Former International Table Tennis Federation president Xu Yinsheng has given high marks to his successor, hailing Canadian Adham Sharara as a reformer who pushes the sport forward in the world.

Sharara is unpopular in China because of his policies allegedly biased against Chinese players.

"I think Sharara did a pretty good job as ITTF President," said Xu, now president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association. "He has made the table tennis market bigger and more profitable."

Encouraged by Sharara, the world table tennis ruling body revised the service rules and changed the pointing system from 21 points per set to 11.

Nothing seems to generate more arguments and controversy in ping-pong than the service rules. The ITTF are constantly tweaking the service rules in an attempt to give the receiver a better chance of returning the serve.

Previously a good server could dominate the game by hiding the contact of the ball, making it nearly impossible for the receiver to read the spin on the ball and make a good return.

Liu Guoliang, head coach of the Chinese men's team, had retired partly because of the adoption of the no-hiding service rules.

Xu Yinsheng said the changes of service rules are good for the development of the sport.

Keeping in mind that the intention of the service rules is to give the receiver the ability to see the ball at all times in order to have a fair chance of reading the spin, noted Xu.

According to the new rules, the ball must always be visible to the receiver throughout the serve - it must never be hidden.

This makes it illegal to drop your hand below the table when serving, or put any part of your body between the ball and the receiver when serving. If the receiver can't see the ball at any point, it is a fault. This is why the rules tell the server to get his free arm out of the space between the ball and the net.

The ball must be thrown upwards without any spin, and nearly vertically.

"I think Sharara's policies make the sport more spectacular," said Xu. "These policies are not intended to be against China."

(Xinhua News Agency September 24, 2007)