Stefan Fegerl Interview

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Hello everyone, I found this Stefan Fegerl interview by SD Sport and thought I would share. It's a bit long to post the entire thing but the rest is in the link:

http://sdsport.co.uk/exclusive-interview-stefan-fegerl/


- 2015 was a year to remember for Stefan Fegerl, being part of the Austrian team that won the European Championships and reaching the final of the Polish Open beating 2012 Olympic champion Zhang Jike along the way,
“Undoubtedly, the Polish Open were my biggest success so far. The feeling, winning against Olympian winner Zhang Jike, was indescribable. Even in the finals, I really had a chance to win against Fan Zhendong and make a perfect surprise. The most beautiful thing is, when you are rewarded for what you are doing every day. I really work very hard and I am thankful for all my achievements.”

China are currently the dominant force in table tennis, with the majority of the world’s top ranked players being Chinese. Fegerl doesn’t think that anyone can stop China from taking the Olympic gold medals in Brazil, outlining why he thinks the rest of the world are so far behind the World champions, “There are many reasons. One important thing is, that all [Chinese]top players who quit with their active career, are integrated in the coaching stuff. Therefore, know-how won’t get lost. Furthermore, the coach’s salary is much higher than in Europe. There are more training partners who play what’s good for you. In Europe, you won’t find anyone for this job, because everyone looks after oneself… if Europe moves closer together, the best players could benefit from each other and the level could be ramped up.” -
 
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Thank you so much for posting. Fegerl is one of my favorite players. Whenever I see him playing, he sort of reminds a grasshopper -- extremely lean and jumps around like hell.

Haha, I agree with the grasshopper thing. So happy to see him pose a threat to the likes of Zhang Jike and will hopefully encourage more Austrians to take up the sport.
 
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Thank you so much for posting. Fegerl is one of my favorite players. Whenever I see him playing, he sort of reminds a grasshopper -- extremely lean and jumps around like hell.

I like him a lot too for many reasons. Given your comment on the 2100 vs 2500 thread, though, I am a bit surprised you are a fan, since there have been flame wars through various table tennis forums about whether he hides the ball or not while serving. (I think his serve is very effective and his hiding is well within current ITTF Pro Tour norms -- which means of course, partially hidden).
 
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That is a very tricky question. All top players (including Fegerl) partially hide serves in more or less subtle way. But mr. Ji doesn't even pretend that his serve is borderline. Moreover, this kind of direct hiding is often faulted by an umpire, while partial hiding passes (unfortunately).
 
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BTW, if you want to watch a really blatant server -- go for Apolonia. I always wonder if he bribed the umpire before a match.

Yes I also believe that Apolonia's service is very off, I'm surprised umpires haven't been warned about him heading into tournaments.
 
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Apolonia's serve may seem to be illegal because to the camera angle. Keep in mind i said they MAY seem illegal. Personally when i watch him play i do think they are illegal.
 
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I think the majority of servers are illegal they always hidden a lot

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I really think if umpires wanted to kick it out they would have taken more of a drastic action by now, seems to me that they feel that they can't stop it and they don't want to keep stopping play so they can keep the game flowing.
 
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I really think if umpires wanted to kick it out they would have taken more of a drastic action by now, seems to me that they feel that they can't stop it and they don't want to keep stopping play so they can keep the game flowing.
The reason they feel they can't stop it is because it's not being called consistently i.e. you can't call it only for certain points in the match and not in others.

Fegerl's and Yoshimura's serves are so blatantly illegal even Stevie Wonder could call it.
 
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Adam Bobrow described him in the WTTTC 2016 as a car salesman because of his style of counterlooping by flapping his arms wide.
 
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The reason they feel they can't stop it is because it's not being called consistently i.e. you can't call it only for certain points in the match and not in others.

Fegerl's and Yoshimura's serves are so blatantly illegal even Stevie Wonder could call it.

I completely agree, the only way to stop it is to call it illegal consistently and not just for one player but for all of them. Either that or change to rules and let them do it.
 
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serves should be legal. There are players that aren't doing it and playing by the rules and then there are others that are hiding their serves and getting away. Which provides no justice.
 
