WTT Houston Disaster

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For those of you who missed out on attending the WTT in Houston, you didn't miss anything. As expected, the event organization is a disaster in Houston.

​​​​​​There were two different lines to check in at the convention center but no one working there knew what each line was for. One security guard told me he had no idea what was going on. They let people into the main hall and then ejected them and told them to come back at 10:30.

More egregious is the fact that Hall B3 has 9 out of the ten tables (the main assembly has only one table), but you can can't sit anywhere close to 6 of the tables because they only have seating on two sides, not all around. You're at least a few hundred feet away from those tables. So if you want to watch any of the matches at those tables, it's better to stream the matches on the internet and tolerate WTT horrible side angle view.

The only good side of the mismanagement is that you can sit wherever you want since no one's really checking. If you bought the vip or premium seats, you really paid for nothing.
 
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So they run the horrible side angle view for the WTTC as well... Since they've started doing the side angle in the other events, I've been unable to watch any of their matches. Their side angle is just intolerable for me to watch so they've ruined it completely for me.
 
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I thought the US would want to prove themselves a bit as a big nation in general, show that they are a tabletennis nation to take serious and promote the sport in the US but noo? or it seems pretty sloppy arranged?
 
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I would want to know who organized and is operating the event first before I say much. Such disorganization would be almost trademark for my national association, but maybe they are not involved at all.

I see Lula why you would be skeptical and disappointed. I do not believe the OP is making anything up.
 
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USATT can't even manage itself. It's just like the US car industry, which has absolutely nothing to do with funding.

So nice of CTTA to support their bidding for WTTC 2021 just because it's the 50th anniversary of Ping Pong Diplomacy.

https://mytabletennis.net/forum/for...4&title=usatt-something-really-stinks#1059154
The US is a 9.5-time World Champion, albeit in the hardbat era. Yet, I don't ever see the legacy, not to mention its revival, mentioned in any of the strategic plan for USATT. In 2009, the following was put forward. 10 years later, where are the promises?
...Ten years from now, other sports' NGBs will meet and ask themselves, "How can we grow our sport like Table Tennis did?"
 
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"I mean let's be fair, tennis and badminton already use that other (awful) angle for absolutely no reason so this is a great opportunity for TT to stand out. Also, sports like football or hockey can't be doing it wrong" - whoever came up with the side angle

are you serious or this is just sarcasm? cause that viewing angle is terrible. imagine watching table tennis for the first time with that horrible angle and quitting because of this. I really don't understand why they keep this angle, even on youtube's comment on recap of day 1 every one was complaining about this

 
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Brs

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I love the side angle view and watch 10x more TT since WTT brought it in. The only time I went to a live ITTF event at first I sat behind the courts because I was used to only seeing one guy's back while he waved his arm at some invisible thing in front of him. The second day I realized that was stupid and went to sit behind the umpire. Then I could finally see the serve and receive.
 
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are you serious or this is just sarcasm? cause that viewing angle is terrible. imagine watching table tennis for the first time with that horrible angle and quitting because of this. I really don't understand why they keep this angle, even on youtube's comment on recap of day 1 every one was complaining about this

that's how I imagine their meeting to decide on the angle change went :)

 
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I love the side angle view and watch 10x more TT since WTT brought it in. The only time I went to a live ITTF event at first I sat behind the courts because I was used to only seeing one guy's back while he waved his arm at some invisible thing in front of him. The second day I realized that was stupid and went to sit behind the umpire. Then I could finally see the serve and receive.

you could see through the umpire with your x-ray eyes? ;-) The old angle never had any problem with what you describe, the camera position was well high enough to see everything except maybe an occasional bh serve. Unlike my satirical argument suggests, there's very good reason why racket sports use the same angle. That is, until now they did

 
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Can someone post some videos of this & also some videos of how to do it correctly (which view) ?

Why can't they use cameras at multiple angles liek in other sports ?

How is this going to be done at Chengdu World Championships next week ?

In major events such as the Olympic they used multiple cameras, especially in replay. I guess it all depends on the budget of the event. See the Mens final below (look at the third point), they used a high-angle camera but replay using a lower-angle camera

 
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I just don't understand how some people like the side angle. Imagine at a tennis match sitting at the "50 yd line" you would constantly be moving your head side to side just to follow the ball. Then you miss the players movement without the ball and can't see how they prepare to hit each stroke. Not only that side angle view flattens the curves so you can't really see how much the ball path curves. In TT that's like the most important part of the game.

I'm sure they do it because they can prominently display sponsor ads but there has to be another way to display ads on angled views.
 
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You only stated a problem (which I somewhat agree with you about having to move your head side to side in a sport faster than tennis is some ways) but did not propose a solution. What is your best proposed solution, if you have one ?

Your country (USA)'s national championshiips 2022 showed view from back of a player which was horrible.
Not that I did not enjoy watching women's events with this view ( my mind is in the gutter as is most men & women) but was horrible tabletennis wise

Well I thought that was obvious. The solution would be to have the camera angle off axis. At a diagonal where most of the early rounds of the tournaments have placed them. You can see most of the playing area and don't need to move your head/eyes at all. You would be able to see ball path much more precisely.

You do realize that the "country" is not responsible for camera placement? Right?

 

Brs

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I just don't understand how some people like the side angle. Imagine at a tennis match sitting at the "50 yd line" you would constantly be moving your head side to side just to follow the ball. Then you miss the players movement without the ball and can't see how they prepare to hit each stroke. Not only that side angle view flattens the curves so you can't really see how much the ball path curves. In TT that's like the most important part of the game.

Okay I'll try to answer this. I like the side angle because imo play over the table has become the most important part of the game. And you see everything over the table from the side view, but very little from the diagonal.

I hope we all agree the view from directly behind a player where all you see is their back is the worst.

To state the obvious about the tennis analogy, the table is really small, tennis courts are big. Maybe you watch on a 70" tv or smth. On my laptop I can watch the side angle with no problems.

And finally, the only time when I went to a live ITTF event, 2019 Austrian Open, I found I had by far the best view from the side, behind the umpire.

So those are the reasons I prefer the side angle. I can live with the diagonal that many people prefer.

 
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Thanks for proposing a solution.

However I am sitting here in Adelaide, Australia wondering what made you infer that I meant to even remotely suggest that your (whole) country (USA) was responsible.
All I said was your country's national championship. I never meant to imply or propose any conspiracy theory that Donald J Trump passed legislation during his presidency on camera angles unearthed by FBI in the top secret documents found at his Palm Beach motel that proves widespread voter fraud by illegal aliens (from other galaxies) at ballot boxes causing him to lose the 2020 election

When you say "your country" it specifically points to a group. If you would have said "during the US championships" it wouldn't have pointed towards anything specific. Which is how I inferred that you were specifying responsibility. Although I wouldn't put it past the Donald for conspiring to corrupt the tournament even though he wasn't the president at the time.

 
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