Sharath Kamal, Indian Table Tennis International player in action

Sharath Kamal - Photo by Prasad Naik

Dubai will sponsor China Table Tennis Team

In it's quest to develop relations with the fast growing China, Dubai has announced that it will sponsor the Chinese National Table Tennis team. It hopes that this will bring Dubai and China closer and will allow both parties to explore opportunities. Mattar Al Tayer, Vice Chairman of Dubai Sports Council met Chinese Table Tennis officials in Beijing and finalized the deal.

The Chinese star players will wear clothing with Dubai's name on it. Considering the fact that millions of people watch major Table Tennis matches in China and around the world, the move seems to be a very smart one. Table Tennis also features prominently on various prime time slots around the world. Table Tennis, also called Ping Pong is a major sport in China and has a huge fan following.


Currently, the top 4 ranked players in the World are all Chinese. When Dubai hosted a Pro Tour Table Tennis event in 2011, several of the top Chinese players, such as Ma Long, Ma Lin, Wang Hao, Wang Liqin participated. The same was the case at the World Team Table Tennis Cup in 2011.

Cai Zhenhua, Deputy Minister of the General Administration of Sports, China, met with Dubai’s delegates at the State’s General Administration of Sports and expressed hope that the agreement between the Chinese Table Tennis Association and the Government of Dubai will strengthen relations between the two parties.

John Ferguson, Chairman of Falcon and Associates, who facilitated the meeting reportedly said that Dubai's support of Table Tennis, a very important cultural factor, will go a long way in improving business and cultural ties. It is fascinating to note that in 2011, hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists visited Dubai. Also, Dubai has a significant population of people with Chinese origin. China is Dubai's 2nd largest trading partner.

Sougata Sarkar, Table Tennis Player from India

Sougata serving.

Sougata Sarkar's greatest claim to fame is his great fight against Sharath Kamal who was at that time ranked in the top 50 in the world's Table Tennis elite. Sougata was leading 7-5 in the deciding game, but nerves cost him dear and he lost the match.

The tournament was the 40th Inter Institutional Table Tennis tournament at Ajmer.

Maxim Shmyrev beats Sule Olaleye to win Barry Hearn World Championship of Ping Pong

Maxim Shmyrev finished well ahead of many professional Table Tennis players to win the World Championship of Ping Pong tournament recently held at Alexandra Palace. He won $ 20,000 out of a total purse of $100,000.

The tournament is a bit different from the traditional Table Tennis tournaments in that a sand paper bat is used to play instead of sponge laden bats!

The event was extensively covered by Fox Sports in the USA and by Sky Sports in the UK. 

Werrington Leisure Centre starts Table Tennis Club

A social and friendly Table Tennis club has been started at the Werrigton Leisure Centre where you can make friends and play as competitively as you wish. The advantage of this club is that you can find players most times. A nominal fee needs to be paid to play for an hour or two. No prior booking is required.

Send email to editor@tabletennisbug.com for more information.

Table Tennis Table required for new Poppleford Devon club

Table Tennis enthusiasts at Newton Poppleford in Devon, UK are looking for a table to start a new club. You may either contribute with a donation or arrange for a used table, which they are willing to buy at a reduced price. 

Contact David Zirker or Stever Filer (01395567756)

Source Herald.

Soumyajit Ghosh and K Shamini win National Table Tennis titles

In the National Championships held at Raipur, Soumyajit and Shamini respectively beat Sharath Kamal and Poulomi Ghatak respectively to win the National Championship.

Soumyajit beat Sharath Kamal 4 - 2 (-3,5,-5,8,6,7), while Shamini upset a slightly off-colour Poloumi Ghatak 4 - 3 (-9, 10, 10, -9, -6, 8, 3).

Sathiyan and Sourav Chakraborty were crowned the Men's doubles champions, while the young pair of K Spoorthy and Nikhat Banu won the Women's doubles. The Mixed doubles title was surprisingly claimed by Utkarsh Gupta and Manika Batra, both Juniors.

Editor

Nikhat Banu and Karnam Spoorthy win Women's Sourav Chakraborty and Sathiyan win men's doubles

Congratulations to Nikhat Banu, Karnam Spoorthy Karnam for Women's Doubles National Table Tennis title and Sourav Chakraborty and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran for Men's doubles National crown!

Editor

USA Ping Pong and Table Tennis Tournaments this weekend

LYTTC January Open (Lily Yip Table Tennis Club)   
Dunellen  
NJ  
1/12/2013 - 1/13/2013

Butterfly East Gate Open Series   
Roanoke  
VA  
1/12/2013

4th Butterfly Cape Fear Open   
Fayetteville  
NC  
1/12/2013

2013 Austin Winter Open Table Tennis Tournament   
Austin  
TX  
1/12/2013

Robopong January 2013 Broward TTC Open   
Dania Beach  
FL    1/12/2013 - 1/13/2013

Maryland Circuit   
Eldersburg  
MD  
1/12/2013

Delhi wins National Women's Team Table Tennis title

Delhi girls win!

Delhi girls bagged the prestigious Jayalakshmi cup at the National Table Tennis Championships being played at Raipur. They upset favourites, PSPB 3-1 to win the title.

Manika Batra played brilliantly to beat both Olympian, Ankita Das and Pooja S, while Neha Agarwal continued her superb form with a win over Ankita.


PSPB (Petroleum Sports Promotion Board easily won the Men's title 3-0.


Results:
Delhi bt PSPB 3-1 (Manika Batra bt Pooja Sahasrabudhe 4-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-9; Neha Aggarwal bt Ankita Das 11-13, 12-10, 11-5, 11-9; Riti Shankar lost to K. Shamini 6-11, 6-11, 11-13; Manika Batra bt Ankita Das 15-13, 11-8, 11-2