 | |
| Abbreviation | ITTF |
|---|---|
| Formation | 12 December 1926; 98 years ago (1926-12-12) |
| Founder | William Henry Lawes[citation needed] |
| Founded at | London,United Kingdom |
| Type | Sports federation |
| Headquarters | Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Membership | 227 member associations |
President | Petra Sörling |
| Website | |
TheInternational Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is thegoverning body for all nationaltable tennis associations that use ITTF-approved sponge table tennis rackets.[1] The role of the ITTF includes overseeing rules and regulations and seeking technological improvement for the sport of table tennis. The ITTF is responsible for the organization of numerous international competitions, including theWorld Table Tennis Championships.
The ITTF was founded on 12 December 1926 in London[2] by William Henry Lawes[citation needed] fromWymondham, the nine founding members beingAustria,Czechoslovakia,Denmark,England,Germany,Hungary,British India,Sweden, andWales.[3] The first international tournament was held in January 1926 in Berlin, while the firstWorld Table Tennis Championships was held in December 1926 in London.
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.[4] This increased the ball's air resistance, and effectively slowed down the game. In 2003, the ITTF moved its headquarters fromHastings toLausanne and set the ITTF Museum there.[5][6]
In 2007, the governance forpara table tennis was transferred from theInternational Paralympic Committee to the ITTF.[7] In February 2008, the ITTF announced several rules changes after an ITTF Executive Meeting inGuangzhou,Guangdong, China with regards to a player's eligibility to play for a new association. The new ruling was to encourage associations to develop their own players.[8]
In 2019, the ITTF created its subsidiaryWorld Table Tennis (WTT) to manage all its commercial and events business.[9] The ITTF's current headquarters are located inLausanne while their Asia-Pacific office is based in Singapore and search for a new site for headquarters is in the process.[10][11][12] The current president is Petra Sörling from Sweden. Sörling became the eighth person to hold the office in 2021.[13][14]
| President | Country | Presidency |
|---|---|---|
| Ivor Montagu | England | 1926–1937 (as chairman) 1937–1967 (as president) |
| Roy Evans | Wales | 1967–1987 |
| Ichiro Ogimura | Japan | 1987–1994 |
| Lollo Hammarlund | Sweden | 1994–1995 |
| Xu Yinsheng | China | 1995–1999 |
| Adham Sharara | Canada | 1999–2014 |
| Thomas Weikert | Germany | 2014–2021 |
| Petra Sörling | Sweden | 2021– |
The ITTF recognises five continental federations.[15][16][17] There are currently 227 member associations within the ITTF.[18][19]
| Continent | Members | Continental federation |
|---|---|---|
| Africa | 54 | African Table Tennis Federation |
| America | 46 | Pan American Table Tennis Confederation |
| Asia | 45 | Asian Table Tennis Union (ATTU) |
| Europe | 58 | European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) |
| Oceania | 24 | Oceania Table Tennis Federation (OTTF) |
All member associations of the ITTF attend annual general meeting (AGM).[20] Agendas on changes of the constitution, laws of table tennis, applications for membership etc. are discussed and finalised through votes. Also, the president of ITTF, 8 executive vice-presidents, and 32 or less continental representatives are elected at an AGM, serving for a four-year term. The president, executive vice-presidents, and the chairman of the athletes' commission compose executive committee.
The executive committee, continental representatives and presidents of the five continental federations or their appointees compose the board of directors (Board). The Board manages the work of the ITTF between AGMs. Several committees, commissions, working groups or panels work under the constitution of ITTF or under the Board.
Unlike the organisations for more popular sports, the ITTF tends to recognise teams from generally unrecognised governing bodies for disputed territory. For example, it recognised theTable Tennis Federation of Kosovo in 2003 even thoughKosovo was excluded from most other sports.[21][22] It recognised thePeople's Republic of China in 1953 and allowed some basic diplomacy[23] which lead to an opening forU.S. PresidentRichard Nixon, called "Ping Pong Diplomacy", in the early 1970s.
