Post | 08/21/2008 12:45 pm

Table Tennis Officials Urge Female Players to Wear Sexier Uniforms to Draw Crowds

By The Staff at wowOwow.com
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For years, table tennis officials have been disappointed with the lack of crowds attending Ping-Pong matches at the Olympic Games. In an effort to draw more views, officials have tried various things, according to The New York Times, including speeding up the scoring system and switching to bigger Ping-Pong balls. Yet nothing has reeled the spectators in. Now, because the Olympics are being held in Beijing where the sport is as popular as football is in America, officials are on a quest to attract more viewers. The International Table Tennis Federation thinks they’ve found the perfect solution:

Sexier uniforms.

The traditional Ping-Pong uniform has been baggy shirts and loose shorts since the 1970s. Now officials are urging female players to wear tight skirts and shirts to expose more skin. The idea stemmed from officials noticing how other women’s sports, such as beach volleyball and tennis, seem to draw a more diverse, large audience — and those players wear tight, barely there clothing.

"We are trying to push the players to use skirts and also nicer shirts, not the shirts that are made for men, but ones with more curves," the International Table Tennis Federation vice president Claude Bergeret told Reuters.

Major Chinese clothing designers have begun tinkering with the typical uniform, adding miniskirts, fitted shirts and other elements. However, the outfits are still pretty conservative. The Times writes, "Judging from the attire on display in early rounds of men’s and women’s singles matches Wednesday, women’s table-tennis style has a long way to go if the players hope to catch up with the likes of Venus and Serena Williams, or the beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor."

Read more about: Beijing, Fashion, News, Olympics, Society, Sports, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball
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22 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Wafaa El Jusmani

Is this actually an issue?!

By Wafaa El Jusmani on 08/21/2008 11:47 am
Lorraine Bates

I don’t know why table tennis is an Olympic sport, and softball and baseball are being removed.

Anyone know why beach volleyball players wear what they wear? Can you imagine getting sand caught in shorts and a t-shirt? There’s no chance of that in table tennis.

By Lorraine Bates on 08/21/2008 12:15 pm
K O

My head is shaking, my eyes are rolling, and my brain can’t find a comment that the Duchess would not immediately delete.

By K O on 08/21/2008 12:45 pm
Jane Cougar Melonhat

Kitty, my reaction exactly.

Sometimes I wish we had smilies on this site. This would be a perfect occasion to use one to visualize my feelings.

By Jane Cougar Melonhat on 08/21/2008 3:50 pm
Lily Of The Valley

The International Table Tennis Federation and vice president Claude Bergeret need to focus on promotion and not more revealing uniforms.

NOW HEAR THIS!!
Women’s bodies belong to them alone.
I am outraged that this topic is even being considered by the International Table Tennis Federation. Maybe they need to replace their executives?

By Lily Of The Valley on 08/21/2008 1:35 pm
Diana T

I am so damned tired of every sport being geared to attracting audience from sexual appearance rather than the capability of the participants. Next thing it will be bowling and thongs. Geez!
Isn’t it ironic that the women are encouraged to bare their bodies(look at the volley ball players now) and the male basket ball players are wearing those pants that are so loose they look like the split skirts I used to wear? Why in the hell don’t they exposed their damned bodies?
We have a war, folks, $12 Billion @ month, our environment is in trouble, our economy is in trouble as is our whole, complete health care system; we got issues we must face as grownups…so, Please, let’s leave this subject to the powers-that-be who are going to what they damned well please anyway. They sure aren’t going to take our opinions under advisement!

By Diana T on 08/21/2008 1:53 pm
K O

Hi Diana,
I’m just wondering what’s a girl to do when we read that, in Pakistan men are falsely accusing women in bhurkas of criminal adultry, and in China, we have to tart up the ping pong team.
How the heck are we supposed to pack for our trips?

By K O on 08/21/2008 5:41 pm
Diana T

I don’t know how to answer that, Kitty. I will tell you that the last time I had a cold…a really bad soppy fever-blister kind of cold, I told a friend that perhaps I needed a bhurka. Especially when I got the pimple on top of everything else.
I got it. Wear a bhurka and a thong! Sort of like nothing under a mink coat? Maybe that’s what the Pakistani men are thinking about when they are girl-watching??

By Diana T on 08/21/2008 6:23 pm
Susan B

In either case, it’s men once again telling women what to wear and how to behave.

By Susan B on 08/21/2008 6:48 pm
Bonnie Oliver

Anyone willing to make a wager that the Table Tennis Association will not soon have sexier uniforms ….for the women players, not the men? What if the women players agree? Is this any different than the Beach Volley Ball uniforms where the ladies where bikinis and the men where long shorts and t-shirts with the sleeves cut off? Except of course, bikinis make sense at the beach. The table tennis ladies wearing short-shorts and a brief top……is it really such a bad idea? As long as the women are not wearing bikinis in a indoor gym, the change of attire might be acceptable even though the reason to alter the uniform is disturbing.

By Bonnie Oliver on 08/21/2008 6:08 pm
Susan B

At least the womens’s indoor volleyball players are dressed!

By Susan B on 08/21/2008 6:51 pm
Susan B

Liza, look! I made a typo, too!!! :-)

By Susan B on 08/21/2008 6:54 pm
Eliza S

I have an aversion to any type of spectator sport. How much fun is it when a handful of people are out there playing on the field and the rest of us just get to sit there and watch? We’d all be in better shape if we’d find a game of our own to play instead of watching others as they get there workout. However, I am resigned to the fact that I have to live in this sports-crazy world.

As for the table tennis controversy, it’s just another sad reminder of how women are valued for how they look and not for who they are or what they do. If people aren’t prepared to watch for the sheer thrill of the game then they simply aren’t interested enough in the sport. (I love to play ping pong and routinely beat my husband and all but one of my sons!) Just had to add that.

By Eliza S on 08/21/2008 6:42 pm
Eliza S

Oops! Should have been “their” workout … not “there”. I’ll now have to beat up on myself for that error for half an hour or so.

By Eliza S on 08/21/2008 6:44 pm
Eliza S

Oh no. Should have been “their workouts” … plural. I think I’m done. Yikes!

By Eliza S on 08/21/2008 6:46 pm
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