Paris Olympic Games 2024

[mikeytt]

Thankfully togami advances, should be a fun game vs Jang Woojin in a few days

 

[andzejgolot]

Looks like a variation of the national shirt which I wanted to buy. Hopefully they will sell it. Might just get that instead.

Classic t shirt is wave from front side
National t shirt is wave from both side
The Olympics is spaceship wave from both side. I hate them

 

[zeio]

I was wondering what you were going on about, then I looked at the draw and noticed that PRK is still in Hayata's path in WS, lol. This might get good. But I trust Hayata on this one. She is only pretending to be dumb for the cameras...

There is YJN before that (who has to get past Zhang Mo first). Home-crowd support is not easy to handle.

 

[dingyibvs]

The logic is nice coneptually but it is not right, it's just pretty logic. How would a pair like Kristian Karlsson and Mattias Falck be world champions in 2021 based on this logic? Because all the other higher ranked pairs they beat didn't combine well? It's worth studying the amount of luck that occurs in doubles and some of the risk in not having advance knowledge of the opponents, especially in XD for the woman who has to defend the man's shots, when making such blanket claims.

The reality is that there are lots of reasonable ways to form effective doubles partnerships, some more traditional and easier than others. There is some evidence that having the man as the lefty is more effective but that is nothing written in stone.

The funny thing is that for the most part, Harimoto and Hayata have outperformed Shin and Lim the last two to four years in doubles but yet you still rank Lim and Shin as superior. Again your own prerogative, but let's not confuse that with the data or the facts.

In one post you note the importance of the "body of work", yet in another you cite one run by Karlsson and Falck to support your argument. Seems like you're just cherry picking whatever suits your narrative. The body of work by Harimoto/Hayata is that they're arguably the 2nd best pair in the world. That's not sufficient because by individual skills they should be by far the 2nd best pair.

Their failure against the DPRK team is just one match, don't mistake the timing of my posts for suggesting that they're being judged on just this one match. The DPRK pair is quite underrated, and while unlikely I don't think it's impossible for them to win gold. The Chinese pair is not invincible, WCQ is closer to Harimoto in terms of suitability for doubles than he is to Chen Qi or Xu Xin. Fortunately for him, SYS has arguably the best single-shot quality in women's game, far superior to XX's partner in LSW.

Also, I didn't rank Lim and Shin as superior, they're similar, and while an argument can be made that they're superior I think they're close enough that we don't have the sample size to prove it one way or another. The issue is that they shouldn't be similar as Hayata is clearly ahead of Shin and Harimoto is clearly ahead of Lim.

 

[driversbeat]

Mittelham didn't seem to have problems against Pyon Song Gyong in the first game but seem to be struggling with her back now after playing 3 points in the 2nd.

 

[zeio]

WS R32
Yu Fu 3-4 Bajor (-7, -8, 15, 4, 7, -10, -8)
Not getting G6 after that big lead sealed Yu Fu's fate.

Pyon Song Gyong 4-3 Mittelham (-6, -9, 9, 8, 8, -7, 7)
G2 21, Mittelham strained her low back muscle? Was it after that 2nd point in G2?
G4 14 TO for PSG, 44, 45, 118
Kim Hyok Bong has a way with TO. Managed to stop the run of points every time so far here in Paris.
G5 30, 31, 41, 43, 53, 54, 64, 65, 75, 95, 98, 118
Pyon moved Mittelham around the table (mostly FH to BH) to great effect.
G6 01, 11, 12, 22, 25, 45, 48, 58, 59, 69, 610, 710, 711
G7 01, 31 TO for Mittelham, 32, 42, 44, 74, 76, 86, 87, 117

Mittelham did well without giving up like at ETTC 2022.

 

[driversbeat]

Nittelham still holding her back after winning game 2 11-9.

 

[backspacer]

I think she will forfeit if it goes on for more than four games.

 

[gospodindark]

I think it’s more that the Freitas and Apolonia blades were made so long ago that they are out dated and don’t play well at pro level, especially Freitas’s limba outer carbon blade. But Franziska blade was made only like 2 or so years ago so it has newer “tech” ig or idk. Overall tho, let’s just say that new innerforce zlc and outer alc is better than old innerforce zlc and outer alc (excluding viscaria and boll alc ofc)

Why do you think they are playing with outdated commercial blades? They have shiny new top level blades, but handle have similar colours as commercial. Same with rubber.

