Международная федерация настольного тенниса: структура и деятельность

International table tennis governing body

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is the governing body for all national table tennis associations. The role of the ITTF includes overseeing rules and regulations and seeking technological improvement for the sport of table tennis. The ITTF is responsible for the organization of numerous international competitions, including the World Table Tennis Championships that has continued since 1926.

All member associations of the ITTF attend annual general meeting (AGM). Agendas on changes of the constitution, laws of table tennis, applications for membership etc. are discussed and finalised through votes. Also, the president of ITTF, 8 executive vice presidents, and 32 or less continental representatives are elected at an AGM, serving for a four year term. The president, executive vice presidents, and the chairman of the athletes' commission compose executive committee. The executive committee, continental representatives and presidents of the five continental federations or their appointees compose the board of directors (Board). The Board manages the work of the ITTF between AGMs. Several committees, commissions, working groups or panels work under the constitution of ITTF or under the Board.

Unlike the organisations for more popular sports, the ITTF tends to recognise teams from generally unrecognised governing bodies for disputed territory. For example, it recognised the Table Tennis Federation of Kosovo in 2003 even though Kosovo was excluded from most other sports. It recognised the People's Republic of China in 1953 and allowed some basic diplomacy which lead to an opening for U. S. President Richard Nixon, called "Ping Pong Diplomacy", in the early 1970s. The ITTF also approved unified Korean team to compete at the World Table Tennis Championships in 1991 and 2018. In reaction to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ITTF banned Russian and Belarusian players and officials from its competitions. But this reaction has slowed down in 30 March 2023, stated that Russian and Belarusian players will be re allowed to participate ITTF and WTT competitions under strict conditions of neutrality, with government or state officials, and national symbols such as flags and anthems of both countries to continue being banned in ITTF sanctioned events.

For ITTF world title events, a player is eligible to play for his association by registering with the ITTF. If the player chooses to play for a new association, he shall register with the ITTF, through the new association. The player will be eligible to play for the new association after three, five, seven years after the date of registration, if the player is under the age of 15, 18, 21 respectively. The player will be eligible to play for the new association after nine years if the player is at least 21 years old.

The table tennis point system was reduced from a 21 to an 11 point scoring system in 2001. in order to increase the average length of rallies and to reduce the server's advantage. Today, the game changes from time to time mainly to improve on the excitement for television viewers.

In 2007, ITTF's board of directors in Zagreb decided to implement the VOC free glue rule at Junior events, starting from 1 January 2008, as a transitional period before the full implementation of the VOC ban on 1 September 2008. As of 1 January 2009, all speed glue was to have been banned.

The ITTF Museum was previously in Lausanne, Switzerland, where the ITTF is based. The ITTF decided in 2014 to move the museum to Shanghai, China, which was planning the China Table Tennis Museum around the same time. The new museum was designated in the same building with the China Table Tennis Museum on different floors, managed and operated by Shanghai University of Sport, and officially opened in 2018.