THE HISTORY OF THE SATTB

Since its unification in 1991, the South African Table Tennis Board (SATTB) has come a long way in introducing the sport of table tennis to all spectrums of the South African population, on one level, and to start the journey towards international competition medals, on another.

2001 was a historical year for the South African Table Tennis Board as it celebrated ten years of unification. The unity was between the then South African Table Tennis Union (SATTU) that was formed in 1939 and the South African Table Tennis Board (SATTB) that was formed in 1948. The two organisations SATTU and SATTB signed a declaration of intent on 21 July 1991 to unite the SATTB and SATTU into one controlling body for Table Tennis in South Africa.

The unification process was facilitated by Mr. Hans Gisecke, Vice-President Finance (ITTF), Mr. George Segun President of the ATTF and Mr. Fikrou Kidane Special Advisor to the IOC on African Affairs. The Declaration of Intent outlined the mandate of the unified interim structure for the next two years, which commenced on 21 July 1991 – December1993, after which democratic elections would be held to elect the Executive Body.

In February 1992 an Inauguration Championships was held in Johannesburg and once again we were honoured by the presence of Mr. Ichiro Ogimura, President of the ITTF, Mr. George Segun, President of the ATTF. Mr. Ichiro Ogimura mentioned at this event that he would be discussing the possibility of awarding two wild cards to South Africa to participate in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games with his executive, which had the support of the ATTF and NOSC.

South Africa was awarded two wild cards and the two athletes that represented South Africa were Mr. Louis Botha (SATTU) and Miss Cheryl Roberts (SATTB). The decision to send these two athletes was met with some resistance, the National Interim Body was determined that it would be a team of National Unity.

Success of Transformation

One of the key principles of the SATTB was and still is to ensure that table tennis reflects the demographics of the country. In retrospect the early teams of national unity enabled us to fast-track the playing standards of PDI’s to such an extent that we were able to select a team on merit for the 1995 All Africa Games, this team had a 40% black representatives. By 1997 the national team that participated in the World Championships reflected 72% black athletes and this trend has continued.

Further inroads have been made at Provincial level, whereby at the last years Junior Championships 80% of the participants were black. The SATTB has also witnessed the emergence of more black administrators at provincial level. The South African Table Tennis Board is proud of its history and the progress made during the past ten years, the unification and transformation process has resulted in a non-racial, non-sexist organisation, which we treasure very dearly.

The challenge is now in the hands of the affiliates and future administrators to consolidate these accomplishments. Table Tennis is looked upon as one of the few sports to have been able to select its athletes totally on merit, which reflects the people of South Africa.

The Road Ahead

The challenge that faces the South African Table Tennis Board in the 21st century is to ensure that table tennis is accessible to the majority of citizens especially the youth, girls and persons with disabilities both in the urban and rural communities and at the same time assist our elite athletes to achieve their life dreams of being the best in the world.

Long live the SATTB, long live Table Tennis!