Who do you think will win the World Cup 2017?

  • Ma Long

    Votes: 37 67.3%
  • Dimitrij Ovtcharov

    Votes: 3 5.5%
  • Jun Mizutani

    Votes: 3 5.5%
  • Timo Boll

    Votes: 5 9.1%
  • Koki Niwa

    Votes: 2 3.6%
  • Lee Sang Su

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Chuang Chih Yuan

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Simon Gauzy

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Marcos Freitas

    Votes: 2 3.6%
  • Other (Post Below)

    Votes: 3 5.5%

  • Total voters
    55
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What a great day for European table tennis. Great matches, very entertaining tournament. For me, it would have been pure perfection if Timo went all the way, he really did the hardest work, but I don't mind Dima winning, it was highly probable that he will have more strength left.
 
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The Chinese TT organization learned its lesson the hard way! Very few people can think anyone besides ML could win the tournament, except hardcore fans to certain players. I only watched ML played against Niwa and noticed he was so lousy. Even so Timo must play his best to beat ML. Too much lecturing from the communist government didn't do ML any good!
 

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Awesome to see Timo Boll beat Ma Long in real life. Noone in the stadium really saw it coming. The vibrance, drama and the huge crowd support made this match worthy of the final for me! After this match pretty much everyone was rooting for Timo in the finals, but in the last games vs ovtcharov, we saw the toll his crazy matches agains the chinese players were taking. Timo was missing more shots and lacked some punch, while Dima was still going strong. Timo Boll = winner of the tournament for me.

I allso really enjoyed watching Simon Gauzy! Dima's speed (especially on backhand shots) was amazing, but the much younger Gauzy has a very nice style, with strawberry flicks and slow spinny returns just over the net. I felt in both his matches against Dima and Ma Long, he played very intelligent (i think he made at least 5 points against Ma Long with the same strategy), but he made too many service mistakes and was sometimes just overpowered with brute force. I hope to see more of the french player in the future!
 
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Awesome to see Timo Boll beat Ma Long in real life. Noone in the stadium really saw it coming. The vibrance, drama and the huge crowd support made this match worthy of the final for me! After this match pretty much everyone was rooting for Timo in the finals, but in the last games vs ovtcharov, we saw the toll his crazy matches agains the chinese players were taking. Timo was missing more shots and lacked some punch, while Dima was still going strong. Timo Boll = winner of the tournament for me.

How nervous were all of you in the final set of TB:ML? :D
 
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can't wait to see the next FZD LGY encounter, this match seems more exciting at least in my eyes than any of them against ML who will definitely bounce back. Somehow even if ML is now a lot older than them, he seems to be in equilibrium in the past 2-3 years while the other two seem to be still struggling mentally and physically to find the "sweet spot" needed to win against the dragon
 
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I just read an interview with Ma Long and he said he struggled to adapt to the ball. That's a bit strange as MA has won most of his recent titles with this brand.


Someone pointed out that he won the Japan Open where this same ball was used. To be fair, in this year, he has played WTTC and Asian Champs with Nittaku ball and the China games with Seamless balls. The changes in balls must not be fun for a player his level.
 
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Someone pointed out that he won the Japan Open where this same ball was used. To be fair, in this year, he has played WTTC and Asian Champs with Nittaku ball and the China games with Seamless balls. The changes in balls must not be fun for a player his level.

OK, thanks for that. I was under the impression all the big events (recently) used the DHS D40+.

Changing the ball around can't be much fun, but it's the same problem for all these elite players.
 
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OK, thanks for that. I was under the impression all the big events (recently) used the DHS D40+.

Changing the ball around can't be much fun, but it's the same problem for all these elite players.

None of them had to play the China Games where the seamless ball was used except for LGY. I hear you that it shouldn't be a serious excuse. It was deuce in the 7th twice. That is as close to 50-50 as it gets.
 
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None of them had to play the China Games where the seamless ball was used except for LGY. I hear you that it shouldn't be a serious excuse. It was deuce in the 7th twice. That is as close to 50-50 as it gets.

As ML himself pointed out, this is his weakness that he is not able to adapt quickly to ball change and he would work on it.
 
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CNT has had D40+ balls longer than anyone else and Ma Long plays great with ABS balls as we have seen. Much more likely is that injuries curtailed his training. Meanwhile Timo played in the new league and seems to be feeling better physically than he has in a long time.

Of all the many reasons Timo won, the ball has to be far down on the list. Not having LGL at the match may be more of a factor than we know.
Ma Long is human after all.
Hopefully he will be full strength again soon.
 
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Is MA LONG using Tenergy on his backhand?

I noticed a few times at this comp that he switched to his red rubber when smashing lobs. Fang Bo and a few other top Chinese players do the same thing and they use red Tenergy on Their backhands. Its better for smashing. A lot of people on this sight claim ML uses Hurricane red 37 degrees on backhand. Has anybody got any recent photos of his rubber? I only ever see the black forehand side in pictures.
 
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Is MA LONG using Tenergy on his backhand?

I noticed a few times at this comp that he switched to his red rubber when smashing lobs. Fang Bo and a few other top Chinese players do the same thing and they use red Tenergy on Their backhands. Its better for smashing. A lot of people on this sight claim ML uses Hurricane red 37 degrees on backhand. Has anybody got any recent photos of his rubber? I only ever see the black forehand side in pictures.

Someone said he uses both Tenergy and H3 depending on temperament. This is a good observation as he usually doesn't twiddle when using H3 on both sides. He is restricted to more spinny smashes when he doesn't.
 
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