
Maria Sharapova's dresses may never make an appearance, nor the Williams sisters' bling, but table tennis is at least trying to sex up its sport. Some women paddlers gave a nod of approval this week to suggestions from a senior governing body official to wear skirts during matches to make their game more stylish in an attempt to pull in the crowds...With loose-fitting shorts and baggy shirts the usual attire, table tennis, mostly played in bland gymnasiums around the world, has never had the glamour of women's tennis nor the sex appeal of beach volleyball...Japan's Ai Fukuhara is one player already taking the initiative, opting for a "skort" -- a tight skirt with cycling shorts underneath -- for her round of 16 match Thursday against China's Zhang Yining, who wore black shorts and shirt with a striking yellow dragon printed on the front. Plans to sex-up the image of a sport, which is an obsession in Asia but associated with damp, community halls and youth clubs in the west, are nothing new...more...
There are a couple of pictures of table tennis "visual queen", Naomi Yotsumoto, in the Random Nihonjin thread here.