ITTF-ATTU Asian Teams Championships 2025, Bhubaneswar, 10/11-15

[NextLevel]

And I’m sure absolutely nobody blasted LJK for being too big and slow. I’m sure he never improved his physique and movement at all during his career (skinny LJK came out at times and was a BEAST).

My main point is that he (Liang) worked on his issues. You are acting like Sora has not worked on his issues. Some never do but when you are young you are always given the benefit of doubt. What happened to all the people who said Liang was too fat to ever get into good enough shape to be a great player?

 

[ThePongCommenter]

It has always been a cause for concern. But in today's match, his natural body's language issue was completely understandable and his regression completely justifiable given how he felt about games 2 and 4. Its like saying you have an alcoholic whose wife just died and he relapses after 2 years sober and you go "No way he should have done that". He messed up and will continue to work.

So there was progress on the issue? I don't pay close enough attention to the issue but seems like fairly recent examples still come to mind.

 

[NextLevel]

What i am looking for is how the ABC team lost after all the marvelous advantages of ABC and Liang sitting cold for three matches.

 

[NextLevel]

So there was progress on the issue? I don't pay close enough attention to the issue but seems like fairly recent examples still come to mind.

He had his first 0-2 comeback recently. He also had the last round against Cho where he had to fight off a comeback. He is clearly a bit too negative when he is struggling and writes of his day and body language. But getting someone to develop mental fortitude takes time and the right experience. 18 is not that age where bad experiences are immutable.

There are many adults who think like him. He is just on TV. The key is repeated mindset coaching. Developing more capabilities and ways to win points. Sometimes mental issuss are subtle technical and game reading errors in disguise

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

wow... something told me to not open up TTD and just watch the China vs Japan match when I got home.

truly unbelievable. most stressful and intense teams match of my life.

 

[joshmak10]

My main point is that he worked on his issues. You are acting like Spra has not worked on his issues. Some never do but when you are young you are always given the benefit of doubt. What happened to the people l who said Liang eas too fat to ever get into food enough shape to be a great player?

Even if he has worked on it, it’s definitely not enough to stop it happening in such a high stakes match. I hope for his sake that Kishikawa starts working on this immediately and more intensively

 

[NextLevel]

Even if he has worked on it, it’s definitely not enough to stop it happening in such a high stakes match. I hope for his sake that Kishikawa starts working on this immediately and more intensively

You are probably a young guy who has not been burdened with life, or just a lucky person. People who have know that it is precisely moments like this where even your best efforts let you down and you have to work harder. But there is no resting spot at the top of a heavenly mountain, you will often fall from the top repeatedly to different spots and have to climb back up repeatedly. It's people who have never really fought to win at something that think success is a flat resting top on a mountain. He is going to be dealing with this issue for a lot of his life until sufficiently large success either makes it moot or makes it at least manageable. His biggest problem is that it is something that manifests while he is playing, if it was something that happened in interviews or training, it would be easier to hide.

 

[NextLevel]

wow... something told me to not open up TTD and just watch the China vs Japan match when I got home.

truly unbelievable. most stressful and intense teams match of my life.

The most exciting I have ever watched and I am most disappointed because I really thought Sora was going to do it before the end of game 2. Then Liang "Hydra" Jingkun grew a new head and it just became a slog....

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

yep, by the end I couldn't even be upset, LJK turned it on and his celebration when he closed it out showed what it meant

 

[NextLevel]

yep, by the end I couldn't even be upset, LJK turned it on and his celebration when he closed it out showed what it meant

I was too busy going to a job interview to be upset but I clearly was lol.

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

 

[NextLevel]

View attachment 38517

IMHO, its clear when you look at the scores that the last two games were more about something Liang figured out than about what Sora did wrong. Room for growth if fixable. As one of my favorite tennis coaches once said, people like to turn technical problems into mental problems. But when your technique becomes more reliable, the mental issues sometimes magically vanish.

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

Wang Hao saved the day with timeout in G2

 

[NextLevel]

Wang Hao saved the day with timeout in G2

The time out recovery didn't fully kick in for a long time so I don't know about that. The time out definitely helped Liang stabilize but his comeback powers were the MVP, coming back from either 6-10 or 7-10 was just insane. Once he saved the second game, it made the rest easier even if he still lost the 3rd.

 

[NextLevel]

If anyone wants to watch the craziest and highest level competitive Teams match of this decade and possibly this century, the link is here:

 

[JackJohnson]

If anyone wants to watch the craziest and highest level competitive Teams match of this decade and possibly this century, the link is here:

Didn’t someone say the last 2 hours/2 games of the match were cut off?

 

[JackJohnson]

I have been thinking about what other sports/matches would be the equivalent to what we just witness from that Japan vs China table tennis team match.

Probably these two matches of cricket would be the equivalent to what we just witness.

Any other sports/matches that you can think of?

 

[rpb23]

View attachment 38517

Notice, all the matches went to distance, especially the first match with all games decided by the thinnest margin.
This is probably the greatest team match at high stage for the last 10 or 20 years.

Realistically, in order for Japan to beat China, Tomo needs to beat two Chinese and his remaining two teammates need to take down one more Chinese. This time, Tomo's teammate Sora did his part but Tomo only won one match. Asking 18 year old Sora to be a hero is too much a burden placed on his young shoulder.

In one of previous team competitions against China, Tomo did knock out two Chinese (FZD and WCQ, I believe) but his teammates didn't do their part and Japan fell short.

Even without Ma Long and FZD, Chinese team is still tough to crack. Maybe in the near future, the winning formula I described above might happen. Good thing is time is on the Japanese side as compared to Chinese team, they are a younger team.

 

[NextLevel]

Notice, all the matches went to distance, especially the first match with all games decided by the thinnest margin.
This is probably the greatest team match at high stage for the last 10 or 20 years.

Realistically, in order for Japan to beat China, Tomo needs to beat two Chinese and his remaining two teammates need to take down one more Chinese. This time, Tomo's teammate Sora did his part but Tomo only won one match. Asking 18 year old Sora to be a hero is too much a burden placed on his young shoulder.

In one of previous team competitions against China, Tomo did knock out two Chinese (FZD and WCQ, I believe) but his teammates didn't do their part and Japan fell short.

Even without Ma Long and FZD, Chinese team is still tough to crack. Maybe in the near future, the winning formula I described above might happen. Good thing is time is on the Japanese side as compared to Chinese team, they are a younger team.

It wasn't too much for Sora, but I agree with you that it is perfectly okay when someone so young can't seize the opportunity.

The problem with time is that the talented Chinese juniors are still getting better - Ruibo Wen, Li Hechen etc. might not be so accomodating in a few years. The Japanese window is dependent on the fortunes of WCQ, LJK and LSD but I think it is open till 2028.

 

[NextLevel]

Didn’t someone say the last 2 hours/2 games of the match were cut off?

Youtube has a problem when a stream is over 12 hours long. It is something that a regular streamer who uses youtube would account for but not a single ATTU event that takes place once in a blue moon.