2 Korean Natl Div 1 Level Players BH Blast Battle - ZERO Short Serves

[latej]

However, if you try to drink their preferred drink of SOJU (a fermented potato drink 15-20% alc) then you had better be a well seasoned Soju Warrior... because you will drink the first bottle or two, get up to piss, and fall flat on your face... all the while you are on the floor all passed out in proneposition, they are finishing their 4th bottle and are not even halfway there. That stuff will affect your brain and if you are not prepared for it, then that stuff will get you good. Obviously, I leave that stuff strictly alone. It just isn't for me... which is good, as there is more for the others to drink and enjoy.

Interesting. I didn't know you can adapt to specific drink.

But when I said that the vacation would be cool, I meant more the other stuff & TT happenings. We have a very good beer culture here. People from club get together, say 6-8, we buy 30L beer kanister, but we are very particular about which beer and which strength, and we don't mix.

What is great is that in Korea it seems many more people play TT, happenings are bigger and more often (well, in normal times). That's great.

 

[Der_Echte]

Good to do stuff together as a unit and be particular about quality of drink.

 

[latej]

More so than overall effectiveness of his FH in that match, I would say he was VERY not too confident to step around his BH corner to use his Div 1 level FH strong topspin shot... I REALLY DOUBT that it is because he is weak at that task... ALL DIV 1 National level players have a MASSIVE FH step around attack... I really doubt it is because he did not have that tool.

I know what you are saying. They both are in later stages, and must have quality. As usual, when you see others, they don't look so good, until you see yourself again, now they look good...

You're right sometimes he wins with FH, say 5:33. I think the problem with his FH starts because he doesn't stand right. I think he knows it is good to stand low, and when he receives or the point starts, he is low, but he is not able to maintain the low stance for the duration of the exchange. She maintains the low stance much better.

See some FHs, 4:59, 5:10, 5:57, 6:35, 7:15, 12:06. In particular look at 12:06. He manages to hit and win, but. His feet are too close to each other, as a result he is a bit too high. Worse is the orientation of the right foot. It points to the table, if the foot is like that, you can't quite rotate your body (to prepare). If the foot was more like parallel to table edge, he'd be able to put more body rotation and quality to the hit. He'd also be more easily able to go wider and lower.

 

[Music&Ping]

Yup, a 2300 level playeris not an elite amateur in USA either, and especially in just about any nation in Europe...

I think you did not understand my point: if there were a conversion table, 2300 USATT would be 1900 FFTT here, and even less in Korea. Here a 2300 FFTT plays in Nationale 2 at least, so that means a 2300 FFTT is at least a 2700 USATT.

 

[Der_Echte]

A 2700 USATT player would be a top player in the semi-pro Korean system on one of the city teams.

Upper 2700 USATT will get you a slot on one of the Korean pro teams.

You will need to be mid to upper 2800s to have a slot on the national team.

My Point was that 2300 USATT is cetainly not an elite level in any European nation, and like you pointed out, not really anywhere close to it.

However, in the Korean Amateur system (Lifetime Sports System), where you pretty much have to learn TT as an adult, 2300 USATT is a real achievement very few make. The ones who were never school atheletes never really make it to 2500 USATT...

 

[bzing]

He's got a good illegal backhand serve.

 

[Der_Echte]

Yup, his toss isn't even a toss, just raising of the hand and dropping it... a LOT of players do that on BH serves. Korean amateur players, especially the old school crowd played when there were no such serve rules, except impact ball behind endline... these do not care a flying eff about what ITTF says... and on a certain level, that is right.

Another thing to know is these "umpires" you see in the Korean matches are just other players in the group stage or whatever bystander they could ask to keep score. Ironically, the gent flipping the score here is the same one who one his singles match as Pro Player Div player in the team event in this national tourney.

The lady also serves illegally, but her serve is more "clean". She drops ball below the table by a few cm or sometimes more.

Sometimes, in these large tourneys, the finals will have an actual umpire.

All in all, despite this serve trouble stuff, playing TT and competing in tourneys in Korea is an absolute blast of a time that may not be equalled elsewhere in the world.