After WTT forced Fan Zhendong into retirement, an initiative group Table Tennis Fans (TTF) took a deeper look into the structure of World Table Tennis and ITTF.
There have been plenty of complaints from fans and players against the WTT since its early days. Annoying camera angles, bad scheduling of the tournaments, forcing the TOP-ranked players to play in WTT tournaments, fines for missing the tournaments, and a completely absurd World Ranking system that favors WTT tournaments over the official competitions (Olympic Games, World Table Tennis Championships, etc.).
While all the major table tennis influencers kept their silence after Fan Zhendong’s retirement, TTF dug into a research of the documentation, related to WTT and ITTF structure, and finances.
And unsurprisingly, there are plenty of shady moments there.
Below, you can download the email that TTF sent to the ITTF president, integrity board, and some member associations, as well as the evidence supporting it.
If you care about the future of table tennis, not just the benefits from table tennis, as your favorite influencers do – share the TTF initiative and their research on social media. Spread the awareness, and share this information within the global table tennis community.
Silence and fake-friendliness in table tennis do major damage to the sport. Most athletes remain silent, influencers only care about their income and image. Only small groups of fans are standing up. Positivity campaigns on YouTube by influencers, and constant self-praise by the WTT create a misleading image about the state of table tennis. There is no progress, there is no growth in popularity. Table tennis is a niche sport and in most of the countries around the World, the only kids to pursue this sport are the ones, who don’t see a future in football, basketball, or any other well-paid sport. What parent in their right mind gonna invest their time and money to support a child’s journey for a chance to 10 years later win 300 euros in WTT Feeder? A chance to win those 300 euros is very narrow since reaching the professional level is very unlikely to happen for the majority of young athletes.
In any of the popular sports, such incompetency and driving top athletes away because of the awful job done by these organizations – wouldn’t go unnoticed. Table tennis is a niche sport and as long as its community will tolerate all the nonsense, it will never have a chance to grow into something more global.
The perception in the eyes of the majority will remain the same. Ask anyone who has 0 clue what this sport is. For the majority, table tennis is just a goofy, fun game for elderly individuals in the local clubs, or groups of friends who want to play it in the garage on Friday night, combining it with a beer pong competition. Silly, goofy, fun – the same as the paid voice of table tennis. Adam Bobrow – an influencer, many of you so passionately admire and defend in this situation. But rarely anyone looks at table tennis as a serious, highly technical, and spectacular sport that requires elite physical and mental skills to excel. Fun, snakes, and selling rubbers are all that matters. Is this how you want your beloved sport to be represented?
TTF Research about WTT/ITTF
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