First Karnataka State Ranking Table Tennis tournament at NIE, Mysore

1st Karnataka State Ranking Table Tennis at Mysore from May 30 to June 2, 2013 at NIE Diamond Jubilee Indoor Sports Complex, Manandavadi Road, Mysore.

Are you ready for the competition?

Editor

India beats record Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships medal count

India on the verge of a record Medal haul at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships!

They will cross the seven medal tally that they managed at Glasgow in 2009.

Editor

India plays Singapore in the finals of the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships 2013 today

India plays Singapore in the Final match in a couple of hours time. Please convey your wishes to the team members!!! Soumyajit Ghosh, Sharath Kamal, Anthony Amalraj, Sanil Shetty and Harmeet Desai.

Singapore are the favourites with high world ranked players. Can India snatch a Gold?

Indian Men reach finals of the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships

Great news for Indian Table Tennis!

India reached the finals after winning against England in a close encounter in the semi finals of the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships at Delhi 3-2. The Indian women, however, were unlucky against England and lost 2-3.

Soumyajit Ghosh, already taking on huge International responsibilities and delivering!

Soumyajit was the hero of the day for India at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships at Delhi. He beat experienced Andrew Baggaley and Sam Walker to give India two wins. India made it to the finals, where they play a strong Singapore team.

Soumyajit plays fearlessly and one hopes he does the same against the mighty Singapore team. He had beaten very high ranked players and helped India win a medal at the World Junior Championships in the recent years.

Indian Women advance to semi final stage at Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships

Neha Agarwal and Mouma Das played some outstanding Table Tennis for India in the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships at New Delhi. Neha beat Yihan Zhou, ranked 91, while Mouma Das gave a tremendous fight to World No. 4 and Star player of Singapore, Feng Tianwei (losing in the deciding game). India however, managed to beat the other teams, Scotland and Wales to advance to the semi finals where they meet England.

With the kind of form they have shown in the 1st and 2nd stage league matches, they have a realistic chance of making it to the finals.

Mikael Appelgren to star at the Bremen European Veterans Table Tennis Championships

Record number of participants in the European Veterans Table Tennis Championships breaking the old record with 2834 participants.

The matches will be fought from May 27th to June 1st at ÖVB Arena, Bremen, Germany.

Famous names are the following:
Germany’s formal national team players Olga NEMES, Jing Tian-Zörner, Edit WETZEL and Jutta TRAPP, the multiple medallist at World Championships in the 1940s and 1950s, Eliska KREJKOVA form Czech Republic, as well as the 1989 World Doubles Champion, Steffen FETZNER, the six-times German Singles Champions Georg BÖHM, Sweden’s four-times World Champion Mikael APPELGREN and the bronze medallist at World Championships in Doubles, Dmitrij MAZUNOV from Russia.

Alexandre Cassin shines at French National Table Tennis Championships

Alexandre Cassin created history in this year's French National Table Tennis championship by becoming the youngest player to play the advanced rounds of the Men's Singles competition.
Cassin is just 14 years old and the European Cadet Champion.

He even upset Robinot, a world class player. Incidentally, Robinot had defeated Ma Lin a couple of years back as a junior in the 2011 Swedish Open Table Tennis tournament. 

Alexandre's video profile:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_J-zpHfPew

Video of Robinot's win over Ma Lin in 2011 at the Swedish Open
www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1AyQhVZ8tI 

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Morning Table Tennis

Good morning Table Tennis in a public park, some cooler weather.

Player portrait: Jessica Dawson

Jessica Dawson is known for her tenacious attacking play in the British Table Tennis circuit.
After doing stupendously well for Ormesby, she has moved to Draycott.

Photo courtesy tabletennis365.com

Table Tennis tournaments this week

2013 Indiana State Championship (closed)     Indianapolis    IN    4/20/2013 - 4/21/2013

PingTTC Open Tournament April 2013     Wappingers Falls    NY    4/20/2013

Vernon Hills Spring Open 1 Star     Vernon Hills    IL    4/20/2013

6th Butterfly Cape Fear Open     Fayetteville    NC    4/20/2013

OKCTT Spring 1 Star Giant RR Open     Oklahoma City    OK    4/20/2013

Grace Lin TTC Open     South El Monte    CA    4/20/2013 - 4/21/2013

Space Coast Spring Open TTC     Cocoa Beach    FL    4/20/2013

North American Cup     Pleasantville    NY    4/20/2013 - 4/21/2013

Potomac 2013 Spring Open     Potomac    MD    4/20/2013 - 4/21/2013

2013 Pennsylvania State Championships     Philadelphia    PA    4/20/2013 - 4/21/2013

GHTTC April 2013 Open     Hartford    CT    4/21/2013

Veterans National Table Tennis tournament underway at Srinagar

The Indian Veterans Nationals Table Tennis tournament has started at Srinagar. Team events are currently on. Most singles events will start tomorrow.

