ITTF chief backs Dubai as multi-sport venue

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) was not only pleased by the organisational capabilities of the UAE officials but pleasantly surprised by standard of the host country at the World Team Cup Classic.

“We were a little bit worried at the beginning whether UAE could organise such a very big event to be honest because we thought that the local table tennis association does not have enough experience. But to our surprise this event has been organised at a very high level,” said ITTF president Adam Shahara.

“Normally this event is held every two years. But the UAE association insisted on having an event this year. So we made some special conditions for them. Everything that we asked has been fulfilled,” he said.

He paid a glowing tribute to Dawood Al Hajiri, president of the UAE Table Tennis Association, for providing leadership to successfully organise the event. “We are very happy and the sponsors who have contributed financially to this event are also happy with the results,” said Shahara.

The ITTF was also impressed with media coverage, especially live TV footage of the event which was broadcast live around the world including China who emerged champions. “The quality of the TV coverage was excellent and we received some very positive feedback,” he said.

But the biggest surprise to the sport’s world governing body was the standard of the UAE team who featured in the Intercontinental Cup segment of the event. “I’m really very impressed with Rashid Omar who won every match except one against a player from Canada. The level that he has shown was not expected. Also the level of the second and third player was much higher than the last time I saw them,” said the ITTF boss.

He felt that if a Gulf team had been fielded instead of UAE most probably they would have beaten Canada and Nigeria. “I think the level now of Arab players especially in the Gulf area has improved a lot,” he added.

The ITTF created the Intercontinental Cup specially to give a chance to weaker nations to play against each other and to get a chance to improve their level. “Instead of playing directly against China or Germany they can play each other first. So at the moment this is for the champions from each continent,” he said.

However, this could change if a weaker nation were to host this tournament. “In this tournament it was very good that UAE played. But maybe in future we can have a combination of a regional team or even an Arab team. Everything is possible,” he said.

“For ITTF what is important is to give opportunities for associations to improve. So if we can find better ways to help them improve why not.”

Shahara said they will do an evaluation after the event to see whether to hold it annually or every two years. “My opinion is that it is creating a lot of attention and also gives some opportunities to countries like UAE to organise this type of event because it is a smaller event but a high level event,” he said.

Asked how they could help in developing the technical skills of UAE players like Omar, Shahara said they were unaware that a talent like him existed. “Actually we have helped lot of players. In his case we did not help because really we did not know his level and he was not presented to us. My feeling is that he needs more international exposure,” he said urging 22-year-old Omar to play in European tournaments such as the German Open or French Open and also some tournaments in Asia.

Shahara said the ITTF could help by arranging for training in some academies or training centres in Europe or in China. “We can assist in that respect. Also we can encourage the UAE Table Tennis association to enter their players more often in international events,” he said.

Talking of the global standing of table tennis in relation to other sports, he admitted they faced a challenge to attract spectators to the venue in this region. “In this region football dominates but I notice that even in football the level of spectators is very low. I think in this region in general spectators are not going to events. May be it is very hot outside or they are used to watching events at home on TV,” he said.

He was uncertain how to tackle this problem. “This is quite a challenge. I was thinking of asking the opinion of the president of the football federations in the region but then when I watched TV, I saw they also had very few spectators. May be it is a general mentality in the region that people like to watch sport at home. So it is a bigger issue than just table tennis,” observed Shahara who is a Canadian of Egyptian origin.

But table tennis ranked high popularity compared to other Olympic sports. “At the Athens Games we were ranked five as far as popularity of all sports and in Beijing we improved to no.4. It looks quite good that we are always in top five as far as Olympic Games are concerned,” he said.

“But our problem is other sports such as basketball and football have very strong professional leagues. And in table tennis this has still not developed enough. Hope in future we can help develop professional league as well so we can compete with other sports,” he said.

The ITTF also endorsed Dubai as an ideal multi-sport venue although the only weakness he saw here like in the Doha Asian Games was the lack of spectators. “I think this is one of most attractive cities in the world at the moment. Everybody likes to come here to see the unbelievable skyline. If the president of another international association would ask my opinion, I will answer in a very positive way. If you are bidding for an international event at whatever level you will have the full support of ITTF not just of me personally,” he assured.