It is finalized that we are going to have our monthly internal table tennis competition this Sunday Nov 8 at CCTTA. We will start at around 10:30am. Allan will be around after 9:30am to get tables. Those who can come please come early and try to get at least two tables close to the door leading to the wooden floor. We can start as soon as we have enough people. I propose that we play 3 games for each encounter. The final will be best out of the 27 games we play. So winning by 3-0 in better than by 2-1. That would put a tense on our skill as we want to win every single game.
WYKAAO Table Tennis Team A recaptured the Championship of the Interschool Alumni tournament organized by New Horizon Lions Club on Sunday September 20th at My Table Tennis Club. Team members and Mr. Ho among other guests had a sumptuous gathering celebrating another successful year of our teams. Follow the links to see: pictures at the tournament, video clips and pictures in the celebration party.
Tim did a semi loop, Aaron had a big smash. Wilfred reacted with a counter smash, not realising the ball hit by Aaron, ended in the net, during its flight. Everyone including Henry watched in awe. Umpire was watching the smash return and Edmund Kwong caught the moment on film.
Mike mentioned today ex China world champion Xi En Ting 郗恩庭 and his playing style, when we chat about blocks by Kenda.
I managed to find a B/W short clip for 1973 WTTC men’s single final between ” The Hammer” Johnaason (because of his hard forehand) and Xi. Xi emerged as World Champ. You can find more on side panel.
Xi played my style of serve, push, chop and block with only one side of the blade, but Xi plays at a pinnacle level. So some of us (who play penholder) still use the same technique as Xi. despite the rubber has much improved and penholders have to master reverse penholder backhand to battle shakehand players (Wilson Chan from YWC for example, has a strong RPB and he didn’t play in 2015 HKISAA tourney)
Xi used a 729 rubber on DHS PF4 blade but has his own brand of tt equipment. The Xi-EnTing (former World Champion) brand has more than 10 patents for designs of table tennis blades. The company has been developing blades in China for more than 20 years, and are very popular in China.
They have a huge range of blades, most virtually unknown to the western market, hence the cheaper price tags. They offer some very unique and innovative blade technologies
Sweden is team world champ in 1973 and China won silver with the following line up: (China won gold in 1971 with 李富榮 & 莊則棟 still in the line up.
Diao Wenyuan
Li Jingguang
Liang Geliang
Xi Enting
Xu Shaofa
Li is virtually unknown at that time but beat Word Champ Ito in straight sets (Ito scored less than 10 points in both set) and 2 other Japanese world champ. He was the key player (winning 3 points in a 5-2 win over Japan).
I recommend we play different opponents in our practice to get used to different scenario at real games. Captain Mike has a good read in the game and positioning players in the line up in a game.
Men’s team final, 1971 World Table Tennis Championships, Nagoya, Japan. China wins 5-2 and reclaims the title after having missed the 1967 and 1969 championships because of the Cultural Revolution. Liang Geliang, Zhuang Zedong, Li Jingguang vs Nobuhiko Hasegawa, Shigeo Itoh, Mitsuro Kohno. Zhuang Zedong was world champion in men’s singles in 1961, 1963, 1965. Hasegawa was champion in 1967, and Itoh in 1969. Kohno would win the title in 1977.
Order of matches:
Liang Geliang vs Hasegawa (Team score 0-1)
Zhuang Zedong vs Itoh (1-1)
Li Jingguang vs Kohno (2-1)
Liang Geliang vs Itoh (3-1)
Li Jingguang vs Hasegawa (4-1)
Zhuang Zedong vs Kohno (4-2)
Li Jingguang vs Itoh (5-2)
Happy swinging and let’s go 9/20 at Lion’s Charity TT tourney
Great blocks of all kinds: soft / aggressive / topspin / sidespin inside out… –
Kenta 松平健太 has supposedly one of the world’s best serves. He serves either a regular tomahawk service or a backhand tomahawk service.
Kenta became well known after a near upset vs Olympic champion Ma Lin in the 2009 World Table Tennis Championships using his virtually unseen before, advanced tomahawk serves, compact speed technique, and dynamic backhand control. Kenta won two straight games from a 1-3 deficit and held the lead at 4-1 in the seventh. (Kenta lost the set 11-9.)
松平健太(JPN) VS 馬琳 (CHN) 2009 WTTC and then 2013 WTTC final set which Kenda won and Ma Lin retired that year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBrKR7gCwNk
Ma Lin uses the penhold grip. An aggressive player, he is known for his converse unpredictable serves, heavy short push receives, fast footwork, and powerful third ball attacks. In addition to possessing a solid backhand block, Ma Lin also uses the reverse penhold backhand (RPB), an innovative stroke utilizing the underside of the blade which allows a penholder to produce topspin from both wings. The most dangerous weapon Ma Lin has in his arsenal, however, is his consistent forehand loop, which he often uses to end a point decisively. He is also considered as a master at serving and his serve is considered one of the best in the world earning the nickname “Ghost Service”. It involves the ball bouncing back to the net instead of going straight out of the table.
In the videos, Ma’s offense was faced some very stiff blocks by Kenda. Check with our star blocker Allan Li how he has been so successful blocking against Daniel alias Uncle of LSC and checked in with Captain Mike for his many different serves.
When we play in the Sept 2015 Lion’s Charity Table Tennis tourney, YWC will be the main opponent and their captain Sidney Chu is known for this wicked Tomahawk serve and his serve returns/defense.
See in the videos how Ma Lin dealt with this tomahawk serve and how Kenta Matsudaira dealt with Ma Lin’s serve himself.
Note: Ma Lin weighted 77 kg and 1.73 m tall. Kenda is about the same height (1″ shorter ) but much lighter at 61 kg.
Please come and cheer for our Team A (Captain Mike Yam) & B (Captain Chris Tam) on 9/20 Lion’s 7th Charity Table Tennis Tourney at MTTC. We look to repeat our success.
Please check WYKAAO website for further update on the forthcoming Lion\s Club tourney. Chris is convener.
