The Olympic Commission of the International Table Tennis Federation decided on Tuesday morning to play the singles events ahead of the team at the 2012 Olympics, and China is not happy about it.
The ITTF will propose to the International Olympic Committee to hold the singles events first and only then the team events at the London Games, according to an ITTF statement on Tuesday.
China voted against the proposal, said an ITTF official who asked not to be named.
"The proposal, once approved by the IOC, will hurt the interest of Chinese players," said the official. "Chinese players will have to unite as one for the team events after fighting each other in singles. It might be a bit difficult to forget possibly bad feelings arising from singles rivalry among teammates."
The ITTF said the reason behind this proposal is that it is fairer for the players who do not participate in the team events. Also the media interest was much bigger in the team competitions.
For the team events the table tennis ruling body will propose to play a simple knockout competition among the 16 teams, said the statement.
In Beijing the teams started in four groups. The qualification in singles will be in three stages. After the world championships in 2011 the best 28 (increased from 20 in Beijing) players in the ITTF world ranking list will be qualified (with a maximum of two players from each association). The other chances to qualify are the continental qualification and the final world qualification.
The ITTF Olympic Commission also decided a proposal to the IOC of the playing system for the table tennis events at the first Olympic Youth Games to be held in Singapore from August 14 to 26, 2010.
Thirty-two players in boys' singles and 32 in girls singles as well as 32 mixed teams in the team event will compete in the Asian city-state. The table tennis event will be held from August 21 to 26.
In the singles events the players will play in eight groups of four players in a round robin system. Two players will advance to the second stage that will also be played in groups of four. The best of each group will go to the quarterfinals, which will be played in a knockout system.
A team match will consist of two players a boy and a girl. If an Olympic delegation has only qualified a boy or a girl they can form a team with a player from the same continent.
Source:Xinhua
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