Table Tennis Chief Impressed with Rotterdam World Champs

(ATR) The president of the International Table Tennis Federation tells Around the Rings the world championship that just ended in Rotterdam was one of the best ever for the sport.

"Overall from a players' point of view they would say this is one of the best events," Adham Sharara told ATR. The competition wrapped up Sunday in the Dutch city.

He cited the excellent playing conditions at Ahoy Arena, good transportation for players and officials – included free metro passes – and high-quality food for competitors at the venue.

Sharara also said it was a good tournament from a sponsorship perspective.

"This one is very good as far as presentation for the sponsors is concerned, so the sponsors are getting very good visibility. It's done in a very professional way. Every sponsor who has invested will be proud and happy to get maximum exposure," he said.

GAC Group, the Chinese car manufacturer, was only brought on board as title sponsor of the world champs three weeks ago as part of a wider partnership that includes sponsorship of ITTF events over the next few years.

Sharara told ATRthe deal was part of the federation's plans to further boost sponsorship revenues; its annual sponsorship income is around $8 million.

"Now we are trying to target not just big brands and well-known companies but also specific types of sponsors," he said."For example, we are looking for an airline partner, we are looking for a clothing partner...we are becoming more specific because all our events are already covered, so now we would like to have sponsors across the board."

The ITTF expanded its membership to 215 countries last week, becoming the second largest sports federation behind volleyball.

Concern Over Chinese Dominance

China was once again the dominant force at the world champs.

Its paddlers scooped up all five gold medals available. Chinese players contested all five finals in the men's and women's singles and doubles as well as mixed doubles, bagging 14 of the 20 medals on offer.

In front of 8,000 spectators at the Ahoy Arena, Zhang Jike beat defending champion Wang Hao in Sunday's men's singles final.

A day earlier, Ding Ning clinched the women’s singles title after beating top seed Li Xiaoxia in six games.

Sharara admitted over the weekend that China's stranglehold on table tennis was not healthy for the sport – and a challenge for his federation.

"If the dominance is for two, three years it's acceptable but when it's for a very long time people start to lose interest," he told Singapore's MediaCorp.

"If it continues like this, it may affect TV broadcasting [sales] in China but outside China the interest is still the same. This is not the fault of the Chinese, they are very professional and have a large number of players. It's the role of the other associations [countries] now to try and do something to challenge them."

Sharara said the federation was working hard to encourage other countries, especially from Europe, to improve and develop their young players so they could start competing at the same level as the Chinese in a few years' time.

"Already we can see results from the Japanese and Koreans but the Europeans are still far [behind], especially the women," he added.

The Rotterdam worlds also acted as a London 2012 Olympics qualifier for the men’s singles and women’s singles events.

The world ranking list published Monday revealed the world's top 28 ranked players who have booked their berths at the Olympics. A maximum of two from any one national Olympic committee can take part in the singles events; the final decision is in the hands of the country’s NOC.

No former Olympic gold medalist for either the men’s or women’s singles events appears among the direct entries for the 2012 Games.

Beijing 2008 champion Ma Lin is the third-ranked Chinese player on the men’s list. On the newly published rankings, he retains his no.4 spot behind Wang Hao, Timo Boll and Zhang Jike.

Three players have secured direct entries to the Olympics who were present in 1988 when table tennis first joined the program. Sweden's Jörgen Persson, Belgium's Jean-Michel Saive and Croatia's Zoran Primorac will be in London. Despite now being eligible for veteran events, they remain their countries' top-ranked players.

In the women’s world rankings, there is no change in the top six places, with Li Xiaoxia, Guo Yan, Ding Ning, Guo Yue, Liu Shiwen, Feng Tianwei occupying those spots.

Written by Mark Bisson