Shalala immediately put forward this reform (using a 40mm ball in the competition) after replacing Xu Yinsheng as ITTF chairman. It was officially used for the first time at the 45th World Table Tennis Championships held in Kuala Lumpur in February 2000, and at the 2 1 Men's World Cup held in Yangzhou in June 2000, Marin beat Jin Zezhu 3-0 in the final and won the first game after changing the ball.

There are two main reasons for using big balls in table tennis:

1, China's traditional style of play is fast break, while Europe's traditional style of play is loop. When the ball is changed from 38 mm to 40 mm, the speed and rotation of the ball will slow down, which is beneficial for the athletes to exert their strength in the widening action, and the purpose is naturally to weaken the strength of the China team.

2. As mentioned above, if the speed of the ball is slower and the action is more casual, the number of rounds of a ball will increase, but it will help to improve the appreciation and promote TV broadcast.