New Rules To Stop Chinese Imports
Posted by Jeff Plumb on April 18th, 2008
New Rules
The ITTF are bringing in a new rule to stop players moving to a new country and representing that country at ITTF World Title events. The new rule states that if a person is over 21 years of age when they move to their adopted country, they can never play Table Tennis for that country at ITTF World Title events. If the player is between 18 and 20, they must wait a massive 7 years before they become eligible. Note that this rule does not seem to apply to the Olympic Games.
This rule is clearly aimed at the Chinese. It seems the ITTF is hoping that this will encourage countries to produce their own talent and not be able to rely on importing Chinese players who haven’t been able to break into the Chinese National Team.
There is a great article in the Wall Street Journal which talks about the recent Olympic qualification tournament that US players attended. There was only one US born player involved. Take a look at the article and be sure to watch the video.
Pong Dynasty: In Table Tennis, Chinese Rule
On one hand being able to bring in imports raises the level of Table Tennis, but on the other hand it discourages local talent. Let us know your thoughts on the matter. Is the new rule good for Table Tennis?
matt
commented on April 21st, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Oh man, feel so sorry for the Owens guy.
Dan
commented on June 9th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Best rule ITTF ever made.
Jon Hornstein
commented on July 18th, 2008 at 2:10 am
We have 615,549 people over the age of 15 participating in Aussie rules football. How much money is going into Aussie rules football as compared to Table Tennis. Do we have a schools program, how much money is being spent on Junior development programs. I applaud people wanting to come to Australia to find a better life for themselves and playing for Australia in Table Tennis. Australia has a proud tradition of accepting European immigrants which had the collateral effect of dragging up the standard of Table Tennis in Australia. This new rule is almost another, “White Australian Policy” quite repugnant to us considering Australia’s history. I do concede that National representation may be near impossible for Aussie born players in the short term, but again history has shown that is is not the case in the long term.