Gotō Makes the Decision

Abstract

Gotō Kōji was elected as president of the Table Tennis Federation of Asia (TTFA) at a turbulent time in 1967 when China was waging the brutal Cultural Revolution and the “two Chinas” issue jeopardized the smooth operations of international organizations, both political and nonpolitical in nature. China had withdrawn from the TTFA in 1953 in protest when the TTFA had admitted Taiwan. China meanwhile had remained in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), won three world titles at the Beijing World’s in 1961, and continued to win at the Prague World’s in 1963 and the Ljubljana World’s in 1965. Nevertheless, the Cultural Revolution alienated China from the outside world and kept it from participating in the world championships in 1967 and 1969. In turn, Taiwan remained in the TTFA and continued to participate in the Asian championships.¹