Why the end of China dominance would benefit to Global Table Tennis

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The WTT, the commercial company delegated by the International Federation to organize the world circuit, can be delighted with the investment, after having committed financially for this first in France. Announced in March, the tournament was only really set up in four months, due in particular to the Olympic Games.

"We had the choice to wait a little bit, or to do something right after the Olympic Games ," explains Jonny Cowan, director of WTT Europe. " We said to ourselves at the time that if France had a medal, we had to take advantage of it. We took risks to be there, but we see the phenomenon of the Lebrun brothers, we felt the energy of the fans in Paris, where the table tennis was incredible. So we are very happy to be there!"


It's pretty clear:
1- we need that end of China dominance
2- we need MORE tier 1 events back in Europe again.
 
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I just love the Chinese style of TT. So powerful, authoritative, rhythmic. I dont want to see their end
No improvisation, no pace + effect variation, no surprise = boring. And it clearly does not bring enough money to WTT, nor new fans.

Simon Gauzy can do like Quadri Aruna protesting about the charges, the stupid calendar and the prize money, but the WTT needs him as an entertainer, that's a fact. So he's still in the circus.

Who cares for a contender with 9 CNT guys over 16 already ? in a place where nobody cares for table tennis with those green empty seats everywhere so the WTT has to hide them with their big panels ?
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Patrick Franziska expressed, “Since the arena is so tight and loud, I hear almost every word. I wish we could play every day in front of these spectators; they’re fair, they cheer for everyone, and they bring an amazing energy that’s hard to match.”
 
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It’s also about quantity, since wtt I understood that the number of “big” tournaments has increased. This would lead to 2 things.

1. Being dominant in more events requires more players that are dominant.
2. A percentage of a larger number of tournaments is a larger number. So in absolute we would see more upsets.
 
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I think it is very clear that China dominance does improve global TT, that is simply happening. Whether the end of the dominance will improve global TT, well, remains to be seen if it happens...

It's like when in your team there is 1 dominant player - he gives chance to the others to improve to his level. But when he is no more dominant, will they all still improve? Maybe, it's possible, why not... But the weaker players should still be thankful, that the dominant player dragged them up, carying them by hand like babbies ;-)
 
I think many sporting events/stars before have shown that dominance is actually good for any sport.

Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan. You wanted the Knicks to beat the Bulls so badly but yet the Bulls and Michael Jordan helped popularize NBA.

Tiger Woods. When Tiger Woods was dominating, it was good for the sport of golf. Tiger Woods literally created Nike Golf and the latter folded after Tiger Woods started declining. Now golf is a declining sport in North America.

The issue is not about dominance. The issue is about popularity and marketing. Most of the money and most of the attention have stayed in China, hence no global influence.

A few months ago (or was it a year ago), Ma Long accepted a life achievement award at one of the WTT event and Ma Long spoke English for his speech and the internet went gaga over it (or rather the table tennis community went gaga over it).

It is not about dominance. It is about the lack of marketing and strategy.
 
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I think it is very clear that China dominance does improve global TT, that is simply happening. Whether the end of the dominance will improve global TT, well, remains to be seen if it happens...

It's like when in your team there is 1 dominant player - he gives chance to the others to improve to his level. But when he is no more dominant, will they all still improve? Maybe, it's possible, why not... But the weaker players should still be thankful, that the dominant player dragged them up, carying them by hand like babbies ;-)
I'm with you on this one.
The 'end China dominance' seems a cheap and silly notion. It's a sport not a war.
They have dominated because they were better. When Sweden put it up to them they responded. The world barely responded to China because hardly any other nation places any importance or puts any investment into the sport.
I'd prefer to phrase it as 'lets get more nations competing with China'. That's a less negative goal imo.
If other nations compete more and raise their game, will it be a problem if China still managed to come out on top in most competitions?
No it wouldn't, the games would be more competitive and that's what you want. The best players have been winning, it's that simple. We've got to see amazing players playing at incredible levels. Where they are from should really be less of an issue.
But if folk do want to 'end China dominance' I think it's fair that they also recognise that China have basically saved this sport. The rising tide lifts all boats as they say.
 
