ITTF WTTC Finals Doha 2025, 5/17-25

[baotran]

so what i'm saying is, one Hugo is not enough
You need a Hugo with some extra support staff.
Without the support staff, the player will not be near 100% at the finals, like we can see with Hugo.
Does the Swedes have support staff? I'm not so sure.

Well, I also say that it's hard to have a decent support teams with a sport that produces such a low income and profit. So that's impossible I believe ... For Swedish team then I think they have good staffs. Truls played through several difficult matches and still came to semi-final with very good physical condition (or maybe because he is young so he can handle such fatigue after a sequence of very intense matches easier than Hugo?).

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Well, I also say that it's hard to have a decent support teams with a sport that produces such a low income and profit. So that's impossible I believe ... For Swedish team then I think they have good staffs. Truls played through several difficult matches and still came to semi-final with very good physical condition (or maybe because he is young so he can handle such fatigue after a sequence of very intense matches easier than Hugo?).

of course each player is different.
It is just difficult to compare.

So that is why I said before, we are not trying to beat some or few Chinese players, we need to beat the whole team (and the huge resource behind it).

so now we have players that can match, the whole world need to focus on the next step and sport science (support staff) is required to help with fatigue.

 

[backspacer]

Absolutely insane how China is basically travelling with an army to these big events.

 

[Persistence TT]

Thiago Monteiro the Brazil Mens head coach posted an IG story recently after the match with a photo of the Brazil Team and Brazil Women’s head coach and assistant coaches with the quote:

"-Quem estará com você nas trincheiras?" "-E importa?" "-Mais do que a própria guerra! Esses dias vocês fizeram mais por mim do que eu fiz por vocês! Obrigado.

"-Who will be with you in the trenches?" "-And does it matter?" "-More than the war itself! These days you did more for me than I did for you! Thank you.

Not sure what he is trying to imply with this quote but I’m guessing he seen that people have been noticing that he wasn’t coaching Hugo for this event and people are wondering why. Maybe Hugo thought he couldn’t go to the next level with Monteiro as his coach so he decided to use the assistant coach instead.

I dont think he is implying anything since hugo is in the photo also. The near future will definitely show us if something is indeed happening. With monteiro coaching or not, silver medal in wttc is even bigger achievement than winning the world cup, unfortunately no one will remember that he beat 3 chinese to clinch the WC

 

[Shine]

I dont think he is implying anything since hugo is in the photo also. The near future will definitely show us if something is indeed happening. With monteiro coaching or not, silver medal in wttc is even bigger achievement than winning the world cup, unfortunately no one will remember that he beat 3 chinese to clinch the WC

Everyone will remember, people don't forget heroics like that. Timo is still mentioned whenever the topic of historical threats to the CNT is brought up because of his performance in that world cup.

 

[zeio]

I dont think he is implying anything since hugo is in the photo also. The near future will definitely show us if something is indeed happening. With monteiro coaching or not, silver medal in wttc is even bigger achievement than winning the world cup, unfortunately no one will remember that he beat 3 chinese to clinch the WC

2, not 3.

 

[zeio]

Good looking out. He tried those sudden long pushes to the forehand that WCQ brought back with spinny venom, lost about 3-4 crucial points that could have brought him back into the match. Plus, the fact that WCQ excelled in the short game. I think one of the highlights of WCQ in this match was investing more spin in his opening attack and only going all-out flat drives when he's dominating the table and attacking the angles with his forehand.

I think the only time that push got a point was in G1 (which was to WCQ's middle), specifically on the 2nd point (6:7) when the momentum started swinging back to Calderano. However, WCQ pinned him down to the short FH 4 out of 5 points from 7:10. It stuck in the back of his mind and Calderano never found that momentum back. If not for WCQ hitting that FH into the net at 2:1 of G3, it could've ended in straight games.

LIVE! | Day 9 | ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals Doha 2025 | Finals | Session 2
https://youtu.be/B84zqzJzLjU?t=1076

https://youtu.be/B84zqzJzLjU?t=1187

https://youtu.be/B84zqzJzLjU?t=1953

 

[NextLevel]

Absolutely insane how China is basically travelling with an army to these big events.

It is nothing new.

 

[NextLevel]

People will say Hugo is just excusing . I understand how tough was the match against LJK was, so I'm not surprised if he could not fully fit in the final.

