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.

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

Here's the video.

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.)

Argos Aliens Play Table Tennis

Here's the video (30 sec)!

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