Ma Long, Ding Ning top seeds at the Polish World Tour Table Tennis tournament at Warsaw

The GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour, Polish Open (Major), will be held from 21 Oct 2015 - 25 Oct 2015 at Warsaw, Poland.

The tournament assumes importance as it will be an important opportunity for players to qualify for the prestigious, season-ending Grand finals.

World Champion and World No. 1 is the top seed in the Men's section while Ding Ning is heading the seeding list on the Women's side.

Other stars who are participating are Xu Xin, Fan Zhendong, Zhang Jike, Mizutani, Ovtcharov, Liu Shiwen, Zhu Yuling, Li Xiaoxia, Ai Fukuhara and others.

Zhang Jike redeems himself at the Asian Table Tennis Championships final; China wins

China became champions for the nth time at the Asian Table Tennis Championships at Pattaya, Thailand. In a one-sided battle, China beat Japan 3-0.
   
Xu Xin beat Maharu Yoshimura 11-7, 13-11, 11-5
Fan Zhendong beat Koki Niwa 6-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-6
Zhang Jike beat Yuya Oshima 11-8, 1-11, 11-8, 11-9

India lose to China in the Asian Table Tennis Championships

China, playing without its top player, World Champion Ma Long, was still powerful enough to beat India by the expected 3-0 margin.

Xu Xin took China to 1-0 by beating Harmeet Desai 11-9, 11-9 and 11-3. Chinese great Zhang Jike enhanced the score by overcoming G Sathiyan 11-5, 11-3, and 11-4. Young Fan Zhendong completed the rout and put an end to India's challenge by beating National Champion Soumyajit Ghosh 11-6, 11-7, and 11-8.

Ma Long beats Fang Bo to win the World Table Tennis Championship title

Ma Long is the World Champion. Incidentally, he is also the World No. 1.

After three failed attempts in 2009, 2011, 2013, Ma Long finally made it.
He beat the surprise finalist Fang Bo 4-2 (who had upset Grand Slam champion Zhang Jike).

Earlier in the Championship, Ding Ning won the Women's final.

Photos courtesy of the ITTF and Rajeev Sharma.

Zhang Jike petting a Dolphin

Grand Slam Table Tennis winner Zhang Jike is taking time off to enjoy before the season begins in earnest.

Photo: sports.sohu.com

Liang Jingkun, who beat Zhang Jike and Ma Long playing in Mumbai!

One of the players participating in the Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships at Mumbai. He has beaten World and Olympic Champion Zhang Jike and Ma Long in the Chinese trials!

Editor

Ma Long beats Fan Zhendong to win the Chinese National Games title

Ma Long won the prestigious Chinese National Games Table Tennis title, but not before he was taken all the way down to the wire by the young teenage beast, Fan Zhendong.

Fan beat World and Olympic Champion Zhang Jike and Xu Xin in the quarterfinals and semi finals!

Zhang Jike is the World Champion again!

World Champion!

Zhang Jike beat Wang Hao in the fourth major tournament (World Championships 2011, World Cup 2011, Olympics 2012, World Championships 2013). At Paris, the score yesterday was 4-2 (11-7, 11-8, 6-11, 14-12, 5-11, 11-7).

A few years back, he was sent back from the Chinese National Ping Pong team by Liu Guoliang and relegated to the provincial team. He almost thought of quitting. But backed by his fiercely determined dad, he came back to the National team and then did the impossible. Well, he still is, because he is just 25!

Ladies and Gentleman, please put your hands together for Mr. Zhang Jike, the man who thrives on pressure. The big stage brings out the best out of him.

Editor

Zhang Jike and Seo Hyun Deok win unique doubles tournament at the Korean Open 2013

Zhang Jike and Seo Hyun Deok won the Men's doubles title at the Korean open World Tour Table Tennis tournament. In the finals, they beat Ma Long and Lee Jung Woo.

The Korean Open was a pioneer tournament in a very important way since Chinese players combined with players from other countries. For example. Zhang Jike with Seo Hyun Deok, Ma Long with Lee Jung Woo, Xu Xin with Adrien Mattenet, and Wang Hao with Jung Youngsik. China is trying to encourage other countries to do well and this attempt one of the many that China will roll out in the near future. Olympic and World Champion, Zhang Jike and Chinese head coach, Liu Guoliang are trying to promote Table Tennis in a big way in general.

Results:

Semi finals

Zhang Jike and Seo Hyun Deok beat Adrien Mattenet and Xu Xin 14-12, 11-5, 7-11, 6-11, 11-7
Ma Long and Lee Jungwoo beat Yan An and Lee Sangsu 11-6, 12-10, 11-9

Finals
Zhang Jike and Seo Hyun Deok beat Ma Long and Lee Jungwoo 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8

Chinese Table Tennis team trials for Paris World Championships

The final leg of the Chinese team trials are starting. The favorites to qualify are Zhang Jike, Ma Long, and Xu Xin. But Jike suffered an injury recently.

The other experienced players in the fray are Ma Lin, Chen Qi, and Wang Hao.

The youngsters who will challenge experience are Yan An and Fan Zhendong.

