May 1, 2015
World Championships
They are from April 26 - May 3 in Suzhou, China. As I write this on Friday morning, they are into the final eight in Men's Singles, and the final four in Women's Singles, Men's Doubles, and Women's Doubles. They must completed Mixed Doubles, with Xu Xin/Yang Haeun (CHN/KOR) defeating M. Yoshimura/K. Ishikawa (JPN), 4-0 (7,8,4,6). This is the first time China and Korea have combined to win Mixed Doubles (and probably for any title).
Six of the top ten men in the world are in the quarterfinals of Men's Singles. Four are out:
- World #2 Xu Xin, apparently suffering shoulder problems (though he'd turn around and win Mixed Doubles after this), lost in the eighths to Fang Bo (world #14).
- World #6 Dmitrij Ovtcharov lost in the round of 64 to Lee Sangsu of South Korea (world #47).
- World #8 Marcos Freitas of Portugal lost in the round of 32 to Patrick Franziska of Germany (world #56).
- World #10 Chuan Chih-Yuan lost in the round of 128 to Adam Pattantyus of Hungary (world #90).
Here are the Excellent Eight in Men's Singles, i.e. quarterfinal pairing - and it's actually looking pretty competitive internationally, with "only" four players from China, two from Germany (despite Ovtcharov's loss), one from Japan, and one from Hong Kong (which some would say counts as Chinese).
Men's Quarterfinals
- Ma Long (CHN) vs. Tang Peng (HKG)
- Timo Boll (GER) vs. Fan Zhendong (CHN)
- Zhang Jike (CHN) vs. Jun Mizutani (JPN)
- Patrick Franziska (GER) vs. Fang Bo (CHN)
Below are the Final Four in the Chinese National Championships Women's Singles. Ding Ning, Liu Shiwen, and Li Xiaoxia are ranked 1-3 in the world. But the big story is Mu Zi of China, who doesn't even have a world ranking. In the round of 64 she beat world #5 Kasumi Ishikawa of Japan, 4-0 (7,10,10,4). In the round of 16 she beat world #4 Feng Tianwei of Singapore, also 4-0 (5,2,9,5). In fact, except for her first round match (round of 128) against Kristin Silbereisen of Germany (world #39), which she won 4-1, she hasn't lost a game, winning her last four matches all 4-0. Here are some articles on Mu Zi from Table Tennista, and here is a video interview (3:34, in English) from the Worlds from just this morning.
Women's Semifinals
- Ding Ning (CHN) vs. Mu Zi (CHN)
- Li Xiaoxia (CHN) vs. Liu Shiwen (CHN)
Here are some links.
- ITTF World Championships Page
- Day 5 Summary - Thursday, April 30
- Shot of the Day
- Highlight Match: Jun Mizutani (JPN) vs. Jung Youngsik (KOR) (5:45), round of 32. Deuce in the seventh, with Mizutani down 7-10 in the seventh, called the best match of the tournament so far.
- Xu Xin's Behind the Back Shot - at 6-5 in the seventh!
- Ovtcharov & Fukuhara Crashed Out of Worlds
- USA Table Tennis World Championships Page
- Tabletennista also has lots of Worlds coverage
- ITTF and Asian TT Union Reach Agreement
- Japan Makes 1st World Championships Mixed Doubles Final since 1977
Ask a Pro Anything
Here's the video (25 sec) from Adam Bobrow where you are invited to ask questions of Romanian star Bernadette Szocs (world #64, recently #49).
ITTF Workshop on Motivation
Here's the article on the workshop run by Dora Kurimay.
The Future National Champion
It begins (71 sec).
When They Were Young
Here's a young Waldner. And here's the young Chinese National Team - see if you can name them.
21 Seconds of Wang Liqin Demonstrating his Trick Shots
One Person's Luckiest Table Tennis Shot Ever
Here's the video (48 sec, including slo-mo replay).
More Mike Mezyan Pictures
NOTE - If you are unable to see these pictures, all you have to do is join the Table Tennis Group - it's easy! Here are all the past, present, and (soon) future pictures he's collected. (I pick out his best ones for here - he has more.)
- Mini Indoor Snowman Pong?
- Crystal Ball Pong?
- Player in Paddle Sculpture Pong
- Sculpture Playing Pong
- Birthday Cake Pong (a lot of these - maybe this category should be retired?)
- Friendship Pong (or is this a Pong Gang?)
- Free Training Sessions with Ali - the Greatest?
- Luxury Table Pong
- Bike on Net Pong
Argos Aliens Play Table Tennis
Here's the video (30 sec)!
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