Recently, the various Sanctions imposed by the West on Russia have stunned everyone. In particular, the international sports organizations, which are known as "sports without borders", have expressed their intention to ban Russian athletes from participating, so that everyone can see their "double standards"; they also let everyone see clearly that they are only subsidiary organizations of Western political groups, and there is no objective neutrality to speak of.
ITTF President Sorin
The sports with the most say in China are, of course, the "national ball" table tennis. But even so, the ITTF, like other sports organizations, has embarked on the path of sanctioning Russia. Although the Russian Table Tennis Federation does not have a presence in table tennis, we are angry that the attitude of the ITTF is a problem, not a problem of the strength of the participating teams. This is a big psychological impact for a fan who cares about table tennis and pursues sports fairness. Such sports organizations, their actions like this, are really disappointing; and our national table tennis can not do anything no matter how strong, it is really helpless.
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), or ITTF for short, is an international single sports organization composed of table tennis associations in various countries and regions.
Table tennis has been tepid in sports promotion and commercial operations. In August 2019, the World Table Tennis Professional League (WTT) was established in the hope of innovation in the organization and promotion of the event, and in June 2020, Liu Guoliang was invited to serve as the chairman of the WTT Council.
Liu Guoliang has achieved perfect results as a player, coach, or official of the Table Tennis Association; he has strength and ideals, hoping to promote and develop table tennis in the world.
But think about it, personal feelings, Liu Guoliang seems to have become a "tool man" of the International Table Tennis Federation, only contributing, no right to speak; now there is a feeling of being "trapped", there is no way back, can only be hard to do wTT well.
Before the establishment of WTT, Liu Guoliang returned to the Chinese Table Tennis Association in 2018 and no longer served as the head coach, and he had more thinking about the future of table tennis. At about the same time, the godfather of Japanese table tennis and the strengthening minister of the Japan Table Tennis Association, Miyazaki Yoshihito, also hoped to promote the reform of table tennis competition; the Japanese side had begun to promote the professionalization of table tennis in 2018 or even earlier, so on April 4, 2017, the T League, known as the "world's top table tennis league", was grandly opened on October 24, 2018, when table tennis giants from all over the world, including Liu Guoliang, were invited to the opening ceremony. The cool performances before the game, the runners' catwalk style of appearance, the current WTT Grand Slam tournament has learned a lot.
T League opening ceremony
Liu Guoliang and Miyazaki Yoshihito have communicated many times, which has also promoted the exchange of table tennis between China and Japan, and promoted some youth events, such as the China-Japan Children's Table Tennis Challenge, which was held in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province from August 18 to 20, 2019.
The ITTF was not united internally at the time, but it also had a premonition of crisis. If the ITTF does not make any progress, the China-Japan Table Tennis Association may affect the presence of the ITTF.
The ITTF established WTT in the hope of creating a successful match like the "Four Grand Slams".
In fact, professional leagues independent of international sports organizations have been successful. The American Basketball Professional League (NBA), which is most familiar to the Chinese people, is neither managed by the American Basketball Association nor managed by the International Basketball Federation, but can become the world's most well-known basketball league, which makes basketball players and fans around the world flock to it.
There is also the NFL (National Football League), MLB (Major League Baseball), and the NHL (National Hockey League, National Hockey League) that make up the four major professional sports leagues in North America, which are all models of professionalism and the powerful soft power output of the Lighthouse Nation.
Why can't we use table tennis as a starting point to launch a global professional event?
If it were not for the fact that the overall strength of the Japanese table tennis team was not enough; if it were not for the fact that the main players of Japanese table tennis had to participate in the International Table Tennis Federation events in order to score points for the Tokyo Olympics in 2018, they could not participate in or rarely participate in the T League; if it were not for the epidemic, the audience could not enter the competition, and many outstanding foreign athletes could not participate, Japan's T League might have already become famous.
To be honest, we have better conditions and strength than the Japan Table Tennis Association, but we do not have their courage and sense of innovation, or want to follow in the footsteps of the International Table Tennis Federation.
China has a large enough market, enough excellent athletes, should be bold and open, organize a global professional table tennis event, but the event must be independent of the International Table Tennis Federation and WTT, from the rules to the format, it is up to us to decide.
English table tennis is called Table Tennis, and PingPong has long become a trademark of foreign sporting goods, these names are not used in our events, we can directly call "National Ball" (referred to as "NB" league), which just confirms the status of table tennis as China's national ball. Foreigners now think of China when they see table tennis, and when they see the "national ball" National Ball in the future, they will naturally think of China's league.
The "national ball" NB League, as long as it is a registered professional table tennis player, whether it is in the name of an individual, club, or association, can participate. Even if he is a retired athlete, even if he is a part-time player, it does not matter. In order to encourage athletes to participate, all foreign players who break into the top 64 of the event have the opportunity to be selected for the Club of the Chinese Table Tennis Super League, receive professional training and have the opportunity to participate in China (similar to the NBA regular season draft), which gives players huge room for promotion.
Some people will worry that there are too many excellent players in China, will foreign athletes lose the game before they have met the national table tennis masters? There are also concerns that there are not enough spectators watching table tennis matches... Don't worry.
When Chinese people watch high-quality table tennis matches, they seem to have become a little "numb". If it is a team game, it is estimated that only fan Zhendong, Ma Long, Xu Xin, Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Chen Meng and other main players can mobilize everyone's desire to watch, and the "civil war" has always lacked that passion.
Also with the Japanese team's Ito Mimachi, she has not participated in Japan's T League in recent years, and she has hired her own sparring partners and then participated in international competitions.
But if Ito comes to China to participate in the NB League, and then stays in China to participate in the Table Tennis Super League, if you can see her duel with the national table tennis players, I believe many people will be looking forward to such a competition, more attractive than the high-level "civil war".
Similarly, if Ishikawa Yoshijun, Ochalov, Ball and other players come to China to play, are they worried that no one will watch the league organized by China?
A small number of people are worried that allowing foreign players to come to China for training and participation will help foreign players improve their level, which in turn will threaten the dominant position of national table tennis. The advantage of national table tennis is not only the leading strength of individual players, but the comprehensive advantages of the entire national table tennis system, including coaches, logistics support, players and other aspects, which is not comparable to other associations.
The more you let go, the greater the advantage in the future, and you can learn about potential opponents in advance; if there is not much communication with each other, one day a powerful new person suddenly appears, which may pose a great threat; the 2017 World Cup and the Asian Championship Hirano Miyu women's singles championship is a profound lesson.
The United States has engaged in four major professional leagues, and the four projects of the American team are basically invincible in the world. Perhaps, in the future, national table tennis players will occasionally lose, or it may be precisely because of this that more people can attract more attention to table tennis.
To sum up: 1. The International Table Tennis Federation is only an affiliated organization of the Western political system, which is not credible; 2. The national table tennis has the strength and condition to organize the "NB" league; 3. We should boldly engage in professional leagues, we do not engage in it, others will also engage, such as Japan; 4. The more open the national table tennis, the more it can prosper for a long time.