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Qn: Why did you banned booster (or have you? since the rule is unclear) if they are shown to be safe?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): The ITTF rule is very clear. Nothing can be added to the equipment that would alter it after it has been approved. Boosters and Tuners actually alter the surface of the rubber by stretching it. This is NOT how it was approved by the ITTF. Post factory treatment is illegal. Therefore Boosters and Tuners are illegal. In addition, the ITTF tested 5 Boosters/Tuners available on the market, all had some levels of VOC and at least two of them contained poison.

The ITTF is now introducing new testing equipment that will detect the presence of Boosters and Tuners.

Qn. The tuners that I've used only affect the sponge and not the surface. I supposed that when someone glue their rubber with "legal" glue they don't stretch it--all they have to do is use a roller...... So the use of a roller is illegal now? What's next? If need be I can tune a sponge and glue it onto a top sheet to make it "legal".

BTW according to the reading that I have done ITTF doesn't inspect the sponge so how can the sponge be approved or not approved?

Please show me any public record or such claim that Boosters/Tuners contains poison. If some are unhealthy and are thus not legal by the existing rules.

I suggest you make those products illegal and not make a new rule that banned all tuners and prohibited the freedom of players using safe material to reduce cost and have fun.

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): As I am new to these forums, I have some trouble navigating around. Thanks for your question. In fact the rule of the ITTF is very clear, once any equipment is approved by the ITTF it can not be altered. So even if butter is a healthy and natural product, you are not allowed to smear it on your racket because it would be considered an "additive". So, any "additive", be it healthy or not cannot be added to any ITTF approved or authorized equipment. However, your question is a very good one.

Let me explain the process of testing:

- ITTF will test rackets for all characteristics including, but not limited to thickness (4mm), glossiness, VOCs, flatness, etc.

- The test also includes an examination of the surface of the rubber and any indications of expansion

- As of 1 January we will have new testing equipment that will detect boosters and tuners which contain very low levels of VOCs (below 5 ppm) and we will also detect oils and any additives that have altered in any way the rubber.

Although the Boosters and Tuners are applied to the sponge, in fact they permuate into the rubber and cause it to expand, creating a "dome" effect in the middle of the racket. This is illegal for two reasons: a) may exceed 4 mm thickness in the middle, b) the surface is not evenly flat.

Now, regarding the poison. We analyzed 5 brands of Boosters/Tuners and we provided the reports to the companies that distribute vthem (manufacturers). When they saw our results, 3 of them immediately stated that they will stop production. In fact, in agreement with the Union of Manufacturers (FIT) all the manufacturers will stop such products by 1 January 2009.

My advice is not to use such additives and instead get used to playing with legal equipment, it is easier to start now, than to suddenly have to change later.

Qn: Hello Sir, I am involved in tournaments as a referee and help the tournament director so my question is in reference to the enforcement of the glue/booster/tuner ban. The USATT currently only requires the ENEZ sniffing device for 3 star tournaments and higher. For tournaments that are not required to use the ENEZ, how should the tournament staff enforce the ban? Smelling is much to objective and jeopardizes the health of the official if there is an illegal or harmful substance used. Sound is also to objective as there are many new rubbers that have the similar click. I am open to suggestions.

One more question please, if the tournament staff were to acquire an ENEZ to be used in a tournament, what would be the suggested procedure to use it? If every paddle was tested and it takes a minute to test, and you have 90 people registered, that would take an hour and a half just for testing paddles before anyone can begin. Most of our tournaments begin the same day and end the same day with people traveling several hours to arrive and then several hours to return home.

Thank you for your time and your future response.

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): There is no difference now in testing rackets than before 1 September 2008. How did you test for illegal glue before? At International events we used the Draeger Tubes method to detect 3 specific solvents. But at all local events there were no such tests. basically you trust the honour system. Now the Enez device is much chaeper than the Draeger method and could be used at many tournaments. At ITTF events we do random tests and then test all players from a particular round such as the round of 16 or the quarter finals.