If any of you have more information, please come forward and submit it to editor@tabletennisbug.com

Photo: Inauguration of the tournament.

Editor

Sharath, Shamini to represent India at the Asian Cup Table Tennis championships

Sharath and Shamini are representing India at the Asian Cup Table Tennis Championships 2013 at Hong Kong. The tournament started today and there are early reports that K Shamini won her first group match.

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

Table Tennis Coaching Camp at Panjim

The annual Table Tennis coaching camp will be held from 8 to 27 April 2013 in Panjim, Goa. 
 
Panjim Table Tennis Club in association with Sports Authority of Goa will be organizing a Summer Table Tennis Coaching Camp at Indoor Stadium, Campal-Panaji.

The Camp will be conducted from 8 AM to 11.30 AM, in separate batches for beginners, intermediate and advanced players in the age groups of 7 years and above. Those who are interested may contact Sandeep Heble/ Noel Estibeiro. Write to us for more details at editor@TableTennisBug.com

Editor

Maharashtra State Ranking Table Tennis tournament Calendar for 2013

Here's the tentative calendar for the 2013 Table Tennis State Ranking tournaments in Maharashtra:

1st at Nanded 15-18 June
2nd at Kolhapur 2 to 7 July This tournament has been moved to Thane from July 31 to Aug 4
3rd at Nasik 7 to 11 Aug
4th at Dombivli 28 Aug to 1 Sep
5th at Khar Gymkhana, Mumbai 5 to 9 Oct
State Championships at Dhule 12 to 17 Nov

The Deccan Challenge Table Tennis tournament

Sportsacorp is organizing an inter-corporate Table Tennis tournament at AWA Table Tennis Academy on 6th and 7th April 2013.

Singles, doubles and team events will be held.

Stag Heritage Open Table Tennis tournament

The Stag Heritage Open Table Tennis tournament will be held from 19th April to 21st April 2013 at the The Heritage School Gurgaon Sec. 62

For entries contact the following:

Kunal Kumar: 9560987900

Nitin Garg: 9212305455

Pippa Middleton responds to Boris Johson Table Tennis challenge

Pippa Middleton challenged Mayor Boris Johnson to a game of what he calls "whiff-waff" (a traditional name for Table Tennis in Britain).

One of Johnson's intentions is to show Pippa the 22 million pound Sports Legacy Fund and its activities. Pippa has been an under 13 champion in Table Tennis.

Los Angeles Table Tennis league

The LATTF league spring matches is underway and will run from March to June 2013.

Please write to editor@tabletennisbug.com if you are looking for details.

Editor

Early starts at Ping Pong in China

Ma Long's first Table Tennis encounter? Is this how early they start Ping Pong in China?
 
Not so far from the truth perhaps! It's never too early to start Table Tennis in China.

Donic Bluefire M2, a Table Tennis rubber with great spin and speed

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A great Table Tennis practice session

Feels good after completing a strenuous workout!

Pennsylvania State Table Tennis Championship April 20 to 21

After 19 long years, the Pennsylvania State Table Tennis tournament makes its comeback. The venue will be the Trolley Car Table Tennis club in East Falls. USATT has sanctioned the event.

The tournament boasts of 16 different competitions that include five state championship categories. It is open to all state residents. Philadelphia will attract hundreds of participants for the tournament.

Bruce Crawley will be the tournament director.

Asia wins 7-3 against European Table Tennis stars at Qingdao

Even though the biggest star in the event World and Olympic Champ Zhang Jike was beaten by Vladimir Samsonov on the first day and Asia trailed 2-3, the Asians came back strongly to win all 5 matches on the next day to clinch the tie 7-3. Zhang Jike showed his true class against Ovtcharov and posted a 3-0 victory.

Brazil are favorites at the Latin American Table Tennis Championships at San Salvador

Brazil tops the seedings list in both the men's and women's team events at the Latin American championships.

