The China Table Tennis Super League will kick off this weekend without a single foreign player, the league organizers revealed on Monday.

Due to new rules that stipulate foreign players must stay with their Chinese teams throughout the season and play in at least 18 games, no foreigners have sought to join the nation's top table tennis league.

"It doesn't mean that we are saying 'no' to foreign players," explained Liu Fengyan, head of the sport's national administrative center. "We are just copying an international practice to improve the management of the league."

As well as all elite Chinese paddlers, the league has often attracted international stars u like Timo Boll of Germany, Ai Fukuhara of Japan and Ryu Seung-min of South Korea. 

However, the loyalty of these globe-trotting athletes was fickle and their appearances in China were miserable - some of them playing as little as two games per season.

"The management of foreign imports used to be very loose and has a bad influence on the league. So we decided to make a change," Liu added.

However, there is speculation that the new rule may secretly be to benefit the country's prospects at next year's Beijing Olympics since some Chinese officials fear the presence of foreign players could threaten China's dominance in the sport.

"The league is the fundamental power base of China's table tennis and its significance is huge because of its help for Olympic preparations," Liu said.

Under the new rule, it is almost impossible for foreign imports to play in China this year since the league will interfere with international Olympic qualifying tournaments.

"They (foreign players) need to play many tournaments prior to the Beijing Games. That's probably the reason why they are not coming," Liu said.

The new rule also highlighted a dilemma for the ambitious organizers who must try to make the league a world-class event whilst deferring to Olympic preparations that have proved paramount to central authorities.

To ensure the competitiveness of the league, Chinese national team players will forego two International Table Tennis Federation Pro Tour tournaments held in Taiwan and South Korea during the league's run from June 9 to September 12.

 (China Daily June 6, 2007)