Qn: I play in the English grand prix series of tournaments however it is extremely hard to find any links to any tournaments in Europe and one tournament offical told me that english players were NOT ALLOWED to play in non-english tournaments without the backing of the english national association!!! Also players who play independently in non english tournaments do not get any english ranking points for any wins.

Do you know of any websites for european tournaments ? Do you agree with me that this is a very bad state of affairs? Surely english players should be encouraged to play in european tournaments as much as foreign players should be encouraged to play in english tournaments.

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): You may have understood. In fact it depends on the type of tournaments. There are some tournaments that are open to all players and are not restricted to national association representatives. You may find such tournaments in Belgium, France, Holland, etc. However, the official tournaments staged by national associations can only be entered through your own national association, in this case the ETTA. I am not too familiar with the current ranking system in England, but I believe that only English tournaments count for ranking points for the English ranking. If you are selected by the ETTA and play in an international tournament (German Open, Austrian Open, etc.) then your results would count for the ITTF ranking.

Qn: Mr.Adham, our business distributes table tennis products in North America. We don't sell speed glues or boosters.

We deal with so many players who are using blades / frames / bats of some 15 to 20 years old. The water based glue is not helping them to attack rubber on their blades. They are not willing to change their blades also. They go back to using rubber cement which has some VOC.

They have asked me will they be disqualified from the tournaments. What do we tell these customers who can't change their blade as well as not able to use water based glues?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): I know that some players like to use their old blade. But ideally they should change to the new equipment that is made for today's type of glue. It's your job to convince them !!

Qn: Since the discussion yielded nothing, lets leave the past in the history book.

I like to see a rule change to accommodate the minority who like to use lemon oil, paraffin oil, and eucalyptus oil, sunflower oil, etc. Can you work for the minority and get some results?

Although I don't use frictionless lp I feel that they too have the right to play with the equipment of their choice.

Can anyone speak for the minority?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): Of course you could use whatever you want. But if you wish to play at the international level, then you must follow the rules set for that level. Just as you would have to follow the rules in your club or your national association. If the national associations find that using such harmless oils should be allowed, then they should propose this change and if it passes then why not. But for the moment the rule states that you should use the equipment as it has been approved. This is normal in all sports. You don't see players treating their Tennis rackets with any oils.

Qn: Mr.Adham, when the ITTF approves a racket covering, can the manufacturer use ITTF's permission to export the final products to anywhere in the world? Can the distributors also distribute any product anywhere in the world?

One major issue the table tennis retail stores in the US facing is the high prices they have to impose while the players go to other countries to buy products for a cheap price. The Butterfly Tenergy costs $65 in the US while it is cheaper in other countries. There is strict distribution policy for the table tennis products in the US, so the dealers here can't change the MSRP to sell for a different price.

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): There is no ITTF rule preventing the manufacturer to sell anywhere in the world, nor is there a rule preventing the distributor to sell anywhere in the world as far as I know.

Usually the manufacturer is the one that imposes on the distributes to sell only in their own territory. This was rather easy before, but now with the Internet I am not sure how they control that. You should ask your suppliers.

Qn: I'm a modern defensive player and I have found many players take caution to play against me. Eventhough they are cautious, I have found the Chinese players (especially players of age 45 to 55) are extra cautious and intelligent - they play to win. In your opinion, why the Chinese excel in winning the games? Is it their enthusiasm, gene, pride, confidence in executing strokes than other players or what?

Have you found any special medical or physical discovery in Chinese which other races don't have that make them different?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): Actually there is no secret potion. To excel in any sport, or activity, you need certain ingredients:

- large number of people playing the sport
- good competition amongst the participants
- visual high level examples (on TV for example)
- good basic coaching
- sufficient training and competitive opportunities
- role models

In China all of the above is available for table tennis. Just like Soccer in Brazil, Basketball in the USA, Sumo and Judo in Japan, Squash in Egypt, Weightlifting in Bulgaria, etc.

In fact any country could be strong at any sport if the above ingredients are available. In the case of the 45-55 year old Chinese playing against defense, of course they are very good at it because this generation has played against many defensive players. At one time in China (also HK, Taiwan and Japan) there were many defensive players. So they have experience and mainly patience playing against the defensive style.

