Recent content by apacible

Flashback to the 2017 Bulgaria Open, one of the last tournaments that still used separation by association before it was scrapped, where the Japan Women’s National Team occupied all sixteen spots in the Round of 16...

I can’t speak for others about what drew them to follow the Japan Women’s Team, but I can share my own story of what made me follow them. In 2016, just before the Rio Olympics, I watched a documentary called Top Spin, which followed three American teenagers—Ariel Hsing, Lily Zhang, and Michael...

Ito now has a unique achievement as she becomes the first and only non-Chinese female player to have a singles medal in each of the 3 major tournaments (2020 and 2025 World Cup, 2025 World Championships, and 2020 Olympics). Other non-Chinese female players have come close: Hayata (World Cup)...

I came across this news article where JTTA executive director Yoshihito Miyazaki was interviewed on his thoughts on the addition of Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles, and Mixed Team for the LA 2028 Olympics https://www.daily.co.jp/en/general/2025/04/10/0018854418.shtml The article confirmed that...

Ito appears to have a soft spot for retiring players. In the QF of the 2018 Japan Nationals, she was also very warm towards Yuka Ishigaki (Former JNT Chopper) after their match. Ishigaki had announced that she was retiring after that edition of the Japan Nationals, so Ishigaki had her final...

This rule change which would allow service from the left half court of the server to the left half court of the receiver was actually proposed by the Table Tennis Federation of Iran back in 2021 during the ITTF Annual General Meeting. The rationale was: "The extension of the service rule removes...

Actually, it seems JTTA listed the names in the order stated in the selection criteria: (1) Selection method for men's and women's singles representative players (maximum number of entries: 5 men and 5 women) ① Men's and women's Japanese representative players for the Paris 2024 Olympics...

Based on the Prospectus of the Asian Table Tennis Championships 2024, final entry deadline is August 30, 2024. 14 days before that date is today, 16 August 2024. That means Ito and M. Yoshimura are in by WR. Projected JNT Singles Lineup in ATTC 2024 Mens: 1. T. Harimoto (2024 Olympic...

If ITTF ends up adopting this format for future World Cups, then it may want to consider basing the prize money earned on number of games won in the group stage rather than on whether you place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in the group. It may prevent players from tanking their remaining games when they are...

I remember watching the video too in 2022. This is the video in question: The incident in question occurred not in the 2015 Korean Open but in the 2016 Slovenia Open where Ito lost to Zeng Jian 2-4. The full video is worth a watch even if you don't understand Japanese because you can still...

Stage 1 (Qualifications) Round 1-3 are Best of 5 Stage 2 (Main Draw) Round 4 or R64 till the Finals are Best of 7. This starts on Friday 26 January 2024. See item (10) in the playing system for All Japan 2024...

To be fair to Moe Nomura, she's can't be taken lightly either as she has shown the ability to win matches against quality players. In T.League this season she beat Fan Siqi and Sato. Last season in T.League, she beat a series of lower Chinese players such as Wei Wensheng, Li Jiayi, and Jiang...

Japan is seeded 3 while South Korea is seeded 4th, so I'm pretty sure South Korea had the right to choose. South Korea chose MD first (as they should). Seedings: https://www.ittf.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Teams-Seeding_XTWC-5.pdf Playing System...

The 6th Japan Road to Paris Olympic Trials dated Nov 25-26 are fast approaching. See the website here: https://jtta.or.jp/tour/13250 The draws have been released already. Like the 5th Trials, draws were done in order of current Japan Paris Points Standings (e.g. 1 v 16, 2 v 15, etc.) Men's...

It appears WTT made an earlier cut-off date (5 December perhaps?) Zhang Rui qualifies for the 16th and final spot for the 2023 WTT Women's Finals Nagoya.