International Table Tennis Federation

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The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is the umbrella organization of all national sports associations for table tennis . It was founded in 1926.

The ITTF's tasks include monitoring the regulatory framework and looking for technical improvements. The ITTF also organizes numerous international competitions, including the Table Tennis World Championships since 1926 . At these world championships, the ITTF organizes its congresses - also called Biannual General Meeting (BGM) or after 1999 Annual General Meeting (AGM) . This is where requests from members, for example for rule changes, are discussed and decided. Once a month, the ITTF publishes a world ranking list for women and men.

The ITTF has 226 member associations (as of July 2017). Thus, the International Table Tennis Federation is the first and so far only sports association in the world that unites all countries and territories (many British Isles have their own associations, although they are not independent states) in one sports association. The association is based in Lausanne .

founding

During an international invitation tournament , the delegates from Austria, England, Germany and Hungary met on January 15, 1926 in the clubhouse of the Yellow-White 1900 Berlin tennis club in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Kaiser-Allee 49-50. One of the main goals was to establish uniform rules for table tennis worldwide. This meeting was initiated by Georg Lehmann , the President of the German Table Tennis Association DTTB . From the German side, F. Gruber (General Secretary of the German Tennis Federation ), Fritz Zinn (DTTB Treasurer), Hans-Georg Lindenstaedt (table tennis athlete) and K.Wilhelm (tournament director from Berlin) took part. England was represented by Ivor Montagu , Geo J. Ross and William J. "Bill" Pope († June 1950), Hungary by Zoltán Mechlovits and Roland Jacobi , Austria by Eduard Freudenheim.

The participants founded the ITTF. All nations that joined by June 1, 1926 are considered founding members. First of all, these are the four countries that took part in the founding assembly. In 1926 Sweden, Czechoslovakia and Wales joined. These were also counted among the founding members.

The first ITTF Congress took place following the first World Cup on December 12, 1926 in London in Lady Swaythling's library. The Presidium was formed here:

President:

Secretaries:

  • CH Hallet (Wales)
  • Jan Gerke (Czechoslovakia)

Assessor:

In addition, a ball and equipment committee (CH Hallet, Jan Gerke, William J. Pope) and a rules committee (Ivor Montagu, Richard Pick, Zoltán Mechlovits) were set up.

Second World War

Before the Second World War , 13 congresses took place since it was founded. In 1939, 28 national associations belonged to the ITTF. Activities ceased during the war, after which Congress met for the first time in March 1947. In 1951 48 nations were members, in 1965 83 states.

President

Aliens regulation

In the 1980s, the following regulation was adopted: If an athlete joins another association and has previously worked internationally in his country of origin, then he must wait six years before he can represent the new association internationally.

In 1994 the ITTF amended this provision. If the athlete was not yet internationally active in his country of origin, he can already play internationally for the new association after three years if he has a permanent residence there and lives there for three years.

In 2008, the ITTF Congress tightened the regulation: If an active player wants to change an association and was previously active for another association, the new association must register this player with the ITTF. There is a waiting period from the time of registration, only after that it can be used by the new association. The waiting period is three years for young people under 15, five years for 15 to 17 year olds and seven years for 18 to 20 year olds. Older players are no longer allowed to change associations.

This regulation comes into force on September 1, 2008. It does not apply retrospectively. It is intended to curb the method that has often been practiced up to now that players who have been retired in China, for example, represent other countries internationally.

useful information

  • In 1952, China became a member.
  • In 1960 Vietnam became a member of the ITTF.
  • Japan joins the ITTF in 1965.
  • In 1970 the ITTF became a member of the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAIF)
  • In 1991 Latvia and Lithuania became full members again. Before the Second World War, these republics were already members of the ITTF.
  • In 2003 the ITTF recognized Kosovo as a member, despite a lack of international recognition and in contrast to many other sports.

literature

  • Ossi Brucker: 40 Years of the International Table Tennis Association , DTS magazine , 1966/1 pp. 1–4.
  • Ossi Brucker: Germans founding the ITTF host , DTS magazine , 1981/2 p. 53.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ITTF Completes Full House of 226 Member Associations (accessed October 24, 2018)
  2. ↑ DTS magazine , 1951/19 issue west-south page 4
  3. ^ DTS magazine , 1966/1 page 3
  4. ↑ DTS magazine , 1994/7 page 26
  5. ↑ tischtennis magazine , 2008/3 page 26
  6. ↑ DTS magazine , 1961/24 West issue, page 5
  7. ↑ DTS magazine , 1960/13 page 1
  8. ^ DTS magazine , 1966/1 page 8
  9. ↑ Magazine DTS , 1970/19 edition south-west side 11
  10. ↑ DTS magazine , 1991/10 page 28
  11. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated February 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.newkosovareport.com