As an international single sports organization for table tennis, since its establishment, the ITTF has only one Chinese held the position of president of the ITTF - he is Xu Yinsheng. Today (June 14) is Xu Yinsheng's 83rd birthday. The ITTF issued a document praising the honorary president of the ITTF for life.
Mr. Xu Yinsheng, who was president of the International Table Tennis Federation from 1995 to 1999, was the biggest reform measure during his tenure was to implement the "small ball to large ball", he said at the time: "When I was an athlete, I only wanted to win; when I became a table tennis federation official, I was full of thoughts about how to make the sport look better and have more participants." ”
Xu Yinsheng is the fifth president of the International Table Tennis Federation. On February 23, 2000, after several proposals, shelvings, discussions, rejections, proposals, and discussions, the ITTF Congress finally agreed to increase the volume of table tennis by two millimeters. A small two millimeter, which is also known to fans as "small ball to big ball". Since then, during the term of the sixth PRESIDENT of the International Table Tennis Federation, Sharala, the volume of table tennis has increased to 40+, and the material of table tennis has been changed from celluloid to the current plastic material. These two changes in table tennis have objectively improved the overall appreciation of table tennis. However, with the changes in rotation, strength and speed, a number of famous Chinese and foreign players have retired, and the technical playing style of table tennis has also changed.
According to the ITTF article, "the ITTF has been hovering between improving the level of table tennis competition and improving ornamentation for many years. The development of table tennis technology and the innovation of equipment have made table tennis faster and faster, and the rotation is getting stronger and stronger. At the Atlanta Olympics, table tennis won more than 5 rounds to win applause; but the vast majority of balls, less than 5 rounds. In order to attract spectators, the change of table tennis from 38 mm balls to 40 mm large balls is a revolutionary reform. The 40mm ball rotates 23% less, reduces speed by 13%, and has 3.7mm less elasticity than the 38mm ball. Taken together, this data means an increase in rounds and an increase in highlights. ”
In a 2007 interview with Xinhua News Agency, Xu Yinsheng said: "Table tennis needs to be reformed because it faces competition from other sports. Table tennis is too fast, the rotation is too strong, one or two boards are gone, or directly eat the serve, the round is less and the audience will be lost, the TV broadcast is gone, the sponsor is gone. Without spectators, table tennis's status in the Olympics would not have been preserved. ”
In fact, for the global development of table tennis, several generations of national table tennis have silently made sacrifices. From Mr. Xu Yinsheng's proposal to change small balls to large balls at the International Table Tennis Federation, to the "wolf raising plan" proposed by Cai Zhenhua, then deputy director of the State General Administration of Sports... To this day, Liu Guoliang, who serves as the chairman of the Council of the World Table Tennis Federation and the chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, is also emphasizing, "China's table tennis is shared by the world." ”