Recently, Nigerian table tennis star Aruna publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the points penalties and fines imposed by the ITTF and WTT for his absence from two international tournaments, while revealing that a portion of the prize money for his previous participation had not yet been paid out, and even elevated the issue to the height of racial discrimination, which triggered controversy both inside and outside of the circle, and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the ITTF and the WTT, Steve Denton, has officially made a response.
Denton pointed out that the punishment of Aruna is based on long-established rules, “is never arbitrary …… applied to all players to ensure the fairness and consistency of all tournaments”, because of Aruna’s own behavior there is inappropriate to lead to be punished, at the same time pointed out that the international tournament prize money is in the process of being paid out, and look forward to the matter being resolved satisfactorily.
1.Punishment for withdrawal from the Busan World Cup
The controversial incident of Aruna originated from the Busan WTT in February this year, when he was unable to play normally due to a sudden onset of food poisoning, which resulted in the Nigerian men’s team, which consisted of only three persons, having to lose the whole match inexorably. Originally, according to the rules, athletes are exempted from penalties for unforeseen circumstances, however, after the tournament, Aruna was assigned zero world ranking points for the tournament, which caused him to be upset.
According to Rule 4.5 of the 2024 ITTF Table Tennis World Ranking Rules, Aruna could have been exempted from the penalty if he had submitted the relevant medical documents within the stipulated time frame, yet he failed to do so, and as such, the penalty was naturally unavoidable – there’s nothing wrong with that, after all, it is a well known fact that late submission of papers can be regarded as invalid, the reasoning is the same.
2.The issue of the WTT Incheon Championships withdrawal being penalized
At the subsequent WTT Incheon Championships, Aruna was once again penalized for dropping out of the tournament in order to compete in the club league, and was once again given a zero, and was outraged that the WTT was forcing athletes to compete without regard for the needs of everyone’s breadwinners.
In response, Denton also pointed out that “the relevant provisions are detailed in the ITTF Table Tennis World Ranking Rules 2024 and in Section 3, Rule 2.4C of the WTT Event Handbook”, which is mainly to maintain the framework of international sports competitions, so as not to affect the experience of the spectators and sponsors, and “to ensure the integrity of the competition to disappoint fans around the world”. integrity of the tournament to meet the expectations of fans around the world” – the fact that Wang Chuqin, who also withdrew from the tournament, received the same penalty shows that it was not aimed at Aruna.
3.Prize Money Issues
The issue of prize money is also the focus of Aruna’s dissatisfaction, as he said, on the one hand, because of participating in international competitions, which affects the club’s ability to earn money, on the other hand, the prize money for participating in international competitions can not be instantly accounted for, in addition to participating in international competitions accounted for a large portion of the expenses, and once the absence of a variety of penalties to be faced with, the feeling of a very stifling. For this situation, many fans have expressed sympathy, and Denton is a clear statement: the player bonus payout work is currently underway.
In reviewing the history, Denton believes that “the WTT tournaments during the epidemic helped athletes in difficult situations” should not be forgotten, and although the current rules may be controversial, “the mission of the WTT World Series is to strive for perfection in a complex and evolving environment! “.
As the saying goes, there are no rules, and in general the ITTF and the WTT World Table Tennis Federation have indeed played by the rules this time, and there is nothing to point fingers at, so we expect both sides to get a satisfactory answer in the end, and work together to promote the rules of the table tennis world to be more perfect.
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