They really should think about their scheduling for some these events, I get the marketing value of some of it, but it is patently unfair in my view for the semi-finals to be hours apart, the two players likely to play each other should be playing as close to the same time as possible even if we need to separate them for maximum commercial success. That way, reduce/minimize any potential advantage from rest even if it isn't perfect.

 

[NextLevel]

Thiago Monteiro the Brazil Mens head coach posted an IG story recently after the match with a photo of the Brazil Team and Brazil Women’s head coach and assistant coaches with the quote:

"-Quem estará com você nas trincheiras?" "-E importa?" "-Mais do que a própria guerra! Esses dias vocês fizeram mais por mim do que eu fiz por vocês! Obrigado.

"-Who will be with you in the trenches?" "-And does it matter?" "-More than the war itself! These days you did more for me than I did for you! Thank you.

Not sure what he is trying to imply with this quote but I’m guessing he seen that people have been noticing that he wasn’t coaching Hugo for this event and people are wondering why. Maybe Hugo thought he couldn’t go to the next level with Monteiro as his coach so he decided to use the assistant coach instead.

You missed the fact that he posted the CNT as well. He was focused more on the resource disparity between the teams.

 

[SFF_lib]

They really should think about their scheduling for some these events, I get the marketing value of some of it, but it is patently unfair in my view for the semi-finals to be hours apart, the two players likely to play each other should be playing as close to the same time as possible even if we need to separate them for maximum commercial success. That way, reduce/minimize any potential advantage from rest even if it isn't perfect.

I like Hugo, always wanted him to win. I was so happy for his world cup win.

But competition at this level has no mercy. WCQ played the mixed double final just 3 hours prior to mens final. Hugo had a gap of ~24hours.

Hugo's playstyle had costed his energy

 

[zeio]

The intensity was way worse up until WTTC 2017 when doubles were also Bo7.

I even made a post over at HKTTF about how WCT should've opted for 2 events instead of 3 and could've run deeper (MS QF with one leg in bandage 1-4 LSS, MD QF 3-2 -> 3-4 FZD/XX and XD bronze 1-3 -> 3-4 9:11 CCA/CIC).

 

[Persistence TT]

I like Hugo, always wanted him to win. I was so happy for his world cup win.

But competition at this level has no mercy. WCQ played the mixed double final just 3 hours prior to mens final. Hugo had a gap of ~24hours.

Hugo's playstyle had costed his energy

The mixed doubles final was on saturday, the mens singles final was on sunday. How did you count 3 hours? allthough for some players 3 hours is more than enough, doubles are far faster in duration than singles and with less intensity. For some players it can even act as a mental/physical warmup for the upcoming event

 

[NextLevel]

I like Hugo, always wanted him to win. I was so happy for his world cup win.

But competition at this level has no mercy. WCQ played the mixed double final just 3 hours prior to mens final. Hugo had a gap of ~24hours.

Hugo's playstyle had costed his energy

Mixed doubles was on Saturday, you are probably thinking of semis or something.

 

[SFF_lib]

The mixed doubles final was on saturday, the mens singles final was on sunday. How did you count 3 hours? allthough for some players 3 hours is more than enough, doubles are far faster in duration than singles and with less intensity. For some players it can even act as a mental/physical warmup for the upcoming event

Ops sorry looked at the wrong date. Thanks for the correction

 

[SFF_lib]

Assuming everything equal, Hugo's style is unique and entertaining, but costing more energy vs WCQ's style.

 

[Shine]

Ever since the loss to Wang/Sun in mixed doubles in the early days of the tournament, Hugo only played a match per day unlike Wang who played at least two matches per day, maybe even more at the beginning of the tournament until the final day when he had to play only the final. The issue of fatigue is sensitive but I think a match per day is optimal for a pro at that level. Unless if the fatigue was mental as well.

 

[Shine]

Hugo didn't even play singles on the 19th, i.e the day Bru-Go faced Sha-Tou, so he actually never played more than a match a day.
WCQ played the mixed doubles final and the match against Truls on Saturday.

 

[longle]

Assuming everything equal, Hugo's style is unique and entertaining, but costing more energy vs WCQ's style.

costing more shirts also

 

[backspacer]

Hosts for the next world champs have been announced.

2027 Astana, Kazakhstan
2028 Fukuoka-Kitakyushu, Japan
2029 Rio, Brazil