(BY KAREN PRICE)
The sport of table tennis has a history of bringing people and even entire nations together, and now that inclusiveness is reflected around the globe like never before.
The International Table Tennis Federation recently approved the inclusion of the Bahamas, Cape Verde, Eritrea and Guinea Bissau, and now can count every country on earth among its members. It is the first international sports federation to achieve this feat.
“I’m not aware of any other organization that encompasses this number of countries and territories in its activities, and that speaks volumes about the sport’s ability to unite people,” said Dragomir Cioroslan, the United States Olympic Committee’s director of international strategies and development.
The mission to establish and approve national table tennis organizations or federations in all 226 countries and territories started in 2014 with then-ITTF president Adham Sharara’s desire to make the sport No. 1 in a number of categories compared to other international federations around the world, Cioroslan said. After some research, Sharara learned that the ITTF was just a few members shy of reaching the maximum.
Although the United Nations recognizes 193 sovereign nations, the International Olympic Committee goes a bit further and recognizes countries that are territories of other nations, such as Puerto Rico, Cioroslan explained.
Other international governing bodies are close to spanning the globe, such as the FIVB (volleyball) with 221, and FIBA (basketball) with 213.
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The USOC and Cioroslan were instrumental in reaching out to the presidents of the various nations’ Olympic committees, connecting them with the ITTF and helping them form national table tennis organizations or federations. The requirements for approval by the ITTF include establishing bylaws, a board of directors and members. The final four nations were approved at the ITTF annual general meeting on May 31.
The ITTF, including its current president Thomas Weikert and Glenn Tepper, who heads up development, education and training, also worked in concert with the USOC to donate equipment and help train coaches.
As Cioroslan traveled to the different countries, he said, he noticed excitement from members of the national Olympic committees to create a new opportunity for sport.
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