Use your wrist more sometimes when you chop the ball, and other times don't. This will mix the spin without the attacking player seeing it. But you must practice it first to make a smooth stroke so the attacking player does not see when you use the wrist and when you don't. Try it and let me know what happens.

Qn: There are players who use custom rubbers. They buy the top sheet and sponge seperate and assemble together to use it. This happens not at the factory or the manufacturer's office, but at the distributor's office. The distributor or the store assemble the rubber and sell it to the customer. The primary reason for this kind of custom preparation is to save money. Secondly, some of these combination will help players. For example, the DHS H3 comes with harder sponge which many players hate. They can put a softer sponge for DHS H3 and use it.

We have discouraged the people not to abide to such technology rather buy a factory manufactured rubber which has sponge also with it.

Can a player (or anyone in that respect) buy the topsheet and sponge separate and assemble together to use it? Or is that process left to the factory?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): This process should be left to the factory

Qn: Wood Vs Fiber

I remember playing badminton with wooden rackets / bats. Then Yonex & Carlton came with carbon bats and the wooden blades simply vanished. Now 99% percentage of the badminton players use carbon or fiber bats.

Comparing table tennis to badminton, do you think the manufacturers can come up with technologies equivalent to wood so that we can protect our trees and enviroment? Yes, the games like cricket or baseball still use wood.

How much it has concerned you using wood for the table tennis blades?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): Of course we are concerned about preserving our forests. However, in most countries (for sure in Sweden and in Canada), for each tree that is cut down, 2 new ones are planted. This ensures a sustainable growth of trees and maintenance of the forests.

I agree with you that the ITTF should modify its rules to allow more flexibility in the production of blades.

Qn. Are players making decent money?

I have got a chance to meet some of the world's finest table tennis players like Waldner, Persson, Joo Se Hyuk, Chen Weixing etc... I have talked to them about their equipments, techniques etc... (have a good collection of their equipments with me). One thing I have felt to ask them is "Are you happy with what you get out of playing this game?" This is not out of my eagerness to know their bank balance but after looking at their hardwork traveling from countries to countries and abusing their health sometimes. Then there are young guys who migrate to different countries to find a better table tennis career by leaving their own family.

Do you think our players are happy? Can they make a full time career out of this game? Or do you think they have to have a job parallel to keep their passion for this game?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): Most of the top players are professional and play TT full-time. The top 50 or so players in the World make a very good income and have secured their future with the earnings from table tennis (prize money, club salary, association stipends, equipment contracts, etc.). However, we cannot compare TT with tennis. In Tennis a much larger group of players is well off from playing the sport than in TT.

Qn. Question on an imaginary match:

We have three playes. Barna / Klamper of Hungry just like in their prime with the same equipments (bat & racket coverings) they have used at that time. Waldner / Persson of Sweden just like in their prime with the same equipments they have used at that time. Take Timo Boll / Wang Liqin with the equipments they are using now (after the speed glue ban).

If we put them in a round robin match, who will win more matches? Please note that we are considering their prime time (between 20 to 35).

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): Wow, that's a tough question. I would say if we take each player's prime and try to assess who would be "overall" the strongest in this RR, then I would say Waldner. But of you throw Guo Yuhua of China in the mix, and take his prime, I would say he is the best overall, but very close with Waldner.

Qn: Defenders Vs Penholders

In your opinion, what is the reason behind Penholders' great success against defenders? Take Ma Lin or Ryu Seung Min against Joo Se Hyuk or Chen Weixing? Is it their ability to generate (1) spinny underspin that can trouble a defender (2) high arc looping which is hard to defend?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): Actually my explanation is very simple. Pen-holders usually come from Asian countries like China, Korea and Japan. In these countries there are a lot of defensive players at all levels, especially at the beginning levels. They have an idea that there should be one or two defensive players in each training group. The coaches also know who to play as choppers, and they know how to teach playing against defensive players. So, I do not think it has to do so much with pen-holders but more the fact that the Chinese, Koreans and Asians in general learn very early how to play against defensive players.

Qn: Chinese Players Vs Europen Players

Why do we see Chinese players (Wang Liqin, Ma Lin etc...) are more reserved in their nature? They don't hang out with other players in the International tournaments. While players like M. Maze, Timo, Chen W. hang out with their fans, talk to them while Chinese not. Are the Chinese controlled by their coaches or Government?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): In China they are even more outgoing than the European players. But when they are outside China it's different. Most of them cannot speak English or foreign languages very well, so they shy away from situations where they must speak English. But inside China they are heros and treated like suoper stars and they are very outgoing because they can communicate in Chinese.

Qn: Do you see any kind of match fixing or similar illegal activities at Pro Tour / International tournaments? Does the ITTF investigate such allegations?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): It is rare to see match fixing in official ITTF tournaments. Sometimes, when the Chinese play each other it may look like the match is arranged, but we can never really prove it. But in some events that are more of a "promotional" type, and the prize money is high, I have suspected some players fixing the match and splitting the prize money. In this case fixing in the terms of playing an exhibition instead of a real match and then splitting the total purse equally instead of fighting for the top place. Again, this is just an opinion and very hard to prove.

But we never had a really "fixed" match in the sense of cheating.

Qn: Do you see the success behind the Chinese players is their tacky hard rubbers (yes, speed glued) while the European players use soft and grippy rubbers.

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): Actually when the Hungarians and the Swedes were beating the Chinese, the Europeans (according to Anders Thunström) had 2 main advantages:

1. Physical strength much superior to the Chinese
2. Much better equipment (blades and rubber)

This advantage is now reversed. The Chinese are much better physically than any European (strength, speed, flexibility, acceleration, balance, power, etc.). In addition to that, the Chinese have perfected the use of their equipment with special rubber and sponge for each player to suit their style, and special blades for each player as well.

In addition to all that, the Chinese train technically and physically almost double the volume of the Europeans under watchful eyes to correct and improve technique all the time.

Unfortunately, the European training methods have not advanced sufficiently with the times.

Qn: Who can generate the fast and furious spinny loop?

Which player at the top level (Wang Ligin, Ma Lin, Timo Boll, Schlager etc...) can generate highly spinny and fast top spin loop stroke?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): I would say from all the top players:

1. Schlager
2. Wang Hao
3. Ma Lin

But the best is Filimon from Romania but he is too inconsistent. But when he is on, his loop is amazingly spinny and powerful.

Qn: Why this uproar?

You have been to many Internet forums where table tennis is discussed. As you have expected, the forums are hostile environments where members jumping on you with stupid to challenging questions.

Could you point out the utmost root problem of this uproar against the new ITTF rules?

(1) Lack of game knowldge among many players you see in the forum so they don't know where they have to go next.
(2) Financial expenses involved in buying the new equipments.
(3) The effort involved in improving the game and in this period they don't like to loose to anyone. So, why should I change?
(4) The natural human tendency of questioning. They think you have never asked them any questions before the rules were approved, so why they have to agree with you with these rules.

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): I think that all of your explanations are correct. There seems to be a huge misunderstanding of the role of the ITTF. Many of the Forum members have false assumptions about many things. Others seem to be very well informed. And some are just downright rude and contrary to any type of authority figure. But mainly the reaction is normal when any new rule comes into effect. People that are affected by it hate it. We just passed a rule in Ontario, Canada, that cell phones cannot be used in cars. It does not affect me because I never use my phone in my car while driving. But you can imagine the uproar from salesmen and real-estate agents who do all their business from their cars. So they think it's a stupid rule and crticize the government. This is normal. Just like the no-smoking ban. Smokers were extremely upset and even said it was unconstitutional. However, I have noticed different levels at different Forums. The My-TableTennis-Forum seems to have many aggressive and rude members that enjoy insulting others, and I find that the members are obssessed with equipment. If they spent as much time practicing as they do on the forum they would all improve a lot more and would not be so dependent on equipment. They all want to gain advantage through special use of equipment. To me this is totally unreal. As a coach, of course I made sure my players used the right equipment suited to their game, but that was a minor issue. The main issue was practice, practice and practice.

Qn: After a while what?

