The China Table Tennis Super League will kick off this weekend
without a single foreign player, the league organizers revealed on
Monday.
Due to new rules that stipulate foreign players must stay with
their Chinese teams throughout the season and play in at least 18
games, no foreigners have sought to join the nation's top table
tennis league.
"It doesn't mean that we are saying 'no' to foreign players,"
explained Liu Fengyan, head of the sport's national administrative
center. "We are just copying an international practice to improve
the management of the league."
As well as all elite Chinese paddlers, the league has often
attracted international stars u like Timo Boll of Germany, Ai
Fukuhara of Japan and Ryu Seung-min of South Korea.?
However, the loyalty of these globe-trotting athletes was fickle
and their appearances in China were miserable - some of them
playing as little as two games per season.
"The management of foreign imports used to be very loose and has
a bad influence on the league. So we decided to make a change," Liu
added.
However, there is speculation that the new rule may secretly be
to benefit the country's prospects at next year's Beijing Olympics
since some Chinese officials fear the presence of foreign players
could threaten China's dominance in the sport.
"The league is the fundamental power base of China's table
tennis and its significance is huge because of its help for Olympic
preparations," Liu said.
Under the new rule, it is almost impossible for foreign imports
to play in China this year since the league will interfere with
international Olympic qualifying tournaments.
"They (foreign players) need to play many tournaments prior to
the Beijing Games. That's probably the reason why they are not
coming," Liu said.
The new rule also highlighted a dilemma for the ambitious
organizers who must try to make the league a world-class event
whilst deferring to Olympic preparations that have proved paramount
to central authorities.
To ensure the competitiveness of the league, Chinese national
team players will forego two International Table Tennis Federation
Pro Tour tournaments held in Taiwan and South Korea during the
league's run from June 9 to September 12.
?(China Daily June 6, 2007)