Ma Long beats Yan An to win Qatar Open World Tour Table Tennis tournament

Ma Long tops! He beat Yan An in a thrilling final. World and Olympic champ, Zhang Jike, retired hurt in an earlier round.

Ding Ning won the women's title beating Liu Shiwen.

(Photo courtesy xinhuanet.com

Editor

Killerspin Table Tennis Festival

Killerspin is conducting an amazing event as a part of it's 10th anniversary. Leading Olympic and World Champions will participate in the event to be held at Chicago's beautiful landmarks.
Tickets are available here:
http://tabletennisfestival.eventbrite.com/

INVITED PLAYERS

Table Tennis Champion and International Star BiBa will be joined by US Champions Ilija Lupulesku and 16 year old phenom Ariel; World and Olympic Champions Zhang Jike, Wang Liqin, Chen Qi, Ma Lin and Ding Ning from China. Olympic Champion Ryu Seung Min and other champions from Korea, Europe and Brazil will also be competing.

INVITED PLAYERS — MEN'S TEAMS

• Chen Qi, Zhang Jike,
• Wang Liqin, Wang Hao or Ma Lin
• Kalinikos Kreanga, Bojan Tocik
• Ryu Sean Min, Kim Min Seok

INVITED PLAYERS — WOMEN'S TEAMS

• Ding Ning, BiBa
• Ariel Hsing, Jessica Yamada

INVITED PLAYERS — MEN'S TEAMS — MASTERS Master's Team 1 — Jorgen Persson, Chen Weixing

Master's Team 2 — Zoran Primorac, Aleksandar Karakasevic

ADDITIONAL INVITED PLAYERS

• Ilija Lupulesku
• Juniors — Michael Tran, Este, TBD

Mizutani shoots into Top five in World Table Tennis Rankings

Jun Mizutani is the biggest gainer and is now No. 5 on the World Table Tennis Rankings list. Ma Lin dropped a place and so did Timo Boll, who is now No. 7.

Zhang Jike, Ma Long, Xu Xin, and Wang Hao continue to lead the rankings.

From India, Sharath Kamal is no 63 and Amalraj moved up to 155th. Poulomi Ghatak and Mouma Das are in the top 200 in the Women's section.

Favorites at the London Olympics Table Tennis

Although a dark horse can emerge and grab titles, it is unlikely that the winner at the London Olympics Table Tennis will be out of the following lists:

Men
 Wang Hao (CHN)
 Timo Boll (GER)
 Zhang Jike (CHN)
 Jun Mizutani (JPN)
 Vladimir Samsonov (BLR)
 Joo Se-Hyuk (KOR)
 Oh Sang-Eun (KOR)
 Chuang Chih-yuan (TPE)
 Dimitrij Ovtcharov (GER)

Among the men, our picks are Wang Hao (who won two silver medals at the last two Olympics), and Zhang Jike, the fighter and the current World Champion.

Women

 Li Xiaoxia (CHN)
 Ding Ning (CHN)
 Feng Tianwei (SIN)
 Kasumi Ishikawa (JPN)
 Ai Fukuhara (JPN)
 Kim Kyung-Ah (KOR)
 Wang Yuegu (SIN)
 Tie Ya Na (HKG)

Team Men

1     CHINA         
2     GERMANY         
3     KOREA REPUBLIC          
4     JAPAN   
5     HONG KONG

Team Women 

1     CHINA
2     JAPAN
3     SINGAPORE
4     KOREA REPUBLIC
5     HONG KONG
6     GERMANY

Training to the summit: Ma Lin and Wang Hao climb 100 floors

Climb photo courtesy tabletennista.com and nddaily.com

Many people feel that the Chinese Table Tennis players are dominant and do not understand the hardships they go through. Most of the present day stars including Ma Lin, Wang Liqin, Wang Hao, Zhang Jike, Ma Long and others are already millionaires, but they do not hesitate to put in more and more hard work to reach their goals.

A recent example is the winter training that Liu Guoliang put them through. At Shenzen, Guoliang made Wang Hao and Ma Lin climb one of the tallest buildings - the 100 floor 442 metre high Kingkey tower.

Both the players could not complete the climb in their first attempt, but fiesty as they are, they did it on subsequent attempts and even wore a relaxed smile as they took in the beautiful landscape of Shenzen from the very top.

India placed in the Second Division of the World Team Championships

The Indian team consisting of A Sharath Kamal, Soumyadeep Roy, Subhajit Saha, A Amalraj, and Sourav Chakraborty, has been placed in the second division of the World Team Table Tennis Championships to be held at Moscow, Russia from 23-30 May.

Among the ladies, India will be represented by Mouma Das, Poulomi Ghatak, K Shamini, Madhurika Patkar, and Divya Deshpande.

China, Korea Republic, and Germany top the seedings list in the men's section while China, Singapore, and Korea Republic head the women's list.

Meanwhile, China has two new faces in its squad - Zhang Jike and Xu Xin, who have done exceptionally well in the last couple of years and also proved their merit by qualifying from the very tough selection process. Interestingly, Ma Lin does not find a place in the squad.