In the Men's section, their team boasts of the famous trio of Thiago Monteiro, Cazuo Matsumoto, and Gustavo Tsuboi. Argentina represented by Rodrigo Gilabert, Diego Temperley, Pablo Tabachnik, and Gaston Alto, who finished runner up last time, will aim at upsetting the more established Brazlians.

In the Women's events, Caroline Kumahara, Ligia Silva, and Jessica Yamada will work at retaining the title.

San Ei will be the official Table Tennis table provider for the Rio Olympic games

The ITTF has confirmed that San Ei, one of the leading Table Tennis table manufacturer, will be the official Table provider at the Rio de Janerio Olympic and Paralympic games of 2016.

ITTF President Adham Sharara stated that San Ei's bid was the most competitive and hence it was selected.

San Ei is a leading Table Tennis table manufacturer having started business in 1962. It provides equipment and services in the field of Sporting Goods, Play Equipments and Park Furniture, Fitness Equipments and Maintenance service for all these Equipments. The company has supported Table Tennis in the World Table Tennis Championships and Olympic Games several times.

Oxfordshire Older Chinese People Center to get Batty!

Photo courtesy oxfordmail.co.uk

Senior members of the Oxfordshire Community Foundation (OCF) will play Table Tennis to keep fit in the winter and also make new friends. OCF is making special efforts to obtain Table Tennis sets.

Ping tournaments in the US this week

Tournaments this Week in the US

2013 Cary Cup Championship     Cary    NC    3/15/2013 - 3/17/2013
Robo-Pong Giant RR Open     Akron    OH    3/16/2013
St. Patrick's Day Open     Schaumburg    IL    3/16/2013
7th Annual Bill Mason Memorial Open     Beaverton    OR    3/16/2013

Chinese team to practice at Werner Schlager Academy!

Ironical, but great news for the sport. The Chinese team will train at Werner Schlager academy for the upcoming Table Tennis World Championships!

It was Schlager who put paid to Chinese title hopes at the 2003 World Championships and won the title.

Chaitanya Udare takes a game off Sharath Kamal

Chaitanya Udare, a young talented Table Tennis player putting up a decent fight against Indian International, Sharath Kamal. Sharath won 4-1. The match was played at Bengaluru in the 2012 and was a South Zone Table Tennis National level tournament.

Watch the video here.


Chaitanya is a Maharashtra A player and has represented Maharashtra at the National level several times in the Senior and Junior level. He has also represented India during his sub junior playing days.

Chaitanya plays near the table and matches Sharath's speed in some rallies.

Annual General Meeting of TTFI

The AGM of Table Tennis Federation of India will be held at The Piccadily, Lucknow on 17th March 2013.

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.

Table Tennis deadly service

Deadly Table Tennis action.

Always try hard.

Editor

Kunal Chodri, talented young Table Tennis player from ICC, Milpitas, CA

Kunal Chodri is an extremely talented youngster, who trains at the ICC center, Milpitas, CA. He is one of the top players in his age group in the USA.

Editor

World Team Classic at Guangzhou in March

The World Team Classic will be held at Guangzhou, China from 28th to 31st March. The hosts are of course, the favorites.

Leonardo Mutti on ITTF site

Leonardo Mutti has been profiled on the ITTF site (World Top Table Tennis body). Soumyajit Ghosh of India beat Mutti in straight games at the Qatar Open World Tour Table Tennis tournament at Doha recently.

Editor

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

Soumyadeep Roy plays World No. 1 Xu Xin at Kuwait Open World Tour Table Tennis tournament

Soumyadeep Roy is in good form at the World Tour Table Tennis tournaments at Kuwait and Qatar. He played well in the qualifiers and Pre-rounds, reached the main draw, eventually losing to World No. 1 Xu Xin. Sharath reached the 2nd round where he lost to Bastian Steger of Germany. Reigning National Champion, Soumyajit Ghosh did extremely well in the qualifiers, but could not maintain form in the Pre rounds.

Indian teams for Kuwait and Qatar World Tour Table Tennis tournaments

Shamini and Soumyajit. Photo by thehindu.com

A 13 member squad will embark on a tour to the Kuwait and Qatar World Tour Table Tennis tournaments. Of these, Poulomi will not play at Kuwait. The two tournaments are of premium level on the World Table Tennis stage. This can be gauged by the fact that several of the top 10 players in the World are participating and some former Pro Tour winners have to actually play qualifying rounds!

Indian players and their world rankings.


