Celebrity Table Tennis

Photo by John Schneide. Tennis legend wields the Table Tennis racket with flair.

Name: Andre Agassi

Wikipedia: At age 13, Andre was sent to Nick Bolletteri's Tennis Academy in Florida. He was meant to stay for only 3 months because that was all his father could afford. After ten minutes of watching Agassi play, Bollettieri called Mike and said: "Take your check back. He's here for free," claiming that Agassi had more natural talent than anyone else he had seen.

Sport: Lawn Tennis

Achievements: 8 Grand Slams, 1 Olympic Gold. Only one of two players to achieve a career Golden slam (tied with Nadal)

English Open ITTF Pro Tour starts tomorrow

The Pro tour tournament at Sheffield starts tomorrow. Five of the top Ten players in the World are participating.

Here's a list of the top players:

Sl No. Name     Country  Sex   Rank

1	WANG Hao   CHN	M	3
2	ZHANG Jike   CHN	M	4
3	MA Lin   CHN	M	5
4	WANG Liqin   CHN	M	7
5	XU Xin   CHN	M	9
6	OH Sang Eun   KOR	M	13
7	CHEN Qi   CHN	M	14
8	RYU Seung Min   KOR	M	16
9	GAO Ning   SIN	M	24
10	CHEN Weixing   AUT	M	25

Jun Mizutani wins fifth national title, breaks record

The prodigiously talented Jun Mizutani has broken the Japanese national title record by winning the country's highest Table Tennis title for the 5th time. By doing this, he broke the record held by Fujii Norikazu and Saito Kiyoshi who won the titles in 1946-49 and 1982-85 respectively.

21 year old Jun is currently ranked 7th in the world, the highest he has reached in his young career.

Alexandre Cassin - another prodigy makes his mark

 Does his possess talent? Oodles of it!

Alexandre is just 12 years old and he won the U-15 section at the Hungarian open Table Tennis Championship. He is from CAM, Bordeaux (France).

See him in action. Unbelievable play for a 12 year old.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66aHGGlxVCU

The kid already has a string of titles on his name. Watch out for more of him in the future!

Xu Xin bags Slovenian Pro Tour title

Xu Xin is all concentration while serving

Xu Xin of China beat countryman and the more famous Ma Lin to win Championship at Slovenia. Xu won 4-2. Ealier Ma Lin had beaten World Champ and top seed, Wang Hao in the semi-finals. Ma Lin blamed his new rubber for his loss in the finals. Xu won his semi-final match with another Chinese talent and second seed Zhang Jike.

Tennis Pro has a go at Table Tennis

Photo courtesy AP (Associated Press)

Rafael Nadal seems to be weilding the Table Tennis racket with the same flair that he does for Lawn Tennis

Sharath, Shamini are the Champions

 A Sharath Kamal and Kumaresan Shamini won the Singles titles at the 72nd Nationals.

While Sharath had to toil from the brink of defeat, Shamini won more comfortably. World No. 40 Sharath was down 3-2 and down 9-7 in the 5th game when Soumyadeep Roy (ranked 245) gave away 4 points playing erratically. Sharath played solidly in the decider to seal the deal.

This was Sharath's 5th straight National title, which is a record. On the other hand, the cool and calm Shamini won her 2nd title.

Sharath, Soumyadeep in Semis

Favourites Sharath Kamal and Soumyadeep Roy reached the semi finals of the 72 nd National and Inter State Table Tennis Championships at Kolkata. Sharath beat giant killer, Anirban Nandi 4-0 in the quarterfinals. Sharath now meets state-mate R Abishek in the semi-finals.

Soumyadeep plays young Soumyajit Ghosh in the other semi-finals.

In the women's section, it is Nandita Saha vs Mamta Prabhu and K Shamini vs Madhurika Patkar. The top seed Mouma Das was shocked by Nandita in the quarter finals. The player to watch here is Madhurika, who seems to be in sharp form.

Sharath advances to the Round of 32

A Sharath Kamal of PSPB beat Tanmay Dutta of Mah B to reach the second round of the main draw at the Senior National Table Tennis Championships at Kolkata. Sharath earned a fairly easy 4-0 win.

72nd Senior Nationals and Inter State Table Tennis Championships

The Nationals are on at Kolkata after a long gap. One of the clear memories is of the State's own Arup Basak winning the crown.

Currently, the Team events are being played.