February 28, 2011
Congrats to the 2011 USA World and Pan Am Teams!
Here are results and other items on the Trials that were held this past weekend. I heard that on the first day, after Barney Reed upset top seed Fan Yiyong (-10,12,5,4,-10,7), Reed collapsed in his next match, against Mark Hazinski, and went to the hospital in an ambulance. According to the results, he completed the match against Hazinksi, but lost badly (7,2,5,5), finishing third in the group, and then defaulted the match for 5/6 against Michael Landers. I post more on this if I find out more.
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World Team Men |
Mark Hazinski, Yiyong Fan, Timothy Wang, Adam Hugh |
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World Team Women |
Ariel Hsing, Lily Zhang, Erica Wu, Prachi Jha |
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Pan Am Team Men |
Mark Hazinski, Yiyong Fan, Timothy Wang |
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Pan Am Team Women |
Ariel Hsing, Lily Zhang, Erica Wu |
Where should the first attack go?
Most players tend to attack first to the opponent's backhand, especially at the beginning and intermediate levels. At the higher levels, players often go after the forehand more, whether the opponent is stronger on the forehand or backhand. Most players block better on the backhand, so it makes sense to go to the forehand side first instead, where they are weaker. It also allows you to move the opponent to the forehand side and then come back to the backhand, and a moving backhand can be rather awkward.
"The Orioles [Baltimore baseball team] put a ping pong table in the middle of the clubhouse, which proves that manager Buck Showalter isn't all business. He'll let the guys have a little fun, as long as it doesn't interfere with their work. J.J. Hardy is ridiculously good. So are Nick Markakis and Jake Arrieta, but Hardy looks like the undisputed champion. Nice reflexes."
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