Monday, January 16, 2012

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Winners of the Junior and Youth National Championships 2012 at Siliguri

Winners of this year's Youth and Junior National titles:
Junior girls: Reeth Rishya
Junior boys: Abhishek Yadav
Youth girls: Ankita Das
Youth boys: Soumyajit Ghosh

Please note that the photos are from the previous year. Incidentally three out of the four retained their crowns.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Table Tennis Player of the Year 2011 (India) Anthony Amalraj

A Amalraj stands clear as the player of the year 2011 in Indian Table Tennis.

After a quarter final loss in the first zonals, he swept almost everything at stake, even beating the formidable Sharath Kamal at the Inter Institutionals. He beat his closest rivals with ease and lost very few games while doing so.

His profile on his agency's Web site:
www.ttproagency.com

- Style of Playing: Right Handed, All Round Style of Playing

- Hobbies: Movies, Music

- Favorite Music Band: World Music

- Favorite Food: Chicken Briyani

- Favorite City/Country: USA

TABLE TENNIS EQUIPMENT:

- Blade: TIBHAR H39

- Forehand Rubber: BUTTERFLY Tenergy 05 2.1

- Backhand Rubber: BUTTERFLY Tenergy 64 2.1

BEST RESULTS:

- Commonwealth Games Bronze Medal

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

NBA star Blake Griffin Ping Pong Professional try out

The 6'10" Clippers star, Blake Griffin could not make great progress at Table Tennis when he was on his extended break.

Watch him take on a model in heels and get thrashed. His huge height, quick feet, and reach didn't help much.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/972878-blake-griffin-ping-pong-video-watch-clippers-star-show-how-bad-he-needs-hoops

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Bobby Fischer, the ultimate enigmatic Chess genius excelled at Table Tennis


Fischer played table tennis the way he played chess: fiercely, ferociously, going for his opponent's jugular. He was a killer, a remorseless, conscienceless, ice-blooded castrator...' wrote Marty 'The Needle' Reisman in his autobiography The Money Player - The Confessions of America's Greatest Table Tennis Champion and Hustler.

From kenilworthchessclub.org:

Both chess and table tennis are played within the confines of a physical space that you can grasp completely within your field of vision.  There is nothing hidden in either game.  Yet, paradoxically, in order to play both successfully you need to grasp the image of the board or the table in your mind so that you actually have a feel for where the corners are.  In chess we call this "board vision," and table tennis definitely has its "table vision."

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Awesome Table Tennis facility in a salt mine


The Turda Salt Mine has amazing recreation facilities including Table Tennis under beautiful lights! One can spend a day having fun and still not cover them all!

Turda is near the town of Cluj. The entertainment facilities include a ferris wheel, a collection of children’s playground toys, a mini-golf course, a set of bowling lanes, several pool tables, a number of ping pong tables, and a small amphitheater, and so on.
So, is this some kind of a large scale recycling?

Editor

Monday, December 26, 2011

Jan Ove Waldner and Mikael Appelgren have fun in SPiN New York

Table Tennis legends Waldner and Appelgren had some fun when they visited SPiN New York.

Seen in this video is Waldner playing David Fernandez, who is ranked in the US top 100.

Appelgren is seen sitting with Susan Sarandon, the famous hollywood actress. Susan is the co-owner of the club. SPiN New York is a 13000 square foot table tennis social club on Park Avenue in Manhattan's Flatiron District


Sunday, December 25, 2011

Rajahmundry Zonal Table Tennis, one of the best held

By Vikramadithya Shivaram
Most people who attended the recently conducted South Zone in Rajahamundry, Andhra Pradesh would call it the best zonal ever. Apart from the usual events, participants were treated like royalty. The APTTA (Andhra Pradesh Table Tennis Association) spared no expense in making life comfortable for the players over the 5 day course of the tournament. Conducted at the Cherukuri gardens, this was the first national event to be conducted at Rajahmundry.
The matches were conducted in two air conditioned halls accomodating 6 tables each. A number of school and college students were enthralled by rally after rally. Each match left them wanting more. All meals were free and this was not your regular 2 course meal. It consisted of a gigantic buffet! Everyone was certainly fed up at the end of this zone. To and fro transportation was organised for the players at no cost, and yes accomodation for everyone was free as well and many players would regard their stay as more than comfortable.
Music Programmes went on through the night and these were telecasted all over India. Another notable thing about this tournament would be the availability of free wi-fi connectivity.
One can definitely say that this south zone was like no other. Hats off to all the organisers and the APTTA for making it so special.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Sharath in Henzell's road to the Olympic video series

William Henzell features in a series of videos that he is preparing on his preparation for the London Olympics 2012. In this particular episode, he talks about his competition in Austria and his performance in the Swedish Pro Tour and others.

Henzell is in very good physical condition since he's been focusing heavily on Table Tennis in the Schlager Table Tennis Academy in Vienna Austria. Unfortunately, he was beaten quite easily by India's Sharath Kamal. You can see the short clip mid way in the video.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fUsw9FQn_o

But still, Henzell beat some very good players and qualified to the main draw, which is quite an achievement. Incidentally, Sharath lost to Ma Long, who was in top form in that tournament.