ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals Busan 2024

[mikeytt]

Haven't seen a thread made for the tournament yet, games have just started live on WTT YouTube

 

[TensorBackhand]

SYS playing now!

 

[TensorBackhand]

SYS already struggling against the chopper. And loses the first game!

 

[turbozed]

SYS playing now!

Unexpected start for Team China with Mukherjee somehow taking the first set with soft chops and pushes

 

[zeio]

KOR vs POL
JWJ 0-2 -> 3-2 M. Kubik

JWJ playing like crap in match 1 of round 1 in first WTTC in South Korea is totally unexpected.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/oshima-vs-harimoto-4-3.20062/post-257563

Not really. You don't need a counter game plan for that. If you've followed the scene long enough, you'd notice that South Korean players are among the streakiest, yet have produced many if not the most powerful upsets in memory. Many of them share one common trait - high risk, high reward all-out step-around. Notable players from other countries are Gatien at WTTC 1993, Schlager at WTTC 2003 and Aruna at World Cup 2014 and Rio Olympics. Fang Bo at WTTC 2015 is another. The catch here is the high demand on form and stamina. That's why you see these players deviate a lot. But when that condition is met, this tactical style is the most disruptive. Coupled with the intense pressure, it's very hard to deal with and recover from.

Now the problem is you can never be certain when it'll be coming ahead of time. In the same manner, the player who chooses to play like this will also find it hard to get started. Ito is the latest example.

 

[TensorBackhand]

SYS clearly having trouble with the LP. Not getting any rhythm.

I'm still calling for a level playing field

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

SYS in trouble against Mukherjee. Down 1-2 in a bo5. Maybe the future threat doesn't come from Japan but from India.

 

[jfolsen]

SYS clearly having trouble with the LP. Not getting any rhythm.

I'm still calling for a level playing field

It's frictionless antispin. Probably not something she practices against very often.

 

[TensorBackhand]

It's frictionless antispin. Probably not something she practices against very often.

If Ayhika wins, she is the best player in the world and will be favorite to win the Olympics.
I'm so sick of these players coming out of nowhere with some random rubber setup that nobody has practiced against. It's just not fair. Everybody should have the same type of rubber in the same event. You aren't allowed to swim freestyle in a breastroke race. And you can't use rubber on one side of your pickleball racket. Everybody has to use the same equipment that follows the same rules of physics.

 

[zeio]

CHN vs IND
SYS 1-3 A. Mukherjee
G4 42, 46, 66, 67 SYS served off the table, 68 dead net for Mukherjee, 611

 

[mikeytt]

Wow already a huge upset, that antispin (?) looked nasty to play against

 

[TensorBackhand]

Greatest talent I have ever seen! Amazing skill to defeat the current/former world #1. Ayhika will be favorite to win the Olympics.

 

[jfolsen]

In addition to the antispin she has medium pips on her forehand.

 

[turbozed]

If Ayhika wins, she is the best player in the world and will be favorite to win the Olympics.
I'm so sick of these players coming out of nowhere with some random rubber setup that nobody has practiced against. It's just not fair. Everybody should have the same type of rubber in the same event. You aren't allowed to swim freestyle in a breastroke race. And you can't use rubber on one side of your pickleball racket. Everybody has to use the same equipment that follows the same rules of physics.

I'd be surprised if the CNT didn't know about or didn't practice specifically against their opponent's rubber type. I'm guessing that SYS and CNT just didn't take the Mukherjee threat seriously enough to devote much time for it. Almost all of Team India is using pips or something unusual on the backhand, so it's a bit odd to think that they've got some unfair advantage.

3-1 Mukherjee against SYS. The Mukherjees had impressive women's doubles results recently, but this an almost unbelievable win.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

SUN Yingsha looked lost like me playing a LP player at my local tournament

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

Hmmmm... maybe Japan should have fielded Kyoka Idesawa.

 

[dingyibvs]

If Ayhika wins, she is the best player in the world and will be favorite to win the Olympics.
I'm so sick of these players coming out of nowhere with some random rubber setup that nobody has practiced against. It's just not fair. Everybody should have the same type of rubber in the same event. You aren't allowed to swim freestyle in a breastroke race. And you can't use rubber on one side of your pickleball racket. Everybody has to use the same equipment that follows the same rules of physics.

It's not like she hasn't played against anti before, she just wasn't well prepared for the match. I put the failure on Ma Lin, he's just terrible, I don't know how he's still the coach for the women's team. No coach has ever had a worse record coming out of a time out than him, it's literally a meme on Chinese boards. Ma Lin calls a time out and everyone goes "uh oh".

SYS had no adjustments the whole game. She could've tried to push less, for example, adopt a push/loop cycle or even a loop everything long strategy, instead she pushed until she could get a FH in. She could've stopped driving everything to Ayhika's FH and change it up and drive more to the middle and BH. She could've flicked Ayhika's anti services, both FH and BH. She tried none of that. I don't think she's so lacking in experience as to make these simple adjustments, and even if she did Ma Lin should've directed her to change it up. I can only conclude that it's Ma Lin who directed her to play with the tactics she did.

 

[turbozed]

At least now when JamesZ comes by complaining about the inverted rubber cabal making sure pips aren't disruptive enough, we have something to point to prove they can, indeed, be very disruptive.

 

[zeio]

In the mean time, Hayata is still expecting her first win...

Hayata 0 H2H 12 SYS

Hayata: Sample size is mysteriously strong only when playing me.

 

[TensorBackhand]

I'd be surprised if the CNT didn't know about or didn't practice specifically against their opponent's rubber type. I'm guessing that SYS and CNT just didn't take the Mukherjee threat seriously enough to devote much time for it. Almost all of Team India is using pips or something unusual on the backhand, so it's a bit odd to think that they've got some unfair advantage.

3-1 Mukherjee against SYS. The Mukherjees had impressive women's doubles results recently, but this an almost unbelievable win.

See that's what's stupid. preparing for LP or antispin is a full time job. You would need months of preparation and training to really understand every detail of how the rubber responds. But they may face 20 different players. There's no way to prepare for every version of unusual rubber. Fundamentally the demand is just unfair.