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The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is the governing body
Sport governing body

A sport governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sport governing bodies come in various forms, and have a variety of regulatory functions....
 for all national table tennis
Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth with rackets ....
 associations. Led by representatives of Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, Hungary
Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
, and England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
, the International Table Tennis Federation was founded in 1926. The first international tournament
Tournament

A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...
 was held in January 1926 in Berlin
Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
.






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Ittf
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is the governing body
Sport governing body

A sport governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sport governing bodies come in various forms, and have a variety of regulatory functions....
 for all national table tennis
Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth with rackets ....
 associations. Led by representatives of Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
, Hungary
Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
, and England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
, the International Table Tennis Federation was founded in 1926. The first international tournament
Tournament

A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...
 was held in January 1926 in Berlin
Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
. Austria
Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
, Germany, Hungary and Sweden
Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
 were charter members.

The role of the ITTF includes overseeing rules and regulations and seeking technological improvement for the sport of table tennis. The ITTF runs numerous international competitions, including the Table Tennis World Championships that has continued since 1926.

Toward the end of 2000, the ITTF instituted several rules changes aimed at making table tennis more viable as a televised spectator sport. The older 38 mm balls were officially replaced by 40 mm balls. This increased the ball’s air resistance and effectively slowed down the game. By that time, players had begun increasing the thickness of the fast sponge layer on their paddles, which made the game excessively fast, and difficult to watch on television.

On February 29 2008, the ITTF announced several rules changes after an ITTF Executive Meeting in Guangzhou
Guangzhou

'Guangzhou' is the Capital and a sub-provincial city of Guangdong Province of China in the northern and southern China part of the People's Republic of China....
, China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
 with regards to a player's eligibility to play for a new association. The Olympic eligibility of registered players for the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, People's Republic of China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008....
 will not be affected and will not be applied retroactively. The new ruling is to encourage associations to develop their own players.

There are currently 205 member organization
Organization

An organization is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals, which controls its own performance, and which has a boundary separating it from its environment....
s associated with the ITTF. The seat of the ITTF is in Lausanne
Lausanne

Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French language-speaking part of Switzerland, situated on the shores of Lake Geneva , and facing ?vian-les-Bains and with the Jura mountains to its north-west....
, Switzerland
Switzerland

Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of Switzerland....
. The current president
President

President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, company, trade unions, university, and country. Etymology, a "president" is one who Wiktionary:Preside, who sits in leadership ....
 of the ITTF is Adham Sharara, a Canadian
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
.

Role in diplomacy

Unlike the organizations for more popular sports, the ITTF tends to recognize teams from generally unrecognized governing bodies for disputed territory. For example, it currently recognizes the Table Tennis Federation of Kosovo
Table Tennis Federation of Kosovo

The Table Tennis Federation of Kosovo is the governing body responsible for table tennis in Kosovo.The TTFK is one of the few Kosovo sports federations recognized by its sport's governing body, in this case the International Table Tennis Federation in 2003....
 even though Kosovo
Kosovo

Kosovo is a disputed region in the Balkans. Its majority is governed by the partially-recognised Republic of Kosovo . Serbia does not recognise the secession of Kosovo and considers it a United Nations-governed entity within its sovereign territory, the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija that was re-created by Slobodan M...
 is excluded from most other sports. It recognized the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China

The People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the List of countries by population in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately a fifth of the world's population....
 in the 1970s and allowed some basic diplomacy which lead to an opening for U.S. President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the only president to resign the office....
, called "Ping Pong Diplomacy
Ping Pong Diplomacy

Ping Pong Diplomacy refers to the exchange of table tennis players of the United States and People's Republic of China in the 1970s. The event marked a thaw in Sino-American relations that paved the way to a 1972 Nixon visit to China....
".

Rules


Player Eligibility

A player is eligible to play for his association by registering with the ITTF. If the player chooses to play for a new association, he shall register with the ITTF, through the new association.

  • The player shall not represent the new association before.
  • The pl not be registered with the ITTF and will not be eligible to represent a new association at World Title events.


Service and point system

The table tennis point system is reduced from a 21 to an 11 point scoring system. This was intended to make games more fast-paced and exciting. The ITTF also changed the rules on service to prevent a player from hiding the ball during service, in order to increase the average length of rallies and to reduce the server’s advantage. Today, the game changes from time to time mainly to improve on the excitement for television viewers. In August 2008, ITTF officially banned the use of speed glue. Speed glue had allowed players to achieve greater spin and speed in their shots.

Contests (Main Draw)

  • Men's Singles
  • Women's Singles
  • Men's Doubles
  • Women's Doubles
  • Mixed Doubles


Men's Singles Contest

The men's singles contest consists of two male players playing against each other.



Women's Singles Contest

The women's singles contest consists of two female players playing against each other.



Men's Doubles Contest

The men's doubles contest consists of two pairs of male players (total of 4) playing against each other.



The 2007 World Table Tennis Championship is currently held in Zagreb
Zagreb

Zagreb is the Capital and the largest city of Croatia. Zagreb is the Culture of Croatia, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Cinema of Croatia, Economy of Croatia and Government of Croatia center of the Croatia....
 between May 21 to May 27, 2007 Current champions in the Men's Mixed Doubles Semifinals are:
  • Ma Lin
    Ma Lin (table tennis)

    Ma Lin is a male table tennis player born in the Shenyang, Liaoning Province of China. He is the world's number two ranked player as of December 2, 2008 in the International Table Tennis Federation ....
    /Wang Nan
    Wang Nan

    Wang Nan is a female PR China table tennis player from Liaoning. Wang remained as world #1 on the ITTF ranking system from January, 1999 to November, 2002....
     defeat Ko Lai Chak
    Ko Lai Chak

    Ko Lai Chak in Foshan, Guangdong, China, is a table tennis player from Hong Kong, China.He won a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the men's doubles alongside Li Ching....
    /Tie Yana 12-10, 11-6, 11-8, 11-4
  • Wang Liqin
    Wang Liqin

    Wang Liqin is a China table tennis player. As of December 5, 2007, he is ranked 4th in the International Table Tennis Federation .He began playing at the age of 6 and was picked for the Chinese men's national squad in 1993 when he was only 15 years old....
    /Guo Yue
    Guo Yue

    Guo Yue is a Chinese table tennis player and the current women's world champion.She is left-handed/Table tennis#Grip/Table tennis#Offensive strokes and comes from Anshan, China, Liaoning, People's Republic of China, the province where Wang Nan, Chang Chenchen and Li Jia come from....
     defeat Qiu Yike/Cao Zhen
    Cao Zhen

    Cao Zhen was a military general under the powerful warlord Cao Cao and the succeeding rulers of Cao Wei during the late Eastern Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms era of China....
     9-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-6, 11-3


(Source: http://www.ittf.com/_front_page/ittf.asp?category=General)

Women's Doubles Contest

The women's doubles contest consists of two pairs of female players (total of 4) playing against each other.



Mixed Doubles Contest

The mixed doubles contest consists of two pairs of mixed players (total of 2 women, 2 men) playing against each other.



External links