USATT TTTeamUSA 2019 national team member selection

DonnOlsen · Jan 9, 2019

Hi,

The USATT has selected its national team members for 2019. Absent from the list is the 2018 USATT National Women's Champion Liu Juan.

As appears to be the case, the membership selection exists for the purpose of identifying USATT representatives in ITTF international competitions. It may be presumed that there are no ITTF events in 2019 for which the USATT anticipates to participate in that Liu Juan is eligible.

Though the USATT is a member of the international governing body of the organization that sanctions international competitions, that the USATT national champion is not eligible for USATT representation in ITTF sanctioned competitions seems not troubling to many who hold influence here.

Thanks,

Loopadoop · Jan 9, 2019

There selection didn't show any flexibility.

pgpg · Jan 9, 2019

To OP: I'm trying to parse your original post (Ian Marshall would've been proud...

). Is your main objection that ITTF set the rule such that former high level Chinese players can't represent other countries in competitions under certain conditions? Or is it with USATT that was unable to block adoption of that rule?

Or are you simply wondering out loud that it is strange that US Open winner who is a US citizen can not be part of the US national team (per ITTF rules, I presume)?

DonnOlsen · Jan 9, 2019

Hi,

It was purposeful to express the thoughts in an open ended manner, with the sentiment on the (to some) curious nature that eligibility for attaining the U.S. National table tennis women's singles championship deviated from the ITTF's eligibility requirements for their sanctioned play. To others, this seems perfectly reasonable, as one level is national and the other is international.

I have heard (but not confirmed) it stated that Liu Juan is eligible for the Olympics, which is a 2020 event.

As a topic, particularly with the Chinese players wandering around all parts of the world for 30 years, eligibility is matter of interest.

Thanks

mart1nandersson · Jan 9, 2019

We have a similar situation with Li Fen in Sweden. She can represent Sweden in the Olympics (and European championship) but not in the world championships.

lightspin · Jan 9, 2019

DonnOlsen said:
Hi,

It was purposeful to express the thoughts in an open ended manner, with the sentiment on the (to some) curious nature that eligibility for attaining the U.S. National table tennis women's singles championship deviated from the ITTF's eligibility requirements for their sanctioned play. To others, this seems perfectly reasonable, as one level is national and the other is international.

I have heard (but not confirmed) it stated that Liu Juan is eligible for the Olympics, which is a 2020 event.

As a topic, particularly with the Chinese players wandering around all parts of the world for 30 years, eligibility is matter of interest.

Thanks

I have heard that the ITTF recently changed Olympic eligibility requirements to something along the lines of residence in the home country of at least 9 years. Many of the players who moved from abroad to the USA are ineligible for the Olympics. I 100% could be wrong about this as I do not have time to keep up with the ITTF's rule changes. However I was told that several players with plans of making the 2020 team are suddenly ineligible.

One thing I currently do not like is the national team "selection" and the selection of 4 out of the 6 potential positions to play in the Olympics for the USA. Without getting personal, the decisions as how to some of the people were put on the team and some were left off baffle me completely. There is already quite a bit of favoritism towards certain players and hatred directed at others. It just seems unfair.

In my opinion if someone comes from another country and becomes a citizen, they should be eligible for the team. If you don't like it, practice harder and beat them. The team should also be determined by a competition or a series of competitions or strict rules like anyone in the world top 25 is automatically qualified. I just don't like people being selected as it can be extremely unfair. I can see the logic behind selecting 10% of the team as maybe a key member was sick during the trials or competing in a league overseas, however selecting 66%-100% is not something I am a fan of.

mart1nandersson · Jan 9, 2019

I think that the ITTF is trying to prevent good players (mainly from China) to go "country shopping". I guess that players that are top 20-100 in China quite easily could qualify for the national teams in most countries except in China and Japan if they were given a chance.

My guess is that ITTF is trying to prevent what happens in athletics (track & field) where athletes from eastern Africa are being given huge sums of money in countries like Qatar & Turkey to change their citizenship and compete for them. Someone who is number 4 in the marathon in Kenya is likely to be number 4 in the world but will never pass the Kenyan national try outs. Why not get a big bag of money from Turkey and compete in the Olympics?

Edit: The difference between athletics and TT is the money at stake but the potential reward of playing in the olympics is the same.

DonnOlsen · Jan 10, 2019

mart1nandersson said:
We have a similar situation with Li Fen in Sweden. She can represent Sweden in the Olympics (and European championship) but not in the world championships.

Thank you for the interesting post.

Sweden has a more complex situation, in that they have the European Union in addition to the national representation and the Olympics. As you have stated it, the eligibility standards for the Olympics (IOC) and the European Championships (EU) are lower than for the national representation at the world championships (ITTF). No wonder the persistent state of confusion that many have.

Thanks again.

DonnOlsen · Jan 10, 2019

lightspin said:
I have heard that the ITTF recently changed Olympic eligibility requirements to something along the lines of residence in the home country of at least 9 years. Many of the players who moved from abroad to the USA are ineligible for the Olympics. I 100% could be wrong about this as I do not have time to keep up with the ITTF's rule changes. However I was told that several players with plans of making the 2020 team are suddenly ineligible.

One thing I currently do not like is the national team "selection" and the selection of 4 out of the 6 potential positions to play in the Olympics for the USA. Without getting personal, the decisions as how to some of the people were put on the team and some were left off baffle me completely. There is already quite a bit of favoritism towards certain players and hatred directed at others. It just seems unfair.

In my opinion if someone comes from another country and becomes a citizen, they should be eligible for the team. If you don't like it, practice harder and beat them. The team should also be determined by a competition or a series of competitions or strict rules like anyone in the world top 25 is automatically qualified. I just don't like people being selected as it can be extremely unfair. I can see the logic behind selecting 10% of the team as maybe a key member was sick during the trials or competing in a league overseas, however selecting 66%-100% is not something I am a fan of.

There are many good and valuable points in your comments. Larry Hodges specifically mentioned the deciding USATT organizational bodies making these decisions are populated with the designated experts in this function. I share your hesitancy to fully endorse the selections.

Thanks.

Loopadoop · Jan 10, 2019

Liu Juan won the US Open and US National in the same year 2018. If that doesn't qualify her for the National team something is wrong.

Search

Search

USATT TTTeamUSA 2019 national team member selection

DonnOlsen

DonnOlsen

Member

Loopadoop

Loopadoop

Well-Known Member

pgpg

pgpg

Active Member

DonnOlsen

DonnOlsen

Member

mart1nandersson

mart1nandersson

Well-Known Member

lightspin

lightspin

Member

mart1nandersson

mart1nandersson

Well-Known Member

DonnOlsen

DonnOlsen

Member

DonnOlsen

DonnOlsen

Member

Loopadoop

Loopadoop

Well-Known Member

Similar threads