THE Epson World All Stars tournament, to be held at the Southorn Stadium in Wan Chai next weekend, could be the tester for a new scoring format in international table tennis competitions.
The US$50,000 event may use the best-of-seven games of nine points or best-of-nine games of 11 points instead of the conventional best-of-five games of 21 points system.
Tony Yue Kwok-leung, chairman of the Hongkong Table Tennis Association, said the International Table Tennis Federation proposed the two new scoring formats in Gothenburg during the recent World Championships.
Yue, however, added: ''The ITTF are considering one of the three options for our event and we are eagerly awaiting their final decision.
''The shorter games should make the match more exciting and also put more pressure on the players to perform to their full potential throughout a match.
''I think it would be ideal for us to test the 11-point games system but the final decision on which option to take depends entirely on the ITTF.'' The All Stars will bring to the territory eight of the world's leading men table tennis players, including France-based Hongkong number one Lo Chuen-tsung.
The two-day event will adopt the knockout system and Lo faces a tough opening game against Belgium's World Championship runner-up Jean Michel Saive, who is ranked fourth in the world and seeded two.