I was watching the video of Sweden's appelgren playing. I asked myself whether he can play against some world's top like Wang Liqin. The answer is no. I would say he has lost his reflexes a little and he is slow. When a table tennis player gets older, what does he loss much where by he can't perform better? Is it (1) reflexes (brain and eye cordination) (2) quickness (3) stamina (4) slow arm movement or something like that?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): All of the above, just like in normal life.

Qn: Knee surgery

I have seen so many of my friends who play having knee surgeries. There are so many professionals also go through the same like Chen Weixing. Why do so many players having this problem? Is it because of (1) inproper flooring (2) too much play which the body can't handle (3) lack of vitamins or something else?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President):

It is due mainly to the pressure (forces) that the knee is subjected to when moving and rotating. The problem is made worse sometime with bad shoes or extra tacky floor or a floor with no absorption qualities.

Qn: It has surprised me a little that you, from a region where the table tennis is not a major sport, have become the president of ITTF. How did this happen? What is your plan to continue as a ITTF president?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): I started in 1989 as ITTF Continental Vice president (for North America) for 4 years till 1993. I was out of ITTF in the period 1993-95 and ran successfully in the 1995 election as Executive Vice president. Then elected as Deputy president in 1997 and finally as president in 1999. Perhaps because the members consider me neutral (not from Asia and ot for Europe) may have been an advantage.

Qn: Do our players like Wang Liqin, Ma Lin, Timo have a normal diet (their regular meals) while they are playing in tournament? Do they take anything in high amount to keep going in a tournament?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): I think they have special diets, but probably different ones, I really do not know what they would eat more or less of during tournaments.

Qn: Any of our top players spiritual? Do they practice their religion or exercise their faith in God to raise their confidence in tournaments?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): I really don't know. I would imagine that some do. This is a good question, but I don't have the answer.

Qn: Who have contributed more into table tennis technologies? I mean who was willing to invest money into research and bring out technologies to improve equipments as well as tables. Are they Germans or Chinese or Japanese?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): It used to be the Japanese, but over the last 20 years definitely the Chinese.

Qn: Is there a table tennis company publicly traded? Is Butterfly a publicly traded company in Japan?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): Not that I know of. Perhaps Double Happiness in China. Tamasu-Butterfly is a private company.

Qn: What do you see as new or different in this game 200 years from now?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): Wow, that is a hard question. I wonder is 200 years from now people will still play these types of games and sports. They probably would have inter-galaxy games by then.

Qn: What do you think as something which should not have happned to table tennis? Like the use of sponges being introduced in 1950s. Is there something you can point out?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): All things happened as a natural progression. However, the most difficult issue has been the use of toxic glues. I wish that never would have happened. But Klampar discovered it and the rest is history.

Qn: One thing I don't like about the current games is the team matches. It was OK to play double as before but team is better; however, a team make of so few players and play so few games doesn't represent the true level of play of a particular country. You can have one good player and he can help win two matches and the team wins by a score of 3-1. I often see that and that's not a team concept. You can put a Timo or a Wang on any team and you have a competitive team. I like to see at least 9 matches with a few more players from each country. Just my thought after watching videos of the Olympics.

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): Frankly I agree with you. The problem is that the old Swaythling Cup system (3 vs 3 = 9 matches) is too long and the TV does not want to cover it. As you know some of these matches lasted 4 to 5 hours. A soccer match is 90 minutes !! So change was necessary. The Olympic Team system is the closest we could get to a true team match with both singles and doubles and each player on each team cannot play more than 2 matches (including the doubles).

Qn: Chinese players participation in International Tournaments:

I have been following up with some recent International tournaments, and I don't see any large participation from the Chinese players like Wang Liqin, Ma Lin and Wang Hao. Do you see any reason for it? Is it because the Chinese players are still struggling to adjust to the new speed glue ban?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): I think several reasons:
- Chinese national League was on now after the Olympics
- Chinese National Championships in November
- adjustment to new equipment? perhaps
- new generation coming up and we will see soon the younger players

Qn: The frictionless pips are gone. I think one reason behind the ban is to raise the skill level of players - generating our own spin instead of the opponents. I use friction pips and I enjoy it. If I can't put spin on the ball with my pips, that is a win for my opponent. I'm glad I'm not using frictionless. I have more control and fun now.

