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Tony , I don't agree with the view that restricting the number of medals is going to help improve the sport in other countries. Neither do I agree with you when you keep saying that China is doing a lot for the sport .
I will explain my POV. Restricting the number of medals is like implementing reservation or what you call "affirmative action" in the United States.We have seen the effects of caste based reservation in India. Ultimately it has become a tool in the hands of the politicians to garner more votes, and there are financially well off families who belong to the so called backward classes who keep taking advantage of the situation and get easier jobs etc. and increase their wealth even when they practically they don't deserve or qualify for those jobs, they don't need reservation and even they don't give back anything to their community from the hubris they accumulate using the system.
Now if we are going to implement similar country based affirmative action in Olympics , ultimately people are either going to shoot for easy bronze or going to clamor that China should have only have one participant going forward so that we have more "democracy" for the silver ... the moment you give people and easy way out by nature people will take it.
The fact that in some countries the funding is reduced because there is no medal prospect should be handled directly with the sports establishment in those countries and ITTF should . The revenue sharing model should be improved and ITTF should step in and prevent countries implementing moronic laws like they do in NewZealand where deserving players don't get into Olympics. And if the argument is that ITTF does not generate enough revenue, then they need to wake up and start figuring that out first instead of discussing the height of the net and size of the ball ...
Now coming to the constant drum beating on how much China is doing for the sport , I completely disagree with you Tony. They are doing what they need to do the improve the quality of the players in their country and improve their medal prospects. When was the last time did you hear that somebody authorized from the CNT is doing workshop with international coaches ? When did you hear CNT going on a trip to Africa and playing exhibition matches in Nigeria to improve the profile and popularity of the sport. They would rather do that on top of Burz Khalifa when there is enough oil money and endorsements !!
Both ITTF and the leading countries in the sport , China , Germany , Japan, South Korea, Chinese Taipei or Taiwan included have a lot left to do to help grow the sports ....
I will explain my POV. Restricting the number of medals is like implementing reservation or what you call "affirmative action" in the United States.We have seen the effects of caste based reservation in India. Ultimately it has become a tool in the hands of the politicians to garner more votes, and there are financially well off families who belong to the so called backward classes who keep taking advantage of the situation and get easier jobs etc. and increase their wealth even when they practically they don't deserve or qualify for those jobs, they don't need reservation and even they don't give back anything to their community from the hubris they accumulate using the system.
Now if we are going to implement similar country based affirmative action in Olympics , ultimately people are either going to shoot for easy bronze or going to clamor that China should have only have one participant going forward so that we have more "democracy" for the silver ... the moment you give people and easy way out by nature people will take it.
The fact that in some countries the funding is reduced because there is no medal prospect should be handled directly with the sports establishment in those countries and ITTF should . The revenue sharing model should be improved and ITTF should step in and prevent countries implementing moronic laws like they do in NewZealand where deserving players don't get into Olympics. And if the argument is that ITTF does not generate enough revenue, then they need to wake up and start figuring that out first instead of discussing the height of the net and size of the ball ...
Now coming to the constant drum beating on how much China is doing for the sport , I completely disagree with you Tony. They are doing what they need to do the improve the quality of the players in their country and improve their medal prospects. When was the last time did you hear that somebody authorized from the CNT is doing workshop with international coaches ? When did you hear CNT going on a trip to Africa and playing exhibition matches in Nigeria to improve the profile and popularity of the sport. They would rather do that on top of Burz Khalifa when there is enough oil money and endorsements !!
Both ITTF and the leading countries in the sport , China , Germany , Japan, South Korea, Chinese Taipei or Taiwan included have a lot left to do to help grow the sports ....
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