(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-29 22:01

GUANGZHOU - World table tennis ruling body decided on Friday to limit the number of registeration-switching players.

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) passed the proposal upon the suggestion from the Swiss table tennis association, which to ban the 21-year-old and older players from representing other associations instead of their motherland.

Despite the sole strong opposition from the Hong Kong and New Zealand associations, the board of directors voted 46-2 to get the proposal smoothly passed.

"This showed me that all the member associations know what's the best for the development of table tennis," said ITTF president Adham Sharara.

According to the resolution, players over 21 years old will be banned from representing other associations rather than their motherland to play World Championships and World Cup, unless they have been resident there.

For the 18-21 year-olds who register for the second association, they will have to wait for seven years before they represent their adopted countries or regions, and five years of waiting for 15-18 year-olds and three years for under-15 year-olds.

The new rule will start from the September 1 this year.