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ITTF Chief Spurs World to Catch Up with China
The world table tennis chief gave a "Double March" order: Run and catch up with China!
International Table Tennis Federation president Adham Sharara said on Sunday the sport would become "boring" if China continued to dominate every event, as they have done at the current world championships in Osaka and at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games.
The ITTF boss said the problem was not that the Chinese were too good, simply that players from other countries were not fit enough or well prepared.
He blasted some star players for completely inadequate training, saying they had only played two international tournaments in the 12 months leading up to this championships.
"Really they have no chance of winning in these championships," he said bluntly.
"I hope that the rest of the world wakes up, and even tries to work together, to reach the kind of level China has reached here,"the president added.
The Canadian said the gap was so large that China's Table Tennis Association had agreed to help other ITTF members improve their play, saying the Chinese had a "responsibility" to make the sport grow.
"Of course for the Chinese they prefer that the gold medal has a little more value. At the moment it could be considered a national medal, because at the moment they are battling among themselves," he said.
"There is no secret. The Chinese team does not come from Mars or another planet. In my opinion... I can say that China is the country that trains the most, takes table tennis the most seriously and competes the most often in international events."
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