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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbsn-FtpPUc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_World_Table_Tennis_Championships

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_World_Table_Tennis_Championships

Here is the video of 1971 WTTC Team final

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.

http://www.wykontario.org/index.php/articles-index/community-events/1857-charity-table-tennis-tournament-2015

Someone today at our picnic requested the 2009 7th set between Ma Lin & Kenda. Here is the entire 7 sets (1 hour) with Mandarin commentary.

張墨(Mo Zhang)﹕1989年1月7日出生於中國河北省石家莊市﹐6歲起開始打乒乓球，後進入汕頭體校接受乒乓球的訓練。張墨在13歲時跟隨父母移居溫哥華，為了成為職業乒乓球選手，特意到渥太華參加國家隊的訓練，還經常回中國參加訓練，又參加歐洲聯賽，積累了不少臨場參賽的經驗。

張墨近年來的參賽成績包括：2015年北美女子單打冠軍；2014年英聯邦運動會女雙銅牌；2014年北美錦標賽女單冠軍；2013年英聯邦錦標賽女單冠軍；2011年墨西哥泛美運動會女單冠軍。

Below is the 2012 North American Cup final (held in Mississauga) between Mo and US star Ariel Hsing. Mo lost the 5th set in double deuce.

The next video is the recent 2015 ITTF North America Cup. Mo Zhang repeated her 2914 with a 4-1 win over Lily Zhang of USA and qualified for World Cup.

能保最佳狀態 王臻奪標最大關鍵

http://www.mingpaocanada.com/tor/htm/News/20150710/tab2_r.htm

王臻(Eugene, Zhen Wang)﹕現是加拿大男子乒乓球代表隊的頭號種子選手，他在男子乒乓球運動員世界排行榜上位居第58名。1985年11月13日出生於中國河北石家莊市的王臻，未滿7歲時就已對乒乓球燃起了「狂熱」，10歲進入省隊接受專業訓練。他在2004年移居加拿大後將乒乓球運動轉為全職事業經營。他曾在2012年獲得聯邦移民部加快審批他的入籍申請，以便他能夠代表加拿大出戰倫敦奧運會。

王臻近年來的參賽成績包括：2015年克羅地亞公開賽前8名；2014年和2013年北美錦標賽男單冠軍；2013年和2012年美國公開賽男單冠軍；2012年加拿大國際乒乓球冠軍盃男單冠軍等。

Below video 2014 US Open Q/F shows Wang has blocks like our Allan Lee ! He was defending champion but lost to a better performing Japanese this time.

Happy swinging.

United We Play! / Jouons Unis! / ¡Unidos Jugamos!

Thank you Roger, Edmond, Tim, George, Andrew, Jeff and spouses Vinnie , Elaine, Millie and, most important of all,  Mr Ho (who came 3 times to cheer for the team and took the winning game video) for your enthusiastic support, cheers and encouragements on game day.

Thank you Andrew for taking pictures and thank you Chris for his support on WhatsApp despite being physically in Chicago and unable to attend.

Well done Mike Yam (undefeated), Allan Lee (for 2 great victories against top LSC & Munsang single players), David Ho, for cancelling important business meetings to stay throughout and won games for us and for Michael Luk who won a great game against Tsung Tsin College.

Our spirits were very high, before, during and after game day. Perhaps Captain Mike can give us his run down to the championship and some of the highlights.

For the record:
Preliminary round robin
we beat the following teams in straight set 3-0, and came first in Group B to enter play off: DBS, CCS, TTC
QF: We defeated SJC 3-0
S/F: We defeated LSC 3- 0 !!!!!!!
Final
WYK beat MSC 3-2 and emerged as 2015 HKISAA Team Champion with 16 school team entries.

Congrats to Mike, David, Allan, Michael for their efforts and all Wayanites for strong spirit, comradeship, discipline and commitment!
We are very proud of you.

Wilfred Wei (Cl. of 69)

Check out the article on our main website, which links to more pictures, reports and video clips. Also, articles from newspapers:

明報加東網

約克時報 (York Region Times)

We enter this tournament with several twits and the final players representing WYKAAO were the original championship line up in 2013:

Mike Yam (who has very kindly stepped up to be captain but had his appendix removed June 9th and yet vowed 永不放棄), David Ho (ex Captain who has cardiac issues discovered this week), Allan Lee (recovering from a inflamed ankle and foot) and Michael Luk.

Our spirits are high and have made intense preparation prior to all these physical developments.

We have a more favourable draw this time than last year and will strive to recover our lost crown and earn top bragging right amongst 15 other schools (one being an all ladies joint school entry).

We need all the support we can from you since we will be outnumbered by cheerleaders from other competing schools. Your presence could be a critical factor in our pursuit for success.

Please rally your form mates & family and make a commitment to come to support your team.

Your moral and physical support will enable our lion hearts to perform at their best and hold our flag and spirit high.

The tourney starts at 9.30 am at CCTTA (Denison between Warden & Pharmacy). You are cordially requested to attend and cheer for our team!

Go WYK go!

More details can be found at the below link:

http://www.hkisaa.ca/home.html

Archive media coverage from 2013 and a picture from our Association web site are per below

http://news.singtao.ca/toronto/2013-08-27/community1377593453d4667412.html

http://gallery.wykontario.org/main.php?g2_itemId=17237

男单决赛：马龙VS方博 (Part 1 & 2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17kjUg8lqEg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTmdgYmoKtg

男双决赛：许昕/张继科VS樊振东/周雨

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-NfPvGd29Y

Hope you enjoy.

Below is the recent ITTF Latin American tt championship (including video) to decide on entries for the Pan Am Games 2015 held at our Markham PanAm Centre between 7/17- 7/26. Canada, as host country, qualifies automatically with direct entries for individual and team events.

http://ittf.com/_front_page/ittf_full_story1.asp?ID=39093&Competition_ID=2521&

http://www.toronto2015.org/table-tennis

Wilfred Wei will represent Canada as an official badminton line judge for PanAm 2015 between 7/11 – 7/16 at Markham PanAm Centre. Ditto at the forthcoming Badminton exhibition game between Peter Gade (former World #1) and Tommy Sugiarto (this week’s ranking is world #8. He defeated Lin Dan world #3 in Q/F at last week’s Indian 2015 Open) at the same venue on Sunday May 3, 2015.