Videos of Table Tennis England Grand Prix Finals

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A friend of mine has recorded a number of Grand Prix finals here in UK and asked to upload to my channel. I though people might be interested what is the level of TT in UK immediatedly below the top internationals like Pitchford and Drinkhall. Hope you like them.

Playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTlOzSp18ZefatoCPXa9Qa-8WPzorajkP

Jiawang Song vs Tianyuan Liu - Bath Grand Prix Final 2019:

Jiawang Song vs Darius Knight - Cardiff Grand Prix Final 2018

Jiawang Song vs Tian Yuan Lui - Preston Grand Prix Final 2018

David McBeath vs Jiawang Song - K2 Crawley Grand Prix Final 2018

Chris Doran vs Darius Knight - Jersey Grand Prix Final 2018
 
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Jiawong Song is a beast, and he is a lowly Chinese provincial player, if even...

Doran's touch and feel is amazing. I don't know why he doesn't get more chance internationally.

Jiawang Song is very strong. Saw him play live at Crawley GP vs David McBeath. He really does not believe in slow loops :) And the serves...
 
says Aging is a killer
But not unbeatable

Jiawang Song is very strong. Saw him play live at Crawley GP vs David McBeath. He really does not believe in slow loops :) And the serves...

Rather than employing the usual wham-bang-pow style, a clever player using a crafty technique can get results.

 
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Did not know that Danius knigth still played anymoe. Have he developed anything? Feels like he was this good years before.

It is fun to watch doran play. Refreshing that it is not only powerlooping lika many others. He seems to vary the pace and placement good. But i can imagine that he need to play that way. He seems huge! Must be difficult to loop alot since he have so much to move and May have trouble standing correct. But he has a guge wingspan But must have a hard time in the pocket being so huge.
 
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Rather than employing the usual wham-bang-pow style, a clever player using a crafty technique can get results.


100% agree. Watching that video a month ago, I admit to thinking Doran will lose the match after the first game. But he adapted and went on to win. Amazing player, especially the way he reads the table and uncannily anticipates next shot.
 
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He's 6 foot 10 I believe Lula.

I am sure Dan has played him way back when multiple times and has stories to share of his skills.

Okay, that is tall! he is not the thinnest guy either.

They were at Safirs international, my clubs tournament alot when they were younger and represented cadett and junior for England. I played Mcbeath once, lost 3-1 i think. A training partner to med beat Pitchford once i think. He was very very thin then haha. Maybe he was scared of my friend.

It is intreresting. Tabletennis is not rocket science, if you keep playing you will become better.
I stopped playing due a death in the family, it was hard to motivate yourself to play tabletennis. Mcbeath and me were the roughly the same level then but Mcbeath continued playing and is somewhat better than me now i think. But i think it would be pretty close today to. Would have more problem against Doran i think, he seems to play much more difficult.

My friend stopped playing aswell and Pitchford went on and is now like top 10 in the world.

That is the lecture of today kids! if you want to become good, just keep playing!
 
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This was when We were juniors i think. Like i Said, i think he is better than me now But From What i have seen i Do not think he seems crazy good But when i play better player it is always serve and return that they are sooo good at. We win with the boring stuff that are hard to see in a video. So i can imagine that We many Times think We would play more close than We proably would. In the open game i think i would not be too lost.

I think he lost more than he won in the highest swedish leauge when he played there so i do not know really if he would be top 20 in Sweden.

I am nowhere near top 20 in Sweden and i never was. I agree that if you are top 20 in sweden you are really good. I am more of a coach now and Do not practice so much anymore. But i think i am better today than when i trained much more oddly enough. Better technique i think. Edit: i think i changed to much technique when i was active because i had technique crazy coach. Would proably have becomed a much much better player if i Did not changed so much. But it helped me to become an okay coach since i know somewhat much about technique.
 
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I can also imagine it is somewhat easier to get opportunities and invest in your tabletennis when you are cadette or junior if you play for a somewhat smaller tabletennis nation. In Sweden you must be really good to play in youth or junior for sweden. While like Finland, Danmark, Noway and Maybe England it is a little easier. But England seems to be coming strong so it proably harder today.
 
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This is a really good point... by coincidence I've just been watching the Boys England U-13 final from last year on YouTube and was struck by the level, they certainly wouldn't be a national level player here in France and that's not being negative on them. I see matches at that level every week... or am I just being blinkered ?
 
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But maybe it is easier to become good in a bigger tabletennis nation if the coaches are better and if there are more good opponents to practice against. But it is proably easier to keep going and keep practicing and invest in your tabletennis if you are close or near being a national player, or just only get to represent them in one tournament. Then if you reach the national team i think you will take part in alot of resources and people will help and invest in you, i can imagine that you are more alone if you are not so close to the national team.
 
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I watched Chris Dolan play at the World Ping Pong championships recently and I can tell you he is good with a hard bat as well. I think he got beat in the Semi’s in the end.
His parents were sitting in front of me so I got to see Chris up close and I can confirm he is a man mountain !
 
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Yeah, can imagine that. He seems to be play with alot of feeling. May i ask how his parents look? Are they also really tall and somewhat big?
 
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Didn’t see his Mum stand up but saw his Dad and he is a tall fella as well.
What I liked about Chris was that he played with a smile on his face. He also had a great following of fans who all wore their own funny t-shirts related to Chris. They all had rhymes on them related to Chris which refered to his size and the size of his chest
 
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This is a really good point... by coincidence I've just been watching the Boys England U-13 final from last year on YouTube and was struck by the level, they certainly wouldn't be a national level player here in France and that's not being negative on them. I see matches at that level every week... or am I just being blinkered ?

Almost certainly this is the case. From what I have heard you need to times by 10 to get equivalent ranking in France. I.e. England number 10 would be 100 in France, number 100 would be 1000 in France. There is a 12 year old Welsh girl who is stronger than any English cadets right now.
 
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Almost certainly this is the case. From what I have heard you need to times by 10 to get equivalent ranking in France. I.e. England number 10 would be 100 in France, number 100 would be 1000 in France. There is a 12 year old Welsh girl who is stronger than any English cadets right now.

It is like this in Sweden now compared to when we were strongest. If your are class 1 player today you would have been class 3 player then or something like that, the same with the leagues.
 
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