Ryu Seung Min is Back?

[Dan]

Hey guys

At the recent World Team Cup 2011, Ryu Seung Min came up against World number 1 Ma Long. It looked to me that Ryu may have found his top form again? His footwork seems to be a lot better, perhaps he has just adapted better since the speed glue ban which many people believed had effected his game. Maybe he is peaking for London 2012? Could he repeat Athens 2004?

Photo by: Reuters

Here is the match: Ryu Seung Min vs Ma Long

 

[WiWa]

His matches against Ma Long and Kaii Yoshida were probably the two best of the tournament. Especially the one against Yoshida made me hope for more traditional penholders to come.

 

[Dan]

His matches against Ma Long and Kaii Yoshida were probably the two best of the tournament. Especially the one against Yoshida made me hope for more traditional penholders to come.

Oh yeah i forgot about that match WiWa .. I have included it. I hope Ryu maintains this performance to start breaking up the usual pro tour winners ect

 

[WiWa]

Oh yeah i forgot about that match WiWa .. I have included it. I hope Ryu maintains this performance to start breaking up the usual pro tour winners ect

Yea that would be awesome. Kim Min Seok did great as well. It is gonna be pretty tough for the Korean coach to make a selection for he Olympics!

 

[sunilcse04]

Man... the 1st against Ma Long was unbelievable.. Those 2 were playing like gods of TT ! Some rallies were simple unimaginable!

 

[Dan]

Yea that would be awesome. Kim Min Seok did great as well. It is gonna be pretty tough for the Korean coach to make a selection for he Olympics!

Yeah that's true, I forgot about him. I guess it will all come down to how they both get on throughout the next few tournaments coming up.

 

[WiWa]

Yeah that's true, I forgot about him. I guess it will all come down to how they both get on throughout the next few tournaments coming up.

It will be interesting because from a lot of countries Korea doesn't have to fear. But if they meet Boll, they will be happy to have Oh Sang Eun available. Not sure about who is best against Mizutani, but apart from the Chinese, those two will be important for the decision who to sent probably.

 

[mss629]

I think the member for the Korean team for the London 2012 are already set, and I believe Ryu is not playing on the olympic.
But I did find him pretty fast at this olympic.
Hope he revives.....

 

[Bryce]

Ryu played superb on the first match but lost confidence in the following due to Ma Long's mental toughness.

 

[Scorpnox]

Ryu played superb on the first match but lost confidence in the following due to Ma Long's mental toughness.

That's true ... Ma long showed why he is number 1, he is mentally strong in difficult situations...

And OMG Kim Min Seok is awesome !!!

 

[scylla24]

Hmmmm I don't think just based off this performance, I would say Ryu is back. One of the Chinese announcers said during his match against Ma Long, that often older veterans despite not being able to continue a high form on a normal basis, nevertheless are able to reach their high form in important matches. And I agree with that. Once you are older, have accomplished quite a lot, its really hard to find the motivation or just the energy and physical skill to reach or maintain your prior younger form. You can dig deep and get it on special occasions, but its not something you enjoy for extended periods of time.

Ryu hasn't really been doing THAT bad anyway. He still beats just about all players he faces except the Chinese players, Boll and Mizutani and some other more well known non Chinese players. That's about where his performance was when he was younger anyway. Even in his prime, despite his olympic win, he had horrible win loss ratios against the Chinese players, usually never got past one, or if he did, never got past two in the same tournament.

 

[Dan]

Hmmmm I don't think just based off this performance, I would say Ryu is back. One of the Chinese announcers said during his match against Ma Long, that often older veterans despite not being able to continue a high form on a normal basis, nevertheless are able to reach their high form in important matches. And I agree with that. Once you are older, have accomplished quite a lot, its really hard to find the motivation or just the energy and physical skill to reach or maintain your prior younger form. You can dig deep and get it on special occasions, but its not something you enjoy for extended periods of time.

Ryu hasn't really been doing THAT bad anyway. He still beats just about all players he faces except the Chinese players, Boll and Mizutani and some other more well known non Chinese players. That's about where his performance was when he was younger anyway. Even in his prime, despite his olympic win, he had horrible win loss ratios against the Chinese players, usually never got past one, or if he did, never got past two in the same tournament.