1     GHOSH Soumyajit   175    
2     ACHANTA Sharath Kamal   71
3     AGGARWAL Neha  
4     DAS Ankita     242
5     ROY Soumyadeep 338
6     SHETTY Sanil  360
7     KUMARESAN Shamini 245
8     SAHASRABUDHE Pooja 528    
9     DESAI Harmeet   IND 282
10     KUMAR Jubin   IND 493    
11     GHATAK Poulomi 196
12     PATKAR Madhurika
13     PAUL Mousumi 434

2013 US Table Tennis team trials

Lily Zhang and Timothy Wang finished No. 1 in the Men's and Women's section of the US Team Table Tennis trials at San Jose, California. While Lily won all her matches, Timothy lost just one. The top five in each category qualify for the World Table Tennis Championships 2013 to be held at Paris.




Women's Final Placement

1. Zhang, Lily (ICC) 11-0
2. Wu, Erica S. (Gao Jun TTC) 10-1
3. Hsing, Ariel (iTable Tennis) 9-2
4. Jha, Prachi (WCTTA) 8-3 
5. Lin, Tina (Lily Yip TTC) 6-5 
6. Guan, Angela (ICC) 6-5 
7. Jiang, Diane (iTable Tennis) 3-8 
8. Li, Joy (XTTS) 3-8
9. Ma, Lucy (Seattle Pacific TTC) 3-8 
10. Chu, Isabel (WCTTA) 3-8
11. Leitman, Marina (TopSpin) 3-8
12. Malek, Amanda (Power Pong) 1-10 

Men's Final Placement

1. Wang, Timothy (ICC) 10-1 
2. Zhang, Yahao (TWUTTC) 9-2
3. Nguyen, Khoa Dinh (TopSpin) 9-2
4. Li, Peter (iTable Tennis) 7-4
5. Butler, Jim (Houston TTC) 7-4
6. Hazinski, Mark (TWUTTC) 6-5 
7. Dubina, Samson David (Strongsville TT) 5-6
8. Jha, Kanak (WCTTA) 3-8 
9. Chodri, Kunal (WCTTA) 3-8 
10. Cretu, Razvan (TWUTTC) 3-8

Zhuang Zedong of Ping Pong diplomacy fame, dies

Zhuang Zedong, one of the heroes of the famous "Ping Pong diplomacy" between the United States and China, died on Sunday. He was 72. Zedong was battling against Cancer for almost five years.

Zedong took the first step towards the eventual Ping Pong diplomacy situation one day at the Nagoya World Table Tennis Championships in 1971 by offering a gift to Glenn Cowan of the USA, who had missed the official bus. The gesture was photographed, and eventually led to President Nixon's visit to China. Before this, the American team was invited to China for a Ping Pong match. All this helped thaw relationship between China and US during the cold war period.

Zedong was married to a Japanese woman in the late 1980s.

Top ranked Ping Pong players in New York

Damien Provost: Photo - www.leprogres.fr

The strongest Table Tennis players in New York are the following:

Top 10 Open

Provost, Damien     2670
Liu, Juan         2641
Wang, Chen         2624
Majekodunmi, Yinka     2611
Gao, YanJun         2578
Landers, Michael     2567
Lee, Sang Mook         2556
Wang, Max Qinmin     2556
Manousoff, Stefan John     2552
Oyebode, Michael     2552

Massimo Constantini likely to come back as head coach of Indian Table Tennis team

Constantini, an ex-Italian International player, is a leading candidate to become the head coach of the Indian Table Tennis contingent. Incidentally, he coached the Indian team for about a year and a half until late 2010, when he moved to train students of Rajul Sheth's ICC at Milpitas California.

India's latest coach, Leszek Kucharski was discontinued, due to issues as per rumors.

The Secretary General of TTFI, the national body, informed media that he has sought Sharath Kamal's opinion and also informed Sports Authority of India.

Constantini's salary will be approximately $ 6000 per month. His earlier stints were with the Italian Men's team and also players in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Table Tennis player profile Zubin Taraporewala, National level player

Name: Zubin Taraporewalla

Date of Birth: 25/09/1991

Club: Pro TT Academy

Coaches/Trainers: Mahendra Chiplunkar, Raju Sawant

TT Idol: None. Just good points from every player

Ambition: To be in the top 10 of India

Achievements:
Bronze medal in State Ranking Winner in Men's singles (2010), Selected for Maharashtra to represent State in Nationals, All India Inter-University Bronze medal, and many others.