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The WTT, the commercial company delegated by the International Federation to organize the world circuit, can be delighted with the investment, after having committed financially for this first in France. Announced in March, the tournament was only really set up in four months, due in particular to the Olympic Games.

"We had the choice to wait a little bit, or to do something right after the Olympic Games ," explains Jonny Cowan, director of WTT Europe. " We said to ourselves at the time that if France had a medal, we had to take advantage of it. We took risks to be there, but we see the phenomenon of the Lebrun brothers, we felt the energy of the fans in Paris, where the table tennis was incredible. So we are very happy to be there!"


It's pretty clear:
1- we need that end of China dominance
2- we need MORE tier 1 events back in Europe again.
I think having China being a strong country in table tennis is important, players like ma long and xu xin where great ambassadors for the Sport.

Having a Chinese winner isn't terrible for the sport but what is bad is having all Chinese semi finals like it regularly happened in the "golden era" of ma long, Zhang jike and so on in the 2010s.

Hopefully there will be less all Chinese medal sweeps than it used to be.
 
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I think many sporting events/stars before have shown that dominance is actually good for any sport.

Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan. You wanted the Knicks to beat the Bulls so badly but yet the Bulls and Michael Jordan helped popularize NBA.

Tiger Woods. When Tiger Woods was dominating, it was good for the sport of golf. Tiger Woods literally created Nike Golf and the latter folded after Tiger Woods started declining. Now golf is a declining sport in North America.

The issue is not about dominance. The issue is about popularity and marketing. Most of the money and most of the attention have stayed in China, hence no global influence.

A few months ago (or was it a year ago), Ma Long accepted a life achievement award at one of the WTT event and Ma Long spoke English for his speech and the internet went gaga over it (or rather the table tennis community went gaga over it).

It is not about dominance. It is about the lack of marketing and strategy.
The dominance is good for the dominating country and bad for all others…

And if one looks at the number of players in China those’re will always be domination, anything else is a fluke…

Cheers
L-zr
 
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The dominance is good for the dominating country and bad for all others…
That's not an existential truth though, it's just an opinion. In what way is it bad for other countries, what would be proof of this?
New Zealand dominated Rugby for years.
Likewise for Japan dominating Judo, Cuba in boxing, Britain in Rowing and Sailing, America in Basketball and many Athletic disciplines etc.

But I can't see how any if that is bad for other countries, unless there's a more nuanced discussion where it somehow has a detrimental effect but then it becomes an irrelevance because even if it were true, it's not a plausible scenario to expect these countries to lose with the aim of helping other nations.
The only sensible way to look at it is to recognise the effort in the achievement and aim to match it. Nothing comes easy. Do it or die.
And if one looks at the number of players in China those’re will always be domination, anything else is a fluke…
That may prove to be the case but it's not only the number of players. It's heritage, culture, knowhow, training and other things.
If it were sheer numbers then China should theoretically dominate everything right?
 
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The title of this thread suggests an entirely backwards proposition.

It should read (in my opinion), the biggest global benefit to the game of Table Tennis would be for other nations to invest in the game like China has so they can rise to a level that can match or surpass them.
One effect of this would be the end of Chinese dominance.
 
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That's not an existential truth though, it's just an opinion. In what way is it bad for other countries, what would be proof of this?
New Zealand dominated Rugby for years.
Likewise for Japan dominating Judo, Cuba in boxing, Britain in Rowing and Sailing, America in Basketball and many Athletic disciplines etc.

But I can't see how any if that is bad for other countries, unless there's a more nuanced discussion where it somehow has a detrimental effect but then it becomes an irrelevance because even if it were true, it's not a plausible scenario to expect these countries to lose with the aim of helping other nations.
The only sensible way to look at it is to recognise the effort in the achievement and aim to match it. Nothing comes easy. Do it or die.

