ICTTF and the Internationalization of Ping Pong

January 4, 2024

Sponsored by Mecano Sports, presented by Caliente.mx, sanctioned by ICTTF

(by Larry Hodges, photo: “The historic first meeting of the ICTTF”)

The first Ping Pong World Cup starts tomorrow (Jan. 4-6, 2024), in Mexico City, with events for all three major classic surfaces – hardbat, sandpaper, and plain wood. Events include Open Singles for all three, and Women, Over 55, and Under 18 for hardbat and sandpaper. The tournament will feature many of the best classic players from around the world. (Classic table tennis is often called ping pong for short – hence the name of the tournament.) Here are the rules for classic table tennis. And here is what was in the Goodies Bag for all players when we arrived! Each player even received a personalized player card – here’s mine! (Here’s the non-Facebook version.) They are spoiling us. Here’s the Ping Pong World Cup Facebook Group if you want to join the discussions.

There’s also livestreaming of the events, starting at 2:30 PM each day (3:30 PM eastern time):

Thursday (Sandpaper)
Friday (Hardbat)
Saturday (Wood)

I can’t help but notice the international flavor of the event. Of course, it is the “World” Cup, right? Players from sixteen countries are competing in the Ping Pong World Cup: Belgium, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Russia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Poland, Scotland, and USA. How did it become so internationalized? You can thank ICTTF.

What is ICTTF? The International Classic Table Tennis Federation is the worldwide body for those three forms of classic table tennis – hardbat, sandpaper, and plain wood. It was established in 2021 by Steve Claflin, and is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, with the intention of governing, developing, and promoting Classic Table Tennis internationally.

There are rigorous requirements for a country to be a member, as covered in the ICTTF bylaws (39 pages) – it’s not just a matter of volunteering and being selected. Membership duties include:

$100 annual membership.

A commitment to try to make classic ping pong grow.

Hold a qualifying tournament for the Ping Pong World Cup.

Sending results to ICTTF for ratings processing.

Scotland became the first member nation, on July 12, 2023, through the efforts of Juliet Johnston, who became their ICTTF representative. USA joined on Sept. 21, 2023, with Mike Babuin (former chair of the USATT board of directors) their rep. It has now grown to thirteen member nations (some pending): Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Ireland, Malta, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Poland, Scotland, Switzerland, and USA.

The historic first meeting of ICTTF’s Inaugural General Meeting took place at 7PM on Tuesday, Jan. 3, the night before the World Cup began, in the dining hall of the tournament hotel, the fancy Casa Blanca Hotel. Nineteen people attended, including representatives from eleven countries: Brazil, Belgium, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Poland, Scotland, and USA. Chair Steve Claflin started off the meeting with a 15-min talk on the status of ICTTF and went over various issues. He explained how ping pong was not table tennis (different surfaces, more focus on recreational players, making it fun and affordable) and how we need to control our own destiny rather than rely on current table tennis organizations with different agendas.

There was a call for volunteers for the various committees. If interested, contact ICTTF.

Proposed committees include:

Governance
Nation and Member Development
International Events
Revenue
Promotion
Ratings and Rankings
Technology
Member Services
Rules and Regulations (including equipment)
Administration

One big issue that Steve and others spoke about was standardization of rules, equipment, ratings, and other issues. As he said, “We don’t want every country going their own way.” By standardizing, they can have joint tournaments without having to negotiate all of these issues over and over.

At this tournament, players are using their own hardbat and wood paddles, but for sandpaper, everyone is using a standard one supplied by the tournament. There will be an ongoing discussion on standardizing hardbat and wood. A key issue for me here is that any standard racket is going to favor certain styles while hurting others. But that’s why they have committees to go over these issues and work out a compromise. Another key issue here is equipment costs. In sponge table tennis, rackets and sponge can cost hundreds of dollars. The plan for classic ping pong is to keep the cost down to about $20.

They also want to standardize ratings for the various surfaces, for seeding purposes. Seeding for this tournament was tricky as there wasn’t always a lot to go on. As Steve said, “After this tournament, we’ll have pretty accurate ratings for all the players.”

One interesting development – there is some interest in a fourth category, “barebat ping pong,” which is a wood racket with holes in it. It’s sort of like pimpled rubber – except the holes go in, so they are sort of like . . . inverted pips.

A key issue that kept coming up was, “Grow our sport.” The idea here is that it’s a lot easier growing a sport with inexpensive equipment that appeals to the hundreds of millions of recreational players around the world.

At the end of the meeting, famed Mexican rock star Micky “Miky” Huidobro (who is playing in the sandpaper event and is one of the tournament organizers) gave a motivational speech about growing the sport. He also spoke of how they hope to make the tournament better and better each year, with the Ping Pong World Cup committed to Mexico City for the next three years, 2024-2026.

So . . . what is the purpose of Classic Table Tennis? It’s right in the ICTTF bylaws, under their Purpose Statement:

“Using Classic Table Tennis; i.e. ‘Ping Pong’ as a tool for development and peace connecting people all over the world, implementing or supporting events locally and empowering them to serve as models; making classic table tennis social, fun, popular, universal, and inclusive… with objectives to encourage, teach, train, and support the healthy, lifelong game of classic table tennis as a means of offering, promoting, and providing a healthy lifestyle activity for everyone including, but not limited to, men, women, children, adolescents, senior citizens, wounded, ill, injured, veterans, and persons with para classifications.”

What is the objective of ICTTF? Also in the bylaws, under Objectives:

“The ICTTF will be FUN for all, AFFORDABLE for players, and PROFITABLE for Nations and Clubs.

1.4.1 Strategy is to mimic the structure of other federations and associations who are successful, minimize their mistakes, and maximize their accomplishments.

1.4.2 Vision is to grow and promote our Game around the world. (future)

1.4.3 Motto is “Fun to Play. Fun to Watch. Fun for Life”.

1.4.4 Goal is to HELP nations, SUPPORT clubs, ATTRACT players, and ENGAGE fans.”

Some think of the various classic events as something they only do in the US. Wrong!!! There are large groups of hardbat and sandpaper players around the world. For example, France and other countries have large hardbat groups, Denmark and Poland (and others) have large sandpaper communities (including the Polish sandpaper leagues), and Brazil lots of bare wood players. The international players in World Cup Ping Pong usually started out as top sponge players, but gravitated toward classic table tennis for various reasons – something different and ironically “novel”; longer rallies; and, of course, money. As in $36,000 here, and past world events with even more. (Here’s a long-term goal for ICTTF – reach the point where the best classic players start and end with classic equipment, instead of being top sponge players who convert to classic equipment.)

What is the lure of classic table tennis? Longer rallies that aren’t dominated by heavy topspin, as well as chopping as a standard stroke. In regular sponge play, few players chop much unless their style is centered around chopping. In classic play, most players chop when they get in trouble or to vary things to throw an opponent off. Sandpaper and plain wood make chopping easier, and it’s far easier chopping against these surfaces than against a big inverted looper. So, chopping becomes more normal in classic ping pong, rather than just in emergencies.

So far, all is looking great for this Ping Pong World Cup – not only the nice goody bags but also the hotel and playing site are first-class. There was an extravagant tournament party from 9PM-midnight, with seemingly everyone there – probably 200 people. Here’s Germany’s Alexander “Flash” Flemming (top seed in hardbat, sandpaper, and wood) surrounded by the press at the party as they interview and take pictures. (Here’s my profile of him from the 2022 Classic Hardbat World Championships, which he won.) Can’t wait to start tomorrow!

Let’s end this article with a big thank you to the current officers of ICTTF: