2012 London to London

Shining Brightly
London 2012, the seventh time that table
tennis has been a member of the Olympic
programme; we have moved from comparative
tentative steps in Seoul in 1988
to becoming one of the most firmly established
of all Olympic sports.
The facts and figures from Beijing, fourth
overall in terms of television audience
worldwide and eleventh in the United
Kingdom amongst 28 sports, endorse the
fact that table tennis has an increasingly
high status; all together, whether volunteers
or professional staff, we can take
pride that table tennis enjoys such high
regard.
Furthermore, since the Olympic inauguration
in 1988, table tennis has moved forward;
we have moved with the times. Not
only have regulations changed regarding
the size of the ball, the service rule and
the points scoring system; also, major advances
in the way in which we present and
promote the sport have occurred.
The whole image with the designer centre
court table, standing in a theatrical setting
gives the occasion status. Meanwhile,
in the promotion of the sport, the rapid
advances in technology now enables our
viewers to tune in to our telecasts and
watch the drama unfold; more than four
million distinct viewers are currently registered
to our own itTV.
Nowadays, enthusiasts can follow the GAC
GROUP World Tour on laptop computers
and just as the birth of the International
Table Tennis Federation and the staging
of the first World Championships was in
England; so was the start of the present
day Tour.
In 1996, the first ever ITTF Pro Tour tournament
was held in the market town of Kettering;
a concept was born that has blossomed
and is now an integral part of the
International Table Tennis Federation’s
competition programme. However, it is to
the future that we must look, rest on laurels
and there is stagnation; innovate and
there is progress.
Therefore, high praise must be afforded
to the English Table Tennis Association.
In late November 2011, a successful ITTF
Pro Tour Grand Finals was staged, the test
event for the Olympic Games. Now it is the
real thing; of course their members are
heavily involved in the organisation of the
table tennis events at the Olympic Games
and soon after the Paralympic Games.
However that is not all; later in the year,
the LIEBHERR Men’s World Cup will be
staged some 180 miles north in the city
of Liverpool. A high level of activity; from
London to London, from Kettering to London,
from London to Liverpool or wherever;
the country where it all started is once
again the focus of attention, the London
2012 Olympic Games.
I pay my highest respect to Mr. Colin Clemett
for writing and documenting a piece
of our history on the occasion of the 2012
London Games.
Light the torch; may table tennis once
again shine brightly.
Adham Sharara (ITTF President)
Photo: Rémy Gros