says
Shoo...nothing to see here. - zeio
obviously. But you'd have to be Liu Guoliang to know what you're talking about ;-) Ok, maybe not him but someone knowing ins and outs about CNT. Notice how he honestly admits they don't have anyone to reliably beat Tomo in his age group. Best we can do is speculate if there's some youngster in some provincial team who could do that.You dont have to be LGL to be able to make such statement or prediction about dominance
Good question.Liu Guoliang is in a table tennis tracksuit, is he still part of the team in any way?
obviously. But you'd have to be Liu Guoliang to know what you're talking about ;-) Ok, maybe not him but someone knowing ins and outs about CNT. Notice how he honestly admits they don't have anyone to reliably beat Tomo in his age group. Best we can do is speculate if there's some youngster in some provincial team who could do that.
I feel that China could share dominance with Japan and Germany for 30 years if everyone learns the Tomo tactics and brings back the Waldner tactics while using the basic Chinese cloud-walking. By share I mean all three could have 2 or 3 players in the top 6, and rotate championships, which would be really nice. Listen to GuoLiang, he knows from whence he speaks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6Ri4wgaJPQ
If you watch the Chinese Super League, and other leagues too, you can see tons of spin, variation, and creativity. And the Waldner tactics apply directly to the modern game with the plastic ball. Xu Xin is still deadly with his spin and variation. And Fan Zhendong's serve is still amazing.The game has moved on a lot since the Waldner era. The plastic ball has took out creativity and forced everyone to play similar due to the lack of spin and variation.
I would add the ability of Tomokazu to undercut the footwork of big loopers. If you constantly aim to prevent the wide foot placement of a big looper, up to the cloud-walkers, you have weakened the possibilities of your opponent. This is what GuoLiang is talking about, that Tomo is right now developing the style where none of his players will be able to overcome him in a few years. This is a new style that GuoLiang has not figured out yet. I keep telling him. but he doesn't listen (HaHa), that he has to incorporate the Waldner tactics along with the Tomo tactics in China as a whole to maintain Chinese dominance. I like your listing of the dominant styles. I would just add the Tomo style and the cloud-walker style of the current monsters (both distinctive and immediately recognizable). I think GuoLiang is correct on the future because the Tomo style is specially designed to defeat the cloud-walker style. By the way, the cloud-walker style depends on forcing the rally to back up the two players beyond the 5 foot distance beyond the table, and the Tomo style depends on never backing away and always staying within 3 feet of the table. Incidentally, the reason I think the Waldner style is so important is because it consciously says you must move from one distance to the other. This is also why Waldner maintained his world position from aged 18 to aged 50. It relies mainly on the brain, and is far less hard on the body. I have huge faith that GuoLiang will figure this out since he has the most intimate knowledge of Jan Ove's tactics.Ton of spin, variation and creativity:
That is nice, but there is only one style of play competitive at the top level - two-sided topspin attack with short movements close to the table, with BH-banana flick opening. BH-dominant. Even a Ma Long has to play more BH that FH.
Everything else is just a variation of this style, there are no new players with different styles at top20 level, I will name a few players with very distinctive, immediately recogniseable styles, what new player has the same style?
Applegren half-distance soft play
Kreanga half-distance power play
RSM Jpen FH power play
Ma Lin Cpen with BH-sidespin blocks and pushing
JSH modern defence - maybe Ma Te is the only relatively new defender able of top20 level
Waldner/Samsonov BH-flat block/punch/smash and VH-topspin
BH-short pips
...
Yes, you can see e.g. half-distance "fishing" play or blocking, but it is just a temporary solution of a difficult situation, there is no such dedicated style which could be competetive at top20 level.
So IMHO there is only one plastic ball style which is much more effective than everything else.