The ITTF also approvedunified Korean team to compete at theWorld Table Tennis Championships in 1991 and 2018.[24][25]
In reaction to the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ITTF banned Russian and Belarusian players and officials from its competitions.[26] But this reaction has slowed down in 30 March 2023, stated that Russian and Belarusian players will be re-allowed to participate ITTF and WTT competitions under strict conditions of neutrality, with government or state officials, and national symbols such as flags and anthems of both countries to continue being banned in ITTF-sanctioned events.[27]
For ITTF world title events, 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.[28] The player will be eligible to play for the new association after three, five, seven years after the date of registration, if the player is under the age of 15, 18, 21 respectively. The player will be eligible to play for the new association after nine years if the player is at least 21 years old.
The table tennis point system was reduced from a 21 to an 11-point scoring system in 2001.[4] A game shall be won by the player or pair first scoring 11 points unless both players or pairs score 10 points, when the game shall be won by the first player or pair subsequently gaining a lead of 2 points. 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,[29] 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 2007, ITTF's board of directors in Zagreb decided to implement the VOC-free glue rule at Junior events, starting from 1 January 2008, as a transitional period before the full implementation of the VOC ban on 1 September 2008.[30]
As of 1 January 2009, all speed glue was to have been banned.
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The ITTF and its subsidiaryWTT hold international tournaments and the ITTF maintains official world ranking lists based on players' results in tournaments throughout the year.[31]
Conventions:MT/WT: men's/women's team;MS/WS: men's/women's singles;MD/WD: men's/women's doubles;XD: mixed doubles;XT: mixed teams
Major International Events
| Competition name | First held | Held every | Events | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MT | WT | MS | WS | MD | WD | XD | XT | |||
| World Championships | 1926 | Odd-numbered year | • | • | • | • | • | |||
| World Team Championships | 1926 | Even-numbered year | • | • | ||||||
| Summer Olympic Games | 1988 | Four years | • | • | • | • | • | |||
| Table Tennis World Cup | 1980 | Annually[a] | •[b] | •[c] | • | • | •[d] | •[e] | • | •[f] |
| Competition name | First held | Held every | Events | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MT | WT | MS | WS | MD | WD | XD | |||
| World Youth Championships | 2003 | One year | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Summer Youth Olympic Games | 2010 | Four years | • | • | • | ||||
| Competition name | First held | Held every | Events | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MT | WT | MS | WS | MD | WD | XD | |||
| Summer Paralympic Games | 1960 | Four years | • | • | • | • | |||
| World Para Table Tennis Championships | 1990 | Four years | • | • | • | • | |||
| Category | W | F | SF | QF | R16 | R32 | R64 | R128 |
| Summer Olympics[32] | 2000 | 1400 | 700 | 350 | 175 | 90 | 45 | - |
| World Table Tennis Championships[33] | 2000 | 1400 | 700 | 350 | 175 | 90 | 45 | 10 |
| Table Tennis World Cup[34][35] | 1500 | 1050 | 525 | 265 | 100 | 40 for 2nd in the group, 15 for 3rd in the group | ||
| ITTF World Tour Grand Finals[36] | 1500 | 1050 | 525 | 265 | 100 | - | - | - |
| Grand Smash[37] | 2000 | 1400 | 700 | 350 | 175 | 90 | 20 | – |
| WTT Champions[38] | 1000 | 700 | 350 | 175 | 90 | 15 | – | – |
| WTT Star Contender[39] | 600 | 420 | 210 | 105 | 55 | 25 | 5 | – |
| WTT Contender[40] | 400 | 280 | 140 | 70 | 35 | 4 | – | – |
| Continental Games and Cups[41] | 500 | 350 | 175 | 90 | 45 | – | – | – |
| WTT Feeder[42] | 125 | 90 | 45 | 25 | 15 | 8 | – | – |
The ITTF Museum was previously in Lausanne, Switzerland, where the ITTF is based.[6][43] The ITTF decided in 2014 to move the museum to Shanghai, China, which was planning the China Table Tennis Museum around the same time. The new museum was designated in the same building with the China Table Tennis Museum on different floors, managed and operated byShanghai University of Sport, and officially opened in 2018.[44][45]
1.3.1.1 There shall be five Continental Federations, one each from the geographical regions of Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania
Only the People's Republic of China Table Tennis Association was taken at this stage, in order to regularise their playing in the Championships and attending Congress. The Meeting confirmed the Advisory Committee's action in accepting the application.
46°31′56″N6°35′44″E / 46.532134°N 6.595596°E /46.532134; 6.595596