Very true Scylla. The Olympics was one of those sporting moments where an athlete excelled to the occasion. In this case, Ryu did just that. Didn't Ryu have 11 losses to Wang Hao prior to that Olympic final?

I watched Ryu at the English Open this year and his forehand in real life looks so much better then any table tennis player I have ever seen. I can't wait to see Ma Long live!

 

[scylla24]

Very true Scylla. The Olympics was one of those sporting moments where an athlete excelled to the occasion. In this case, Ryu did just that. Didn't Ryu have 11 losses to Wang Hao prior to that Olympic final?

I watched Ryu at the English Open this year and his forehand in real life looks so much better then any table tennis player I have ever seen. I can't wait to see Ma Long live!

Yeah, Ryu's record against Ma Lin was like 0-6, against Wang Hao it was 0-something, and then against Wang Liqin it was like 1-6 or something, so it was really a case of being clutch in the special occasion that allowed Ryu to win. Also I feel like a lot of the Chinese, because so much is expected of them, and the amount of effort and dedication they put into table tennis, they place so much emphasis on the olympics that their nerves are really off the charts at big events, which can at times cause them to not play up to their normal high level.

 

[dici]

Liu Guo Liang has said in some interview/reportage, that they never afraid of RSM's in term of skill wise. However, the way that he play, which is very aggressive style that cost them lost to him in the olympic final. Ryu definitely knows Wang Hao's skill is better than him, but he just plays as aggressive as possible to over come this weakness

 

[Rhydian]

wow, what an amazing play from Ryu, too bad he didn't win against Ma Long!
Damn, he was really good! So fast!! O.O Unbelievable!
But he has one weakpoint, his backhand...
If he works on it, then he could reach the semis in the olympics, I hope for it! *.*

 

[Mr. RicharD]

RSM was gone? He's always been a consistent Asian player. Not doing well against the Chinese and a couple Euro players, but he's always done well against the rest of the world and most of Europe.

You guys have to remember that RSM was 2 years older than Wang Hao when he played at the Olympics. Wang Hao hadn't quite learned the mentality needed to be World Champion let alone an Olympic one. As for his form he's always been quite strong in footwork and forehands. His backhand is what's improved since the SG ban. As for LGL not being afraid of RSM's skill it's because they had some of their Cpen players switch to Jpen to train against. That's why they closed him out in 08.

And the 04 Olympics was something else. Some great circumstances for him. He had like a 2-9 ratio to Boll and Boll had that injury 8 months before. So I don't really think Boll was playing at 100 percent. As for Waldner, he was just lucky the guy wasn't in better shape. Waldner had really gained some weight since the 2000 Olympics and if he'd really gotten back into shape who knows what would have happened in 04. It was just all lined up for RSM that year.

And if this was more about how he hasn't played many Pro Tours as of late, it would be because he isn't ranked that high in Korea anymore. With his age he's really gone down in ranking. Where he was once in the top 3 of Korea's players I believe he's currently at 5 or 6 now with all the new kids coming up.

Korea made it to the Finals with luck of the draw. If the German team had played them I think it would have been CHN vs GER rather than the former.

 

[Bryce]

How old is Ryu btw? And Kim played very well for someone of his age.

 

[YosuaYosan]

How old is Ryu btw? And Kim played very well for someone of his age.

He is in his late 20s, 29 yo to be exact. He was born August 5, 1982 according to Wiki

 

[YosuaYosan]

Very true Scylla. The Olympics was one of those sporting moments where an athlete excelled to the occasion. In this case, Ryu did just that. Didn't Ryu have 11 losses to Wang Hao prior to that Olympic final?

I watched Ryu at the English Open this year and his forehand in real life looks so much better then any table tennis player I have ever seen. I can't wait to see Ma Long live!

Now ain't that called mental strength. I am purely amazed by it.
Shame the ban glue affects his game and performance by much

Would like to see him rise and at last coach young penholders in the end of his competitive TT career

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Ma Long's mental toughness did hold him in that match but so did his forehand, his backhand and great tactics against Ryu. I have long thought that Ryu had one of the best forehands ever. Ma Long's was every bit as powerful. What a match.