Kuwait Open 2016

[fanTT]

Personally for me it would be interesting to hear interview with Mizutani after his match against XX. What was his mind during whole match and in the last points.

 

[TableTennisDaily]

NOW LIVE: The biggest MATCH of the year! Ma Long vs Zhang Jike! Come and join us in the chat lounge. Live streaming here: http://www.tabletennisdaily.co.uk/livestreaming/

 

[fanTT]

If ZJK will win this or be closely to it he will definately go to RIO.

 

[JooLoureno]

Zhang Jike is back!!! He is ready to win the next Olympics!!!

 

[TurboZ]

Too bad my internet is acting up tonight and it is like watching a slide show rather than any action for me. Congrat for a ZJK reborn. It is common to see ML 4:0 his opponents but I wonder when was the last time he suffer a lost of 1:4.

 

[TableTennisDaily]

Zhang Jike is the 2016 Kuwait Open Champion defeating Ma Long by 4 sets to 1!

 

[anchorschmidt]

First time I've seen Ma Long under pressure from an opponent in a long long time. The last time was perhaps in the German Open in 2015 against ZJK, or perhaps against FZD at some point.

ZJK played very cleverly. Varied his backhand flick very well. A lot of them were blocked into the net by Ma Long or blocked off the table. ZJK's short game is very very solid.

Ma Long had some success attacking the wide backhand or the middle. ZJK was varying his placement in the rally so much that it was hard for Ma Long to get into his usual unstoppable rhythm.

 

[necax007]

I always have the feeling that ZJK top form vs ML top form, ZJK is better. I don't know why i think that. Maybe because ZJK game is more fluid or because is footwork. But i truly believe that if he was more often in top form he would be the best player in the world.

 

[Lucas Nascimento]

He will play against xu xin, poor calderano hahah

Sent from my 2014819 using Tapatalk

Hahaha, we always have some hope, but even with the failure Calderano showed a very good style of play, competing same level in the first 3 sets! But XX's level, have to admit, it's damn higher...

 

[bzing]

I think the reason Zhang Jike won because he's got a better service so he kept Ma Long guessing, while at the same time Zhang Jike didn't have as much trouble receiving Ma Long's service. Not necessarily more powerful than Ma Long in producing top spin but perhaps better in getting into position.

 

[Xylit]

Not to forget that he won the men's doubles competition with Xu Xin as well. Great tournament from ZJK.

 

[TTLondon2012]

Ma Long vs Zhang Jike (Final)

 

[Ilia Minkin]

Karakasevic makes some noise!

[video]http://coub.com/view/bgxd7[/video]

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

One thing I can say, Ma Long did not fall apart emotionally as ZJK built his lead. A year ago, if you was down 3-1 and all the games were that close but he lost, he would have been an emotional train wreck by the last game.


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[ttmonster]

Or may be he did a better job of hiding it. Also, Zhang Jike is playing a completely different game to protect his body. It seems suddenly his serve and receive game has matured beyond the other CNT players , he practically won it with his receive and backhand without ever resorting to anything physical. It was kind of like watching Ma Lin ....

One thing I can say, Ma Long did not fall apart emotionally as ZJK built his lead. A year ago, if you was down 3-1 and all the games were that close but he lost, he would have been an emotional train wreck by the last game.


Sent from Deep Space by Abacus

 

[Xylit]

What do you guys think about the rumors that a lot of matches where two chinese players face each other are fake? Like this final for example? I can understand where the conspiracists are coming from. No cho-ing, no emotions after the match, it looked like an intense training match. Why would Ma Long be so stupid and play backhand-to-backhand rallies against ZJK five sets long? He cannot win that. It is like he wanted to train that with ZJK.

I'm not saying I believe those rumors (this would be too sad) but I can really understand what some people think about matches like this.

 

[ttmonster]

I don't think we should belittle somebody's achievement using wild speculation. The last Pro Tour event ( german open ) where Zhang Jike and Ma Long met in the Semis , Jike lost and clearly told in his facebook account that his physical condition was not good and he thought Ma Long had a better chance against Samsonov in the Finals. Yes, there is a history of giving up matches in the CNT but that was a long time back in the 80's when CNT members were asked to throw matches against North Korea and such as a good will gesture. I don't think its the case here. Also, Jike did not just win one match win against Ma Long, he beat FZD , Obtcharov, Karakesevic on his way to the finals, none of which would be fixed

What do you guys think about the rumors that a lot of matches where two chinese players face each other are fake? Like this final for example? I can understand where the conspiracists are coming from. No cho-ing, no emotions after the match, it looked like an intense training match. Why would Ma Long be so stupid and play backhand-to-backhand rallies against ZJK five sets long? He cannot win that. It is like he wanted to train that with ZJK.

I'm not saying I believe those rumors (this would be too sad) but I can really understand what some people think about matches like this.

 

[Archosaurus]

While I'm not one to jump onto a conspiracy theory, I must say that Ma Long's form was awfully wonky in that match. It really looks like he was trying to throw his loops long.

 

[ttmonster]

Like everything else Archosauraus , you know more about Ma Long's loop than Ma Long does himself

While I'm not one to jump onto a conspiracy theory, I must say that Ma Long's form was awfully wonky in that match. It really looks like he was trying to throw his loops long.

 

[NextLevel]

What do you guys think about the rumors that a lot of matches where two chinese players face each other are fake? Like this final for example? I can understand where the conspiracists are coming from. No cho-ing, no emotions after the match, it looked like an intense training match. Why would Ma Long be so stupid and play backhand-to-backhand rallies against ZJK five sets long? He cannot win that. It is like he wanted to train that with ZJK.

I'm not saying I believe those rumors (this would be too sad) but I can really understand what some people think about matches like this.

IMO, they obviously have merit. The Kuwait Open is not going to make anyone play their best per se. And ZJK had lost so many points in the past year that his seeding needed to be fixed.