Best win (over a player):
Defeated Anirban Roy Chowdhary this year in Inter Institutionals and played 1st Mens Main draw 2nd round at the National level.

Best performance in a tournament: Won State Men's title at Nagpur in 2010 and Youth finalist.

Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships

The 74th edition of the Junior and Youth Nationals kick off in Indore, Madhya Pradesh today at the Abhay Prashal Indoor stadium. 30 States are participating in the season ending tournament. The tournament marks the end of the Indian Table Tennis season.

Apart from the star events, that is, singles events in four age groups, there will be heavy competition in the team events. The winners stand to gain valuable points and also attractive cash prizes.

Star youth players, Soumyajit Ghosh and Harmeet Desai will not be participating as they are in a Swedish training camp.

The defending champions are Abhishek Yadav and Reeth Rishya in the Junior boys and girls events, while Ankita Das and Soumyajit Ghosh won the Youth titles last year.

Hingham High School Ping Pong tournament

Hingham High School, in association with SADD, Student Council and TPO, conducted their first Table Tennis tournament. The tournament was held in the school cafeteria and was a great success. The winners were given prizes and the participants included both, the students and the staff.

Parents of the students donated Ping Pong tables and students drove the tables to and back from school.

Arsenal Table Tennis?

Yes, they sponsor Table Tennis for interested players. The Arsenal club usually takes responsibility for groups/organizations.

Fang Bo upsets all to win Austrian Open World Tour Table Tennis title

Photo: Fang Bo courtesy of the ITTF

Fang Bo threw the World rankings into the bin and beat much more famous names to wrest the Austrian Open Table Tennis title at Wels, Austria.

In the finals, he beat Hao Shuai 11-8, 9-11, 2-11, 11-6, 11-8, and 11-8.

Fang made his intentions clear when he won the first set and made a good start in the contest, eventually winning it 11-8. The highlight of this game was Fang Bo's return of service - backhand open with topspin even from the right hand corner. Hao Shuai retaliated by winning the second 11-9, thus tying the match at 1-1. Shuai seemed to nail home the point that he is the more experienced by hammering the youngster 11-2. However, the determined Fang Bo, who has created waves in the last 2-3 years, did not give up, he won the next set 11-6 and tied the match 2-2, thus promising exciting fare in the games to come.

Shuai battled and tried to make a mark in the fifth game, but by now Fang Bo had not only overcome nerves in such an important final as the World Tour Table Tennis tournament, but he also found a consistent rhythm. Fang won it 11-8. Just when it appeared that Hao Shuai will make a mighty attempt to tie the match at 3-3, Fang played with maturity to end the match at 4-2 and not let it slip into a decider, where experience would have been a factor.

Incidentally, Hao Shuai, who is one of the main players in the second rung Chinese line-up, beat giant killer Taku Takakiwa effortlessly, 4-0. Takakiwa had beaten World and Olympic Champion Zhang Jike in the previous round.

Fang Bo had beaten seasoned Chuang Chih-Yuan in five sets for a facile victory in the semi-finals   12-10,11-6,11-13,11-3,11-5. Fang lost just one set, that too in a deuce game against the top 10 ranked Chuang.

Zhang Jike beaten by Taku Takakiwa at the Austrian World Tour Table Tennis tournament

The World and Olympic Champion, Zhang Jike of China was sensationally beaten by the much lesser known Taku Takakiwa in the Quarterfinals at the Austrian Open at Wels. Takakiwa won 10-12, 11-9, 6-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-7, 13-11.

Zhang Jike seemed to be complacent even in the later stages of this match. You may recall that he already faced serious problems against Takakiwa's team-mate, Kenta Matsudaira, where it took him a decider to win. No doubt that Takakiwa took some useful notes from that match.

Watch the video of Zhang Jike vs Taku Takakiwa by TableTennisEvents here:


The Japanese player is a regular on the World Tour circut, but had nothing better than a semi-final showing in earlier World Tour or Pro Tour Table Tennis events. He employed a mix of unconventional blocks, loops, and aggression to win and reach the semi-finals, where he takes on another Chinese, Hao Shuai. Shuai has done very well this season internationally and also in the Chinese Table Tennis league. In the other semi-final, second seed Chuang Chih-Yuan plays Chinese young talent Fang Bo, who has been given an opportunity to prove his mettle on the international circuit.

Editor