Notice of protest from the Sarises of Florina to the G.G.A. for the non-recognition of team championships

An injustice in the part of the evaluation, which is still done at the expense of table tennis, is brought back to the news by ASEA Sarises Florinas with a notice of protest to the General Secretariat of Sports. This is due to the fact that in the last Joint Ministerial Decision regarding the financial support of associations, the GGA continues not to recognize the holding of table tennis team championships either in Greece or abroad. It is a matter that the Hellenic Table Tennis Philatelic Federation has repeatedly raised with the GGA, stressing that the sport is wrongly treated as an individual sport when it has always had a strong team character and even shows great success there. “The GGA ignores the table tennis team championships” is the title of the letter and is signed by the president of the critic’s association and former second vice-president of the E.F.O.E.P.A. George Lygouras. The Sarises come from 2^the place in the women’s Europe Trophy and of course they remind us of the titles of Panathinaikos and Olympiakos in the same European Cup.

ASEA Sarises protest announcement in detail:

“GAA ignores Table Tennis team championships

In recent years, Greek Table Tennis and Hellenic Sports have celebrated great club successes at the European level. Olympiacos with its men’s team and Panathinaikos with its women’s team won the European Cup “Trophy”. Also, Sarises Florinas with their women’s team won the second place in the same institution. One would expect that the successes of the Greek teams in Europe would arouse the interest of the DG of Sports and receive the corresponding attention and reporting. However, the Greek reality is different. The DG of Sports does not recognize the holding of table tennis team championships either in Greece or abroad for another year.

According to the GGA press release (19-1-2024), G. Vroutsis signed the MOU of the conditions for the allocation of 2024 in amateur and professional sports, with priority given to insularity. The KYA provides, among other things, for the support of clubs that participate in national team championship categories and on European events from various sports, except table tennis. The argument that table tennis is basically an individual sport is not correct, as all over the world the sport is developed and conducted in the form of team sports.

In Europe, the European Federation (Ettu) organizes every year the Champions Leaguethe Europe Cup and Trophy to football standards. Also, in all European countries the team championships monopolize the public’s interest and the stadiums are filled with people when the national championships are held. It is no coincidence that table tennis is one of the most popular sports in the world. In Greece team national championships have been held since the 1940s. Thus, today we have A1, A2, B’ National and Local championships for men and women by basketball standards. Greek and foreign athletes participate in these championships, many of whom are internationally known with great success (European Champions).

So contrary to the globalization of table tennis according to the logic of the GGA, the matches of the Greek teams in Greece and abroad at an inter-club level should not take place. There should be no national table tennis teams, no club teams, and our teams (national or club) playing in Europe. Only individual matches should be played.

Therefore, it is wrong to celebrate the successes of the Greek Teams in Europe and it is wrong to declare Champion teams in men, women. Of course, it is not a necessary evil to accept the logic of GGA. The abolition of every team championship in Greece would have a great financial benefit for our clubs, who, wanting to support their teams and athletes, spend the most money.

If in the mind of the GAA, that table tennis is no different from tennis and should follow its structure, then what do table tennis clubs need? Anyone who wants to make a career in the sport should have their personal coach and, depending on their pocket, set their personal goals. As for the rest, let them play ping-pong in the catechisms and funeral parlors.

E.F.O.E.P.A. must react strongly and claim the right of our sport from the GGA. In case of non-justification, let’s not proceed with the announcement of the team championships for the new 2024-2025 season. It makes no sense and nobody seems to care. As for our athletes there are many countries to play, where the sport is respected and their championships know the recognition and love of the world and their state”.