Lost interest in WTT

[RGo]

I think your answer perfectly demonstrates why I find your notion of "hitting a wall" a bit absurd. If being the 3rd to 5th best player in the world isn't good enough for you to consider them, then sure, he has hit a wall, but in that case, 99.99% of players never reached the wall.

 

[kaikaii]

I think your answer perfectly demonstrates why I find your notion of "hitting a wall" a bit absurd. If being the 3rd to 5th best player in the world isn't good enough for you to consider them, then sure, he has hit a wall, but in that case, 99.99% of players never reached the wall.

I get your point, definitely. But I think you slightly misunderstand what I'm getting at. Were they world number 5 for a couple of months because they played a bunch of tournaments? Sure. Are they a flagbearer for European table tennis, and does even a very casual fan know their name? Probably not. That's what I'm saying I feel has changed.

 

[RGo]

Are they a flagbearer for European table tennis, and does even a very casual fan know their name? Probably not. That's what I'm saying I feel has changed.

No, but I don't think any of these you mentioned were ever the flagbearers of European TT. In the case of Ovtchariv, he simply had the misfortune of being the number 2 to the most prolific German player of all time, even when Dima was the better player.

And the honest truth about casual fans: No, they don't know these names because the only names they might know are probably Timo Boll and Ma Long, and maybe some other name if it is on the handle of their racket. This is just the nature of any niche sport, just like I know 0 squash or pickleball players because that's not how I engage with those hobbies. And if no one shoves these names into my face, then I will gladly live my life without ever knowing any of them. Nothing has changed here, this was always the case.

However, our young guys know Truls, the Lebrun brothers, and Darko Jorgic, because that's who they are looking up to. They aren't looking up to some old geezers who we liked in the 90s.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Yes, they are in their mid-30s now, but their decline started long ago. You can't say with a straight face that Ovtcharov has ever been the true world no.1🤣

Dima since his last injury has just never returned to his level.
When Dima was WR no 1, he was indeed the most feared player outside of China for the Chinese.
Dima's body has just been breaking down since then, and every time, the gear drops one level down.

Dima had a unique style with his serving stance and BH serve.
he didn't care for you to have full view of his serve and that was very interesting.

Germany still has a pretty strong domestic league, club base, memberships and fans.
I can't say the same for some of the other European players.
TT fan base is just so small.

It also doesn't help having China winning everything all the time.
For example - because Lin and Cheng won a mixed double olympic medal - guess what has happened?
corporate funding increased with their main sponsor - Taiwan Co-Bank. and it isn't just money for the top players, but overall money - that even elementary school players (never before) started to get funded. This is why Chinese Taipei has so many more youth on world tours today than, ever before. Including U11 and U13 (never before)
If that medal didn't happen, I doubt there would be some cash injection.

In badminon, Tai (also sponsored by Taiwan Co-Op bank) is doing very well, and many kids are now wanting to play badminton, so table tennis and badminton is the hottest sports at the moment.

But in TT, China is taking everything away and when they say they are killing the sport, it does have repercussions on energy being diverted else where. This includes from within China too.
Hence CTTA is on a mission to try and help non Chinese players and to make TT more interesting, but to me, it is a bit too late. Especially with WTT more focusing on Asia and rich Chinese or Asian businesses.

There are few lonely warriors out there that can challenge the Chinese, but collectively, there is way too many Chinese to beat and the last person to do 3 in a row was Miu Hirano.... and it doesn't happen often enough.

CTTA should really make a champions of champions league, with the 2 best super leagues teams from China, and some invitational teams from the top leagues. like an allstar team.
and have a "league" tournament and make it big. They should go away with "nation vs nation" and make it club vs club, or league vs league.

 

[lodro]

You do realize why they changed to the larger ball??? It's supposed to make it easier for spectators to see the ball

paint or mark the balls with dots, for example, even use the ones that are half white half orange. Then both the public and dopey old gits will be able to see the spin 😂

 

[Gtsnake]

paint or mark the balls with dots, for example, even use the ones that are half white half orange. Then both the public and dopey old gits will be able to see the spin 😂

They tried the half colored balls and I heard the pros didn't like them because it was too easy to read spin. Dots would just be a blur and no one would be able to see any difference.