On April 7, 2024, Beijing time, Steve Denton, one of the giants, officially responded to the previous accusations of the men's table tennis star Aruna against the ITTF and WTT. Denton made it clear that there was no such thing as discrimination, that Aruna's punishment was justified and that the aim was to preserve the integrity of the sport, although athletes who did not accept the punishment could appeal.
After the WTT Incheon Championships, Aruna suddenly opened fire, pointing the finger at the ITTF and the WTT World Table Tennis Federation. Aruna mentioned several key issues at the time, including discrimination, unfair penalties, and non-payment of bonuses. Now, Steve Denton has responded one by one, and Denton has clearly denied the issue of discrimination and said that he will take such accusations seriously.
As for the penalties for missing the World Table Tennis Championships and the Incheon Championships, Denton said that these are well-founded, Aruna did not provide a medical report within the stipulated time, and in addition, it was also disappointing to abandon the WTT event in order to participate in the club event, which is not in line with the development philosophy of the WTT. Therefore, Fu 0 is in full accordance with the charter, and Aruna can appeal if he feels that there is a problem.
In response to Aruna's question of not being paid out in time, Denton admitted that it was true, but he also communicated with the player. Denton said the prize money will be more and more. However, many fans expressed dissatisfaction with Denton's response, since there is a deadline for players to submit medical reports, should there also be a deadline for the payment of bonuses, and should this also be done according to the rules?
In many ways, the WTT World Table Tennis Federation and the International Table Tennis Federation should actually reflect that the date of the competition is changed at will, the controversy in the game often requires the subjective judgment of the referee, and the Eagle Eye and electronic review system have not been launched, which is obviously not in line with the development trend of the sport. When football has VAR, tennis eagle eye and electronic line review system are becoming more and more perfect, table tennis is committed to global development, but there is no similar perfect system, which is puzzling.
All in all, Steve Denton seems to have responded to Aruna's question, everything seems to be going according to the rules, but it has also left a lot of controversy, that is, it has brought new controversy, the development of the entire WTT tournament system needs to be more perfect, more reasonable, and it may take time, but if there is only a good vision and no practical action, many players will retire in dissatisfaction and regret, after all, age waits for no one!