"Uhhh, I meant the new SHOE helped me win... not glue"
Perusing the ITTF site I noticed that there is a new series of videos called “ITTF World of Table Tennis.” In the first episode the ITTF recaps the World Table Tennis Championships and has one on one interviews with Ma Lin, Wang Liqin, and Wang Hao. The interview of interest is the Wang Hao one where he practically admits to cheating as if it were nothing serious.
Fast forward to 23:00 if you want to see the Wang Hao interview, or just read the transcript of the question below.
ITTF: You’ve been good at using your tactics before, but never this good. How come?
Wang Hao: Well I think the new glue has really helped me. Not only to win World Cups, but also today to become World Champion. I think I am the one who has benefitted the most from the new glue.
On September 1 2008, the ITTF bans Speed Glue, introduces the ENEZ device at major tournaments while at the same time doing little to penalize or deter players from cheating. Let’s face it, whether you’re a speed glue fanatic or not, using the stuff in competition is illegal and here we have the World Champion possibly admitting that he cheated in an interview on the ITTF site. Did anyone at the ITTF actually look at the final video before it was uploaded?
Now, there are two things to take note of here. First, I don’t speak Mandarin, but it is very well possible that there was an important detail lost in translation during the editing process. Why doesn’t he credit his win to his training, his team mates, or his coach? Second, the translator doesn’t actually say “Speed Glue” or anything to that effect, but something tells me that he isn’t crediting his win to standard water based glue. The interview in its current form just leaves too much to the imagination.
How can any serious player take the glue ban seriously now? What do players like Timo Boll and Michael Maze who have converted over to using Butterfly Tenergy rubber and have admitted to no longer speed gluing have to say?
EDIT (July 25): Chinese reader Yuewei watched the video interview and was able to correct not only me but ITTF’s terrible translator. Thank you for clearing that up Yuewei!
He was talking articulately about the “INORGANIC GLUE or GLUE BAN†which he thought might have given him some sort of edge over other top players. Yet the English interpretor translated Wang’s explicitly spelt “INORGANIC GLUE or GLUE BAN†into “the new glueâ€
Tags: speed glue, Wang Hao, World Table Tennis Championships
July 25th, 2009 at 2:46 am
Rick, I regret that you misinterpreted and incorrectly relayed the misinterpretation of Wang Hao’s words in the video.
I’m a Chinese and enjoy reading your table tennis blogs. I watched Wang Hao’s interview very closely. He was talking articulately about the “INORGANIC GLUE or GLUE BAN” which he thought might have given him some sort of edge over other top players. Yet the English interpretor translated Wang’s explicitly spelt “INORGANIC GLUE or GLUE BAN” into “the new glue”, and you mistakenly took “the new glue” as Speed Glue and went on to accuse Wang Hao cheating.
In the transcript “the new glue” was meant for “the new INORGANIC glue”. It would be naive to believe that a World Champion openly admits to cheating yet the ITTF just lets it go, don’t you think? Or maybe you were thinking about Marion Jones? LOL
July 25th, 2009 at 6:43 am
Ahh okay. Thank you Yuewei! I thought there was something lost in the translation.
Yes it would be inconceivable for the ITTF to let Wang Hao openly admit to something like that, but you have to admit they really should hire a new translator. If you don’t speak Chinese, the video interview leaves a lot to the imagination.
I’m really surprised no one at the ITTF noticed how strange that interview sounds.
July 26th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Thank you, Rick. The poor translation by ITTF is very misleading and they should have really done a better job. I like browsing your blogs; please keep up the good work, thanks.