International Table Tennis Federation
| International Table Tennis Federation ITTF |
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| Area of jurisdiction | International |
| Formation date | 1926 |
| Headquarters |  Lausanne |
| President |  Adham Sharara |
| Official website | |
| www.ittf.com | |
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is the governing body for all international table tennis associations.[1]
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[edit] Founding history
The ITTF was founded in 1926, the nine founding members being Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Germany, Hungary, India, Sweden and Wales.[2] The first international tournament was held in January 1926 in Berlin while the first World Table Tennis Championships was held in December 1926 in London.
The role of the ITTF includes overseeing rules and regulations and seeking technological improvement for the sport of table tennis. The ITTF is responsible for the organization of numerous international competitions, including the World Table Tennis Championships that has continued since 1926.
Toward the end of 2000, the ITTF instituted several rules changes aimed at making table tennis more viable as a televised spectator sport. The older 38 mm balls were officially replaced by 40 mm balls.[3] This increased the ball’s air resistance and effectively slowed down the game.
On February 29, 2008, the ITTF announced several rules changes after an ITTF Executive Meeting in Guangzhou, China with regards to a player's eligibility to play for a new association. The new ruling is to encourage associations to develop their own players.[4]
There are currently 215 member associations within the ITTF.[5] The headquarter of the ITTF is in Lausanne, Switzerland. The current president of the ITTF is Adham Sharara, from Canada.
[edit] Organizational structure
The ITTF recognizes six continental federations.[5] Each continental federation has a President as its top official and owns its Constitution.[6] The followings are recognized federations:
| Continent | Members | Continental Federation |
|---|---|---|
| Africa | 46 | African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) |
| Asia | 45 | Asian Table Tennis Union (ATTU) |
| Europe | 56 | European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) |
| Latin America | 36 | Latin American Table Tennis Union (ULTM) |
| North America | 4 | North American Table Tennis Union (NATTU) |
| Oceania | 22 | Oceania Table Tennis Federation (OTTF) |
All member associations of the ITTF attend Annual General Meeting (AGM). Agendas on changes of the Constitution, laws of table tennis, applications for membership etc are discussed and finalized through votes. Also, the President of ITTF, 8 Executive Vice-Presidents, and 32 or less continental representatives are elected at an AGM, serving for a four-year term. The President and Executive Vice-Presidents compose Executive Committee (EC). Further, the Executive Committee, continental representatives and Presidents of the 6 continental federations or their appointees compose the Board of Directors (BoD). The Board manages the work of the ITTF between AGMs. Several Committees, Commissions, Working Groups or panels work under the Constitution of ITTF or under the Board.
[edit] Role in diplomacy
Unlike the organizations for more popular sports, the ITTF tends to recognize teams from generally unrecognized governing bodies for disputed territory. For example, it currently recognizes the Table Tennis Federation of Kosovo even though Kosovo is excluded from most other sports. It recognized the People's Republic of China in 1953 and allowed some basic diplomacy[7][8] which lead to an opening for U.S. President Richard Nixon, called "Ping Pong Diplomacy", in the 1970s.
[edit] Rules
[edit] Player eligibility
For ITTF World Title events, a player is eligible to play for his association by registering with the ITTF. If the player chooses to play for a new association, he shall register with the ITTF, through the new association.[9]
- The player shall not represent the new association before.
- The player will be eligible to play for the new association after three, five, seven years after the date of registration, if the player is under the age of 15, 18, 21 respectively
- If the player is 21 years of age or older, he will not be registered with the ITTF and not be eligible to represent a new association at World Title events.
[edit] Service and point system
The table tennis point system was reduced from a 21 to an 11 point scoring system in 2001.[3] A game shall be won by the player or pair first scoring 11 points unless both players or pairs score 10 points, when the game shall be won by the first player or pair subsequently gaining a lead of 2 points. This was intended to make games more fast-paced and exciting. The ITTF also changed the rules on service to prevent a player from hiding the ball during service,[10] in order to increase the average length of rallies and to reduce the server’s advantage. Today, the game changes from time to time mainly to improve on the excitement for television viewers.
[edit] Speed glue ban
In 2007, ITTF’s Board of Directors in Zagreb decided to implement the VOC-free glue rule at Junior events, starting from January 1, 2008, as a transitional period before the full implementation of the VOC ban on September 1, 2008.[11]
As of January 1, 2009, all speed glue was to have been banned.