That may prove to be the case but it's not only the number of players. It's heritage, culture, knowhow, training and other things.
If it were sheer numbers then China should theoretically dominate everything right?
Yes they and they do. Everything you put your efforts into you will eventually succeed if you have the numbers and resource. China is taking over the world economy…

Cheers
L-zr
 
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I think many sporting events/stars before have shown that dominance is actually good for any sport.

Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan. You wanted the Knicks to beat the Bulls so badly but yet the Bulls and Michael Jordan helped popularize NBA.

Tiger Woods. When Tiger Woods was dominating, it was good for the sport of golf. Tiger Woods literally created Nike Golf and the latter folded after Tiger Woods started declining. Now golf is a declining sport in North America.

The issue is not about dominance. The issue is about popularity and marketing. Most of the money and most of the attention have stayed in China, hence no global influence.

A few months ago (or was it a year ago), Ma Long accepted a life achievement award at one of the WTT event and Ma Long spoke English for his speech and the internet went gaga over it (or rather the table tennis community went gaga over it).

It is not about dominance. It is about the lack of marketing and strategy.
Basketball is my thing you know ;-), as far as I remember, the Celtics or the Lakers have never won the finals 20 years straight, nor the Bulls, nor the Spurs with Duncan. It's a shared dominance, Even the Bulls did not win 6 rings straight, Jordan wanted to try baseball in 94 and 95.

I mean... since 1996 in Atlanta, only 1 men single titles left to South Korea in OGs + 1 XD in Tokyo left to Japan + 1 men's double in... 1988 in Seoul left to south Korea. Team events all won. You know the gold medal ratio right ...

World Cup, if you put Samsonov, Dima and Timo Boll aside, since 2004 it's 15/18 for the men's, and the women's single... well better not watch the table, we can only thank Miu Hirano in 2017.

WTTC well we all know the story.

It's not even a 60 or 80% dominance. It's over the 90% mark !

The NBA have never seen that kind of unshared dominance. Nor football, I don't even think France's men's team has won so much in handball since the 2000's. They left some big titles to Denmark, Spain and Germany.

Having the Celtics and the Lakers showing the rest of the league how it's done sure I like it, but it's impossible for them to dominate THAT way. I mean, if it was the case, the NBA would not like it at all, and they've made everything possible to let other franchises being able to win, with the lottery system at the draft for example.

The only team that has dominated that much is the women's USA team, even the men's USA team have suffered in the World Cup (the last one specially in China, beaten by Germany and Lithuania), in Tokyo France beat them by 7 in pool matches, and USA wins by 6 only in the gold medal match !

What has helped globalize basketball is the wake of Europe, sure the Dream Team in 92 was the best publicity, but in the 2000's they looked at the numbers... the NBA was not making money overseas, that's why they started doing FIBA matches between Euroleague and NBA champions, when the Real Madrid has beaten the Lakers, or Berlin the Spurs, it was in fact a victory for the NBA cos' they knew europeans would now really think they could do something in the big league, and that's what happened. All that has brought more money in the NBA with more TV rights from Europe. And now they export the NBA to France with the "Paris Games" each year: 2 teams playing 2 games of the regular season in 5 days.

Every CEO in any sport organization will tel you that, doping has been a terrible thing in cycling cos' there's always unshared dominance when it happens, ASO the company that organizes the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Tours, Paris-Nice and the Fourmies Grand Prix is well aware of that, Christian Prud'Homme the ASO's CEO is not happy at all with Pogacar's unshared dominance, cos' it reminds too much of the Armstrong era.
 
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Chinese domination is not a surprise or their “fault”. Okay, it might be discouraging for others but they just need to invest more on TT, promote etc.

Should we expect to lower investing from China or set rules to slow down them?
It seems no investment has been put in South Africa Table Tennis for example, maybe Tony knows more about that problem. I mean, China is pushing pawns over the chessboard, specially in BRICS countries with India, South Africa and in Qatar because of what Al Mohannadi has done to kill Weikert. China uses table tennis as a "soft power" to keep their edge on the geopolitics chessboard, but they don't care if table tennis grows in the nations they've given the events.

Just this went on my radar, it says a lot:

"Yao Ming became the league's first president not from the Chinese government."
 
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