China won the women's team gold, in a match attended by Chinese president Hu Jintao and IOC president Jacques Rogge. (Getty Images)(ATR) Table tennis is continually putting new spins on the sport to make it more attractive to spectators and television viewers.
Men's and women's doubles events have been replaced with team competition. It's only fitting the format change was introduced in a country where table tennis is a national obsession.
China won both team titles, adding two more golds to the 16 in 20 events it has won since table tennis became an Olympic sport in 1988. Men's and women's singles conclude Saturday.
Jordi Serra, executive director of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), told ATR that interest is stronger when fans can root for a country as a whole instead of individuals.
Even Chinese President Hu Jintao attended the women's team final, along with IOC President Jacques Rogge. Hu told reporters prior to the Games that if he could compete in any Olympic event, it would be table tennis.
"Bill Gates [of Microsoft] came here two or three times," Serra said. "He found the system very interesting. It's not that the doubles disappeared. The doubles is now a key point in the team events."
He added that in all of the men's matches except one, the team that won the doubles competition won the match.
Unlike the Davis Cup in tennis, a player is limited to a maximum of two matches. "The weakness of Davis Cup is one strong player can decide the match," Serra commented.
Table Tennis Palace
The Peking University Gymnasium is the first Olympic venue dedicated to table tennis.
Its roof even resembles a table tennis ball between two hyperbolic surfaces, earning it the nickname "China Ridge."
The venue has room for eight competition tables and can seat 7,557. When only four tables are in play at one time, temporary seating fills the space. For key matches, only one table is used.
Serra said air flow and lighting are always challenges for table tennis venues. The Peking University air conditioning system releases air no faster than 0.2m/second, which is crucial when balls weigh only 2.74 grams and are sensitive to the slightest breeze.
"You cannot see any air flow," he remarked. "It's the same system as badminton. You can see a lot of exits. This creates perfect conditions."
Lighting is also optimal. "It's important that the lighting is not annoying the players," explained Serra.
Swedish player Jorgen Persson, one of three players who have participated in all six Olympic table tennis competitions, traveled to Beijing in May to help test the venue against Chinese opponents.
Claude Bergeret, ITTF executive vice president, said the sport's stature in China and convenient location at Peking University will help its exposure.
"Every VIP person will come to the table tennis venue, because they know this is where the important sport is," she explained to ATR.
"In other Olympics, that was not the case. Some people didn't visit us, especially when the venue was far away from the athletic stadium. In Athens, it was difficult to come. Greece was not a country for table tennis."
But China is. The venue has been packed, especially when China is playing. In a departure from some other Olympic sports, the spectators are well aware of the rules.
Since the Sydney Olympics, the size of the ball has been increased from 38 to 40 mm to make it easier to see on television.
This is also the second Olympics in which games go to 11 points instead of 21. Competitors play best-of-seven rather than the old best-of-five.
"It was too long, and we wanted to have some more moments with some tension to have more interest," Bergeret divulged.
Players also are not allowed to hide the ball as they strike it. This allows the opponent - as well as the audience - to see the spin placed on the ball. Players don't ITTF executive vice president Claude Bergeret, and Jordi Serra, ITTF executive director, are keeping table tennis on the cutting edge. (ATR)look as much like contortionists on serves.
"You cannot hide with your arm, with your body, the moment the racket touches the ball," explained Bergeret. "It must be visible for the receiver. Before, when the players were hiding the ball and the opponent could not see, they were making many easy mistakes and the spectator didn't understand why."
"The first ones who asked for it were the players themselves," Serra added. "They said, 'How can we play, if we cannot see the ball, how it's coming, with the spin?'"
Serra said the change also makes rallies longer.
The newest rule will go into effect on Sept. 1. A glue known as "speed glue" will be outlawed for health reasons. Players sometimes change the glue on their racket 10 times a day, and officials fear the fumes could be toxic.
More Innovations in Presentation
The game was not the only thing to be updated prior to the Beijing Games. The competition tables were specially made with lights below them. They're called "Rainbow tables." "It's very clean, very nice looking," Serra stated. "We don't have these tables with the typical legs like you have in the garage."
Bergeret would like to go a step further, though. On a visit to fencing, she saw the spotlight that illuminated the athletes on the strip The Peking University Gymnasium is the first ever Olympic venue dedicated to table tennis. (ATR)while everything around them was dark. "We could do that when we have only one table," she remarked. "This would be an improvement."
Bergeret would like to limit the number of tables to four, even though it would lengthen the competition. "Eight tables together are too many," she said. "You cannot watch everywhere and it is a little bit messy."
She also believes table tennis needs more entertainment besides the FUWA mascots between matches. Fencing, for example, has sword dancing. "It creates a different atmosphere.”
Growth of the Sport
Although China remains the world power, other countries are getting their paddle on the ball at the Games. Portugal, Congo, Paraguay, Vanuatu, Cameroon, Colombia, Kazakstan and Turkey are new to the Olympic table tennis tournament.
There are 205 member associations in the ITTF. Development has especially improved in Africa, South America and Oceania.
Under ITTF President Adham Sharara, a pro tour now has $2 million in prize money, which is equally split between men and women. Serra also cited a development program, a youth program that includes a world junior championships, and emphasis on bringing more women into umpiring, coaching and official positions on the executive committee and board of directors.
The latter, Bergeret remarked, is the most difficult because the official must be proposed by her national association. The men in charge, she commented, don't like to give their places up to a woman.
She's also pushing for more TV coverage. At the Athens Olympics, table tennis ranked fifth among sports for number of TV hours multiplied by viewers. However, the sport virtually disappears between Olympics in regions of the world other than Asia.
Bergeret said that when table tennis' representatives talk to television networks in Europe, "They don't listen to them, or they would like to be paid to show table tennis - and normally it's the contrary. Maybe we should start to pay and then we'll be seen and be sure we'll have a high level of TV viewers.
"And maybe then they will pay us. But we have to start something."
Written by ATR Staff in Beijing.
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