But Sharara said the move is not against China in particular.

"We are not going against any association specifically," he said. "I understand how Chinese fans react to this restriction. I think it is like when (basketball governing body) FIBA have a new policy, everybody thinks it goes against US or NBA players, because they are the best in the world.

"But it is not the case. As the governing body of a sport, we just want to make table tennis better and stronger."

Cai Zhenhua, China's former head coach and now a senior official in the country's sports regime, said the move is just the beginning of the possible cooperation between ITTF and the Chinese Table Tennis Association.

"We will have more joint efforts after the Beijing Olympics," he said. "We always would like to share our experience in developing the sport. This is a great first step, I am sure China will be able to help the rest of the world after the Games."

Overseas resistance

China may be fully on board but current Chinese-born overseas paddlers are far from happy about the new rule.

"They are trying to erase everything we've done for the world," said Austria's No 2 Chen Weixing, a former Chinese team player. "A lot of kids try the sport for the first time after watching our game on television. It is our efforts that make them love table tennis."

Top US paddler Gao Jun slammed the move as well, calling it "discouraging".

"Players should be applauded rather than discouraged," she said. "Many Chinese players represent other countries and they have brought the skill level of the sport up."

Other international players like Austria's No 1 Werner Schlager agree with Chen and Gao as well.

"Teenage paddlers should train harder if they want to get more opportunities," he said. "Limitation is not the best way to develop a sport."

This is the third move aimed at limiting China's dominance in the sport.

The first came in 2000 after China claimed all the titles in Tianjin. The ball was made bigger, which slowed down the speed of play, one of Chinese players' deadliest weapons.

Later, when China swept the 46th World Championships in Japan in 2001 yet again, the "uncovered serve" and "11-point competition" rules were introduced, which also impacted Chinese paddlers considerably.

(China Daily March 11, 2008)