 

[turbozed]

Nina not doing that hip stretch after Game 3 and it was a close game so I think she's fine physically at least.

 

[Sali]

Great job by Natalia Bajor, so proud. Keep on fighting.

 

[doppelmoral]

Was tough to watch that 7th set, Nina constantly holding her pack visibly in pain, and barely moving anymore.
Has been on more than one occasion now that Nina is playing with an injury on the big stage

 

[zeio]

Like Nagasaki at WTT CT Lima 2022, Pyon Song Gyong had a lot of trouble with Mittelham's shots (timing issue), but that shot to Mittelham's middle in G2 changed the course of the match and gave her precious time and space to adapt. She and Kim Hyok Bong remained very composed throughout the match. A big pain for everyone.

 

[NextLevel]

In one post you note the importance of the "body of work", yet in another you cite one run by Karlsson and Falck to support your argument. Seems like you're just cherry picking whatever suits your narrative. The body of work by Harimoto/Hayata is that they're arguably the 2nd best pair in the world. That's not sufficient because by individual skills they should be by far the 2nd best pair.

Their failure against the DPRK team is just one match, don't mistake the timing of my posts for suggesting that they're being judged on just this one match. The DPRK pair is quite underrated, and while unlikely I don't think it's impossible for them to win gold. The Chinese pair is not invincible, WCQ is closer to Harimoto in terms of suitability for doubles than he is to Chen Qi or Xu Xin. Fortunately for him, SYS has arguably the best single-shot quality in women's game, far superior to XX's partner in LSW.

Also, I didn't rank Lim and Shin as superior, they're similar, and while an argument can be made that they're superior I think they're close enough that we don't have the sample size to prove it one way or another. The issue is that they shouldn't be similar as Hayata is clearly ahead of Shin and Harimoto is clearly ahead of Lim.

Falck and Karlsson have been one of the top doubles teams in the World for a long time, and they have a World Championship to show it, beating just about all the top pairs in the world at the rime to claim it. Saying that two good singles players should combine in doubles to match their singles talent is not correct for many reasons. What you are saying is that you want their skills to combine in the way that makes ideal sense to you, and if they don't combine that way, they are not a good team. I am simply arguing that this is not the case, every team combines uniquely and how that supports its set plays is not simply a matter of singles skill or doubles skill. There are even elements of luck. Hayata's playing level as a woman says little about her ability to play and defend shots from the best male players. In XD, a woman's ability to be able to prep for this does a lot for how the team plays.

 

[NextLevel]

You do it, I cannot prove a negative. Whichever screencap I post, you're just gonna accuse me of cherry-picking.

Haha. If that is the best you can do, then we can consider this closed. Thank you.

 

[NextLevel]

WS R32
Yu Fu 3-4 Bajor (-7, -8, 15, 4, 7, -10, -8)
Not getting G6 after that big lead sealed Yu Fu's fate.

Pyon Song Gyong 4-3 Mittelham (-6, -9, 9, 8, 8, -7, 7)
G2 21, Mittelham strained her low back muscle? Was it after that 2nd point in G2?
G4 14 TO for PSG, 44, 45, 118
Kim Hyok Bong has a way with TO. Managed to stop the run of points every time so far here in Paris.
G5 30, 31, 41, 43, 53, 54, 64, 65, 75, 95, 98, 118
Pyon moved Mittelham around the table (mostly FH to BH) to great effect.
G6 01, 11, 12, 22, 25, 45, 48, 58, 59, 69, 610, 710, 711
G7 01, 31 TO for Mittelham, 32, 42, 44, 74, 76, 86, 87, 117

Mittelham did well without giving up like at ETTC 2022.

Clearly something is going on with top German females and back issues. They had better fix their technique from a younger age or continue to lose them early.

 

[andzejgolot]

Back pain is not about technique.

 

[NextLevel]

In fact Patrick beat them all in test matches just before they went to Olympics and still they set him on a bench. Even weak Timo plays on team event.

That's why they are called test matches. Fanbo Meng also beat them in test matches. Should we have sent Fanbo Meng as well?

 

[NextLevel]

Back pain is not about technique.

What is it about? Table tennis is just an unsafe sport?

 

[Doralikesmath]

What is it about? Table tennis is just an unsafe sport?

Broadly speaking, no sport is safe, especially when you're pushing for human boundaries like elite athletes. One could argue Zhang Jike's techniques are near perfect, but he had really bad back injuries during his career as well.