Young Chinese generation more dominant due to plastic ball?

[MaLang]

So, while watching Swedish Open and seeing Zhou Qihao taking down Liam Pitchford and Zhao Zihao taking down Mattias Falck I came across the thought that China might have actually benefit of the plastic ball change.
Could it be that China was just faster to adapt to technical and tactical changes necessary by the „now-not-so-new“ ball compared with other (especially European) associations. And especially the younger generation now has a technical and tactical edge over the majority of foreign players.

I know, Chinese players always have been very strong in international competition. This year however even more Chinese players (especially aged 24 and younger) breeze through qualifiers into main draw. Last year there was only 1 WT event with 8 Chinese players im Main Draw. This Year Japan and Australia featured 9 players and Sweden and Hungary even 10 players in the Round of 32.

What do you think about that? Or do you think it‘s just a coincidence that China has a lot more talent born around 1996-1999 that now pops off on the scene?

[vik2000]

Tough to say at this time but it's quite disappointing to see all these top non-Chinese players losing to Chinese lower tier players early on.

[zeio]

That's how it's always been. Sparring partners from China used to beat the top players from other countries all the time.

This started roughly from the mid-2000s, when the generation of WLQ, MLin and WH became so strong(or rest of the world became so weak like I've always stressed) that you had a really hard time seeing anyone take a game off of them. Between 2008 and 2012, it got to the point that China could send out B-team players and still beat everyone, including Boll.

Now, the generation of ML(oldest to achieve Grand Slam), ZJK(despite achieving Grand Slam in the shortest time), XX are actually late-bloomers, compared to the previous generation of WLQ, MLin and WH. Those 2 generations overlapped until 2013, which literally overshadowed the next generation of Fang Bo, Yan An, and Zhou Yu. By the time the generation of FB, YA and ZY entered its prime between 2015 and 2017, the latest generation of FZD, LGY and LJK were already on the rise, essentially driving them out.

[zeio]

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/for...nnis-Is-Sealed

Back to table tennis, similar to Li Yongbo, LGL took advantage of the fame after Rio in much the same way. His negligence of Japan and Kong Linghui's problematic management of the women's team led to Miu Hirano winning at the World Cup and the ATTC. At this point, things were panning out more or less the same way it did for badminton.

What's worse is that after KLH's departure, LGL was forcibly removed without any apparent reason. Though he was quoted saying he could retire after Rio but sometime later said he didn't want to go into politics, which was the career path for Cai Zhenhua. He probably saw that coming. Either way, in the 1 year and 3 months without him, opinions that China's dominance is in decline have popped up more and more. The limited success enjoyed by Germany, Japan, and South Korea support that notion. LGL has said before that China is so strong because they have the world's best coaching team. Koki Niwa has mentioned multiple times that Chinese players have this aura around them. For a while, China lost both and appeared vulnerable. You could sense the entire team was in disarray.

But with LGL's return now, that fear of China will be reinforced. It's hard to imagine he will make the same mistake again. That's what I mean by the end of Euro-Jap table tennis. And people in China see that, too.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/for...l=1#post238160

OTOH, this competition-oriented approach doesn't sit well with the CNT. They have to field their B team players to the World Tour WAY more than before, many of which are supposed to play the role of copy players, serving the few cream-of-the-crop players. The "no separation of association" is completely at odds with their central idea of working as a team. Now you have these copy players thinking "perhaps I have a chance to make it big, too." You could sense the team spirit is not as solid anymore.

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Just checked that Guo Yan video ! Very interesting !

[Hamasaki_Fanz]

Just checked that Guo Yan video ! Very interesting !

which one?

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Look at Any of Zeio’s post. In his signature he has a link

[Lula]

I think the new ball suit the more robot like game by the chinese more.

[Loopadoop]

Evidently the rest of the world, hasn't adapted as well to the plastic ball.

[Creek]

I think Chinese players have always had more of a straight hitting/ hard topspin style, while europeans more tend to play with rotation and slower strokes. This is also related to the rubbers that are used.
With the plastic ball and the lower rotation that can be generated with it, the Chinese style is favored. Therefore we will most likely see a switch of style in Europe to a more Chinese-like style in the next years to catch up. But that takes time and wont be seen in the next 5-10 years...

[sampletext]

So, while watching Swedish Open and seeing Zhou Qihao taking down Liam Pitchford and Zhao Zihao taking down Mattias Falck I came across the thought that China might have actually benefit of the plastic ball change.
Could it be that China was just faster to adapt to technical and tactical changes necessary by the „now-not-so-new“ ball compared with other (especially European) associations. And especially the younger generation now has a technical and tactical edge over the majority of foreign players.

I know, Chinese players always have been very strong in international competition. This year however even more Chinese players (especially aged 24 and younger) breeze through qualifiers into main draw. Last year there was only 1 WT event with 8 Chinese players im Main Draw. This Year Japan and Australia featured 9 players and Sweden and Hungary even 10 players in the Round of 32.

What do you think about that? Or do you think it‘s just a coincidence that China has a lot more talent born around 1996-1999 that now pops off on the scene?

Its probably just because, 1, China has research teams to counter the change. 2, Table tennis is their national sport. I'm pretty sure no other nation's national sport is table tennis, so their dominance is to be expected. Think about it, everyone knows the sport and has probably played it, every city has major table tennis clubs, and there is so much competition. The players in China have to go through a "Natural Selection" between thousands of players to produce the best of China. In Europe, there is less competition and maybe players haven't been playing since they were super young compared to China.

So, I just think that China is the most dominant because they have to go through tough competition combined with their amazing research team.

[Caxoera]

When I was a kid (20 years ago) I remember to hear a myth that the really good chinese players only played chinese tournaments because they were too good for the rest of the world and only the B team played worldwide. Until today I’m not 100% sure its just a myth or not....

[sampletext]

When I was a kid (20 years ago) I remember to hear a myth that the really good chinese players only played chinese tournaments because they were too good for the rest of the world and only the B team played worldwide. Until today I’m not 100% sure its just a myth or not....

I don't know for sure if only the b team would play international, but looking at the Chinese Super League, it is probably true.

[Baal]

My theory is that any rules change, no matter what it is, will always favor the Chinese.

The reason is because of the almost infinite depth of talent that they have means that there will always be some incredibly talented young player who has been effectively a professional since about age 9 who has a style that is almost perfectly suited for whatever new thing the ITTF comes up with. And of course they have armies of PhDs studying the new rules and balls from every possible angle, and video analysis, sports analytics, physical therapists, armies of coaches etc. et., and at the end of the day, no other country is willing to devote the same resources to it.

It is in periods of stability that other countries can come to represent more of a challenge.