual event where every player in the world could participate. It might be better to change the system of the World Cup and postpone the assignment of Olympic spots to after that event is held, or maybe include the results of the Pro Tour Grand Finals, since this is a tournament that takes into account the results over a long period of time. Still it makes sense to say that the Olympics should be played by the best players of the 4 years preceding the event. And Wang Hao has been the best player of the world in 2009-2010, then should Ma Long go instead of him because of being the best for half a year in 2011 till now? That would be weird as well..
So I do agree that it is sad that these things are happening, but I don't think you can blame the ITTF for it. Their decisions are justified I think.
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