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serves should be legal. There are players that aren't doing it and playing by the rules and then there are others that are hiding their serves and getting away. Which provides no justice.

I know, so many good players potentially losing out because they abide by the rules. What's the point having the rule if it's not going to be respected by players or umpires.
 
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Completely agree , and definitely ITTF has a lot of work left to do on the service rule. Its one of the most poorly implemented rules in terms of umpires and I can also empathize with the umpires , unless they let one of the umpires move during the match and stand on the diagonal or elsewhere to check the legality of the serve its just not simply possible to tell with 100% certainty whether is somebody is barely cheating from where they sit at present.
 
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Completely agree , and definitely ITTF has a lot of work left to do on the service rule. Its one of the most poorly implemented rules in terms of umpires and I can also empathize with the umpires , unless they let one of the umpires move during the match and stand on the diagonal or elsewhere to check the legality of the serve its just not simply possible to tell with 100% certainty whether is somebody is barely cheating from where they sit at present.

Yeah, in a perfect scenario video replays would be great to spot this but considering the ITTF have a budget to keep to I doubt they are going to do that for every match. In terms of the umpires there are two so if one doesn't spot it then the other should and from their positioning they should be able to tell if the serve is illegal because the umpire has to be able to see the ball at all times.
 
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Think of the LBW rule in cricket , even when the umpire is standing right behind the bowler's arm its difficult to tell sometimes whether it pitched on line and hit the batsman's pads in line with the stump.

Now think of the umpires, who are sitting and watching the action in landscape mode , how can they tell with 100% conviction if the receiver is able to see the contact, they can only tell whether the arm has moved away and he or she can see the contact and base his judgement on his guess ... isn't it so ? To tell correction, he should be inline with where the receiver is standing or just to the side of it, going by the ITTF rule two umpires standing inline with the side edges of the table would be better than the current placement.

Essentially more officials .. which ITTF cannot afford. In that case , just get rid of it and let everybody hide :) There is no point in having a rule that cannot be implemented ..

Yeah, in a perfect scenario video replays would be great to spot this but considering the ITTF have a budget to keep to I doubt they are going to do that for every match. In terms of the umpires there are two so if one doesn't spot it then the other should and from their positioning they should be able to tell if the serve is illegal because the umpire has to be able to see the ball at all times.
 
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Think of the LBW rule in cricket , even when the umpire is standing right behind the bowler's arm its difficult to tell sometimes whether it pitched on line and hit the batsman's pads in line with the stump.

Now think of the umpires, who are sitting and watching the action in landscape mode , how can they tell with 100% conviction if the receiver is able to see the contact, they can only tell whether the arm has moved away and he or she can see the contact and base his judgement on his guess ... isn't it so ? To tell correction, he should be inline with where the receiver is standing or just to the side of it, going by the ITTF rule two umpires standing inline with the side edges of the table would be better than the current placement.

Essentially more officials .. which ITTF cannot afford. In that case , just get rid of it and let everybody hide :) There is no point in having a rule that cannot be implemented ..

Yeah, I suppose you're right. Doubling up the number of umpires could be the solution, in terms of not affording it I believe I saw something stating that ITTF umpires only get paid £3.50 an hour or something like that, which is disgraceful for an international organisation.

My personal opinion is that they should just scrap the rule and let everyone get on with it, then you won't have any complaining from players, coaches or fans.

On another subject are the ITTF going along with the rule to eliminate 'Let Services'?
 
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Here is the ITTF Umpire Training Video - Hand Signals for Illegal Serves


It includes camera shots of various illegal serves from different angles, including from the umpire's position.

This is the relevant rule:
2.06.06.01 If either the umpire or the assistant umpire is not sure about the legality of a service he or she may, on the first occasion in a match, interrupt play and warn the server; but any subsequent service by that player or his or her doubles partner which is not clearly legal shall be considered incorrect.

"Not clearly legal" implies doubt or not sure about it's legality. So if there is any doubt or if not sure about it's legality, it's supposed to be deemed incorrect. Instead, the umpires have been giving the players the benefit of the doubt which is opposite what the rule states!
 
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