The sport of table tennis has witnessed dazzling changes in recent
years and will see more in the years to come, as a result of the
sport's world governing body
the
International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
Although the increased ball size, adoption of the 11 points scoring
system and new service law had been widely taken as a great
challenge to the sport's world power China, coaches and players at
the table tennis finals earlier this month in Shantou, south China,
for China's 9th National Games took them in a fairly calm way.
"So long as Chinese players and coaches stick to their
battle-proved style of play, continue to take a reformative and
creative approach and timely sum up their experience, Chinese table
tennis shall stand the test," said Li Furong, Vice-Minister of the
State General Administration of Sports. "I'm confident that we
shall continue to lead the world," he said.
To
make the game more exciting and spectacular, the ITTF has decided
to increase the ball size from 38 millimeters to 40, change the
scoring system from 21 points per set to 11 points and take a new
law which forbids the ball "hidden" in terms of vision during
service.
Larger balls, which had been used since last October, came out no
real obstacle in front of Chinese, who clean swept the titles at
this year's world championships in Osaka. But men's singles
defending champion and Olympic bronze-medalist Liu Guoliang came
out a victim of the change. He failed even to make top four.
Fatigue and lack of new techniques cost the pen-holding fast
attacker even more badly at national games, where he was ousted
early in the singles event.
The new scoring system has come in force since September 1 this
year. But it will not be adopted in China until at the Super Cup
club tournament this December. The 21-point scoring system was
still used in the national games table tennis tournament as it had
been used in the tournament's preliminary rounds prior to the
adoption of the new system.
With the 11-point system, any player had to be in good form soon
after the game starts, which might bright trouble to such Chinese
players as Olympic champion and former world champion Kong Linghui.
Kong, who usually comes into form slow, had been seen in many
come-from-behind victories.
"The new scoring system might lead a narrower gap between the
strong and the weak," said Chinese men's team coach Yin Xiao. "It
looks to be favorable for comparatively weaker players as it
provides more sudden chances while the world's top players often
take time for their wins," he said.
Yin cited the Korea Open and Japan Open, where the Chinese men's
team took a sole title, in the doubles. The Europeans, who had been
done quite well in recent years, failed even to make the top eight
in the Korea Open, according to the coach.
"The new service rule might affect some of male Chinese players
known of tricky service while the women's team is not expected to
be affected much," said Lu Yuansheng, deputy head coach of the
Chinese team. "It takes some time for the team to adapt themselves
to the new rule," he added.
Cai Zhenhua, head coach of China's national team, believed that the
new scoring system should not be a big problem for China if the
players are trained to be able to adapt themselves soon into top
form during competition.
Zhang Xielin, a former world champion player and vice-president of
the Chinese Table Tennis Association, echoed Cai's viewpoint. "The
new system won't influence our strength or characteristics. The
point is how fast we could adjust our tactics and mentality," he
said.
But the change will certainly has its effect. As the competitors
will take two services by turn, instead of five, each of the
service had to be made more aggressive and deadly than ever, Zhang
explained.
Cai considered the new service rule might be the most difficult
aspect of the rule changes for Chinese to deal with. "A good deal
of champions could be ousted while the role of umpire becomes all
the more decisive," he said.
More backhand services would be seen in the future, "just to avoid
infringement," he predicted. "When you serve forehand, you just
can't remove your arm, your hand, part of your body and T-shirt,
completely and absolutely," he added.
Li
Furong urged the Chinese teams for a more creative manner in their
study of the new rules and called on more practical research to
improve training. "We are happy with the seven trophies from Osaka
(world championships), but they mean nothing to us now," he said.
"We'd take some time to sort out new ways for the game and time is
on nobody's side. But I am confident of the future," he
concluded.
( October 29,2001)