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Got back from playing today (not playing tomorrow) and it was an eye opening experience. Playing in band 6 and 5 had some quality opponents and I was outclassed. The annoying thing was the only reason I was outclassed was because I couldn't play my open game as I was losing because of their serves. During my second game of the morning in game 4 at 5-5 I chased a short ball and hit the edge of the table hard on my hand, causing what looked to be a nasty cut, but thankfully it was just a slicing of the top skin on my thumb.
One thing I didn't know (or more I didn't check) was the GP was using poly balls. For someone who's league isn't using them meant it was a change. I hate to sound like I have an ego but I recon I could of won a game if I was using the old balls. My band 5 match (which I actually found easier than band 6, but due to the number of players without a rank, you can expect that and its probably due to luck of the draw who you play) that I lost was mainly due to the fact my opponent took the speed off the ball and I was left with nothing to hit caus of the poly ball. I did learn that maybe its time to get rid of my calibra sound on my backhand though.
My biggest issue with the GP was the groups. I played in two groups of 3, whereas some people had groups of 4 (and in some cases in the ladies, 5 in a group), so when you realise that people like me turned up to play 4 games, kinda feels pointless in me going again. Then because of people scratching, two of my league buddies had a group of 2 in band 5, as there were multiple cases like this, felt like the groups could of been merged to come up with a better solution
Just thought I'd get my 2 cents out. I will say that the table tennis I did see was amazing. And hats off to a young girl from Wales that we watched played, I think she was 8 but she took out her opponents with little issue, one to watch!
Hey Skully,
That's a shame to her about your experience. I think this is one of the biggest issues with the new plastic ball. It needs to be consistent in that every tournament/league players use it so everyone is on the same playing field. I have heard that in January the ITTF are trying to make everything use plastic ball, but I don't think the league in the UK will change till July.
Nice to see you on TTD btw!
Here are some TTD players in action at Bristol GP today.
Garth Kinlocke won band 2.
What makes you say you need to get Rid of the Calibra LT Sound rubber on your handhand?
Hey Skully,
That's a shame to her about your experience. I think this is one of the biggest issues with the new plastic ball. It needs to be consistent in that every tournament/league uses the plastic ball, so that everyone is on the same playing field. I have heard that in January the ITTF are trying to make everything use plastic ball, but I don't think the league in the UK will change till July.
I think British League will start using the plastic ball this January, that is what I have been told.
Nice to see you on TTD btw!
Here are some TTD players in action at Bristol GP today.
Garth Kinlocke won band 2.
By the way, I umpired my last match at 10:30pm. That's a record late night for me. The band 1 final was still being played. It probably finished about 11:00pm.
I know it was going to be a long day but to finish by 11pm seems like it was too long no? I not sure what caused it to run on so late, most of the groups were over quickly which resulted in just waiting for tables for the knockout matches
This was my first GP in about 10 years, I had to play in bands 5 & 6 as I had lost my ranking.
By 2.45pm I had won my group in band 5 and didn't play my round 1 match till 8pm!
It seemed that they had allocated 45 mins for each group which is unrealistic, so it didn't take long for events to get delayed.
I wish I had known about the new balls too, it felt at times that I was re learning a new sport altogether.