World Ping Pong championship 2019

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So Ive been watching highlights of the 2019 ping pong championships and I have to say I'm really glad to see good TT players competing. The rallies are long fast and furious. The crowd seams to really be getting into it too which IMO is probably a good thing for TT in the long run (like a stepping stone). Even if it isn't I hope PP does catch on in the US. it seams like a lot of fun to watch and play.


I'm curious to see how the game mechanics evolve from existing TT mechanics. I'm just happy to see good fundamentals leading to exciting rallies. From a few of the games i've watched, it seams defensive chop/blocks have a stronger footing in PP than TT, and there may be a strong place for TPB penhold in this sport.
 
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Yeah, thanks for this interesting topic in the multitude of the equipment related ones : )

I definitely agree with your observations, how the crowd gets easily involved and how easy it is to watch the game. Quite relaxing actually. The more I watch it the more I think, once it gets more popular, it could be a stepping stone for the tt. The concept is quite simple, you do not need a PhD in the tt equipment and it's easy to start with, just pick up a racket, the same everyone is playing with and you're ready to go.

Of course it is not as complex as the regular tt, maybe not as interesting when you really get involved, but to be honest current tt maybe is too complex. To tell the truth I started fully understand tt matches probably after a year or two of regular practice and playing. I'm talking about an amateur phase, like once or twice a week. If you have a persistence and passion to stay with the sport, then after this period all those nuances are open for you ...

I'm probably known here for critiquing sometimes the current version of tt. For example, attacking vs attacking game - the usual one, has those instability properties. It depends very much on the serve and receive element. Every minor mistake at this stage leads to an opponent having a very big upper-hand during the rest of the point. I.e serve - banana/strawberry - usually two strokes. Serve - improper receive - flip or finishing attack. I know what I described here, was in the game for a long time now, but I wonder if it was actually possible to implant some of the PP characteristics into the present TT game?
 
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Impressive how much better the play has become over a couple of years.

imagine the difference the not so well educated spectators see when they watches 3 ball-long points in TT to twice as long dramatic smashes on ping pong... but maybe that has a silver lining. They'll watch the ping pong cause it's much more entertaining, will try the game themselves, the ones who enjoy it the most will improve and eventually drift to a more complex and rewarding game of TT
 
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imagine the difference the not so well educated spectators see when they watches 3 ball-long points in TT to twice as long dramatic smashes on ping pong... but maybe that has a silver lining. They'll watch the ping pong cause it's much more entertaining, will try the game themselves, the ones who enjoy it the most will improve and eventually drift to a more complex and rewarding game of TT

Yeah, but we shouldn't give up on table tennis and mark it as a rather non-watchable sport ... We had a similar discussion earlier last year and I think it was @Brs who noted, that sports basically can be described as a spectator and participation ones, tt being the latter. Still, imho tt has every potential to become a fully spectators sport too, not only the participation one.

Another argument goes like, making tt less technical is basically dumming the sport. Watched several matches of this year's World PP Championships and I really don't think those matches are less interesting. The technical side still exists in the very difficulty of making the shot. There were marginal serve and receive errors, which are so frustrating to see during tt matches.

I was also very pleased to see Mr Barry Hearn, interviewed by Dan : ) There must be something about the ping pong match atmosphere if the Matchroom is promoting it. Maybe AJ could start playing tt/pp :)
 
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imagine the difference the not so well educated spectators see when they watches 3 ball-long points in TT to twice as long dramatic smashes on ping pong... but maybe that has a silver lining. They'll watch the ping pong cause it's much more entertaining, will try the game themselves, the ones who enjoy it the most will improve and eventually drift to a more complex and rewarding game of TT

Agreed. Even as a TT fan however, there is something enjoyable about switching gears from a technical game to a stamina game. It’s dumb but fun, and I love the energy and the non-seriousness.

Also, apparently one of the players form China played tt against ZJK when he was younger. So we know there are some skilled players.
 
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it was @Brs who noted, that sports basically can be described as a spectator and participation ones, tt being the latter... Still, imho tt has every potential to become a fully spectators sport too, not only the participation one.

that's a very nice idea about spectators and players sports and somehow when you articulated it, seems quite obvious. Not so sure if TT has a potential to became a fully spectators sport though. From what I've seen Ping Pong has much better chances, not a TT in its calssical form at least. T2 did some job in switching it to more pro spectators directions, also there is TTX...

Another argument goes like, making tt less technical is basically dumming the sport.[/QUOTE] Agreed. That shouldn't be done Imho. Maybe that's not a popular view, but I would say TT and PingPong could coexist side by side. One more technical, one easier. You start with an easier and if you want to, you can progress to a more technical one.
 
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