Let us further go and analyze ways to improve the skill level of the players. I have watched the games of some women defenders at the world level. You may already know that they are the main culprits behind the delay of tournaments. They keep defending for hours and who can defend better and longer will win. Yes, there is 'expedite rule', still the defenders vs defenders take hours to finish. They can't attack each other because of the massive under spin. It is kinda boring that matches too. Look at some matches between women hitters. They just "hit hit hit".

Take some Chinese Pen hold Pips Players like He Zhi Wen of Spain. He is getting old. Still, the world top players fear him. His strokes on the table is amazing. But does not he have an advantage of an equipment like short pips while his opponents try to use their talent to return his strokes but make mistakes without their knowledge?

What is your opinion on areas in table tennis where you think the players skill level can't be well used because of other factors like (1) there is a need to ban pips or rubbers that can generate massive spin? (2) there need to be rules for matches between defenders and defenders (3) allow pips only with sponge only and no OX.

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): Well, you make some very good points. But honestly, if it were just up to me, I would let players play with anything they want and deregulate as much as possible. But the majority thinks differently. The majority likes to have set rules, limits and norms. So the low-friction rule of 25mN is part of this desire to set parameters, measurable parameters, so as not to let the game slip into a "everything goes" type of sport. But the main reason was to be able to detect treated rubber which is considered a form of cheating in TT circles. Unfortunately it took a long time (like any new rule) for the ITTF to get the desired level of friction and to set the rule. By then, many manufacturers were already producing low-friction pimpled rubber. So a bunch of players using this type of equipment got caught in the middle. It's very unfortunate. But the egneral feeling is that after a year or two everyone will adjust and the game will be more agreeable to everyone. Let's hope so.

The problem of defender vs defender of course is rather rare because we do not habve so many defenders. But in the modern game, even defenders have to be good attackers for the expedite rule and to score points against other defenders.

Qn: There have been some rumours that the "tensor rubbers" will be banned as part of the banning of the boosters. That did not happen. I have not seen ITTF has considered it for discussion for some years. So, the players can use tensor rubbers.

The tensor rubbers have more speed and spin than other traditional rubbers. Butterfly has come up with Tenergy which is close to speed and spin with tensors, but Tenergy is not a tensor rubber. TSP has breakthrough technology - their rubbers also excel in speed and spin with other rubbers. If tensor rubbers would be considered for ban, what would be the reason behind it? If the purpose is to reduce the speed of the game, wouldn't that effect any rubber having extreme speed and spin?

Secondly, there are some rumors to increase the size of the ball and as well as increase the height of the net to slow down the game. Don't you think the rubber technologies can overcome these barriers and provide the players what they are looking for - speed and spin?

Note: There is a lack of understanding of the word 'tensor'. The 'tensor' is a technology from ESN Germany. The word 'tensioned' may be the right word to describe tension effect that seen across all brands rubbers - like Tenergy for Butterfly and Omega III for XIOM.

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): There is no plan to ban Tensor rubbers or Tenergy. These are rubbers that are put under tension at the manufacturing level. As long as the extent of stretching the rubber is within the allowable ITTF limits, then they are OK.

Regarding a bigger ball and a higher net, this has been under discussion for a very long time. At the moment it is still at the rumor level. I know that Zoran Primorac as ITTF Athletes Commission Chairman wishes to propose a higher net, also the Swiss TTA has the same idea. As for a bigger ball, this would need to be tested first and carefully analyzed. From the 38mm to the 40mm took 5 years. So as you can see, there is no immediate plan in that direction yet.

Qn: I've read in the ITTF rule book under section 2.4.3 that thickness of the sandwiched rubber should be maximum of 4.0 mm.

Does this rule apply to pip-out rubbers also like short pips where the pips-out (with its support sheet) should be less than 2.0 mm and a sponge size of 2.0 mm, so such a rubber can fall under the 4.0 mm size?

Adham Sharara (ITTF President): Yes, this is correct. The 4mm maximum applies to any rubber/sponge combination.