[edit] Contests
Current ITTF Events and Olympic Games:[12]
| Contest | Inaugural Year | Period | ITTF Ranking[13] | Events[a] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking | Bonus | MT | WT | MS | WS | MD | WD | XD | |||
| Olympic Games | 1988 | 4-Yearly | R1 | B1 | • | • | • | • | |||
| World Championships | 1926 | Odd-Numbered Year | R1 | B1 | • | • | • | • | • | ||
| World Team Championships | 1926 | Even-Numbered Year | R1 | • | • | ||||||
| Men's World Cup | 1980 | Yearly | R1 | B2 | • | ||||||
| Women's World Cup | 1996 | Yearly | R1 | B2 | • | ||||||
| World Team Cup | 1990 | Odd-Numbered Year | R1 | • | • | ||||||
| Tournament of Champions | 2007 | Yearly | R2 | B2 | • | • | |||||
| China vs. World Challenge | 2009 | Yearly | R2 | • | • | ||||||
| ITTF Volkswagen Cup | 2010 | Every Year | R2 | B2 | • | • | |||||
| ITTF Pro Tour | 1996 | 10~ Times Every Year | R2 | B3 | • | • | • | • | |||
| ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals | 1996 | Yearly | R2 | B2 | • | • | • | • | |||
| Youth Olympic Games | 2010 | 4-Yearly | R1 | B3 | • | • | • | ||||
| World Junior Championships | 2003 | Yearly | R1 | B3 | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| ITTF Global Junior Circuit | 1992 | 20~ Times Every Year | R2 | B4 | • | • | • | • | • | • | |
| ITTF Global Cadet Challenge | 2003 | Yearly | R2 | B4 | • | • | • | • | • | • | |
a. ^ MT/WT: Men's/Women's Teams; MS/WS: Men's/Women's Singles; MD/WD: Men's/Women's Doubles; XD: Mixed Doubles
[edit] ITTF world ranking
The ITTF keeps an updated ranking considering the results of all the aforementioned competitions. The following table shows the TOP 20 players considering the current ITTF world ranking.
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[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Official ITTF Website". http://www.ittf.com.
- ^ "ITTF Archives". http://www.ittf.com/museum/archives/index.html.
- ^ a b "ITTF Table Tennis Timeline". http://www.ittf.com/_front_page/ittf_full_story2.asp?id=13118&category=menus.
- ^ New Rule in Favour of the Development of Table Tennis
- ^ a b "ITTF Directory". http://www.ittf.com/_front_page/ittf2.asp?category=directory_e.
- ^ "ITTF Handbook 2009/2010". ITTF. http://www.ittf.com/ittf_handbook/ittf_hb.html. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
- ^ McCurry, Justin (2008-05-06). "Ping-pong diplomacy back on table as Chinese premier visits Japan". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/06/china. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
- ^ "ITTF Archives: 1953 Bucarest AGM Minutes". ITTF. 1953-03-23. p. 2. http://www.ittf.com/museum/archives/index.html. Retrieved 2010-07-17. "Only the People's Republic of China Table Tennis Association was taken at this stage, in order to regularise their playing in the Championships and attending Congress. The Meeting confirmed the Advisory Committee's action in accepting the application."
- ^ "Information about the Eligibility Rule". ITTF. 2008-10-13. http://www.ittf.com/_front_page/ittf_full_story2.asp?ID=16537&Category=.
- ^ Colin Clemett. "Rules Evolution" (PDF). ITTF. pp. 9. http://www.ittf.com/museum/ColinEvolution.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
- ^ "Official Message to Table Tennis Manufacturers And National Associations" (PDF). ITTF. 2008-11-24. http://www.ittf.com/ittf_misc/Racket_Control_2009__.pdf.
- ^ "ITTF Calendar". ITTF. http://www.ittf.com/_front_page/ittf2.asp?category=calendar. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
- ^ "Policy for Inclusion in the ITTF World Ranking" (PDF). ITTF. http://www.ittf.com/ittf_ranking/pdfs/2010b_WR_events.pdf. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
[edit] External links
Coordinates: 46°31′56″N 6°35′44″E / 46.532134°N 6.595596°E
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