Ma Long is the most deserving player for 2012 Olympics

[TableOhTennis]

yeah, anyone can be a threat to China.. Timo Boll, Ryu Seung Min, Kim Min Seok, Ovtcharov, Gao Ning, Joo Se Hyuk... I think these guys performed really great recently and maybe, right now they're working even harder.. and who knows, they might be a big surprise. You know a lot of things can happen in 7 or 8 months..

 

[david93fcb]

I actually don't even know anymore. There is no doubt that he used to be, but from the results of this year, and just how things are going, the Chinese team have studied Boll so much, and have played him enough that they are used to his game. None of the new Chinese players really have problems playing Boll anymore. I actually think mizutani causes more problems for some of the Chinese players more than Boll. Ovtarchov, and then the three young korean players all cause more of a problem for the Chinese players if for no other reason than they have played these players less and thus are less accustomed to their games, as opposed to Boll's game.

I do unterstand your point but I believe that Timo will be back.. he's been struggling with some injuries/illness lately which resulted in some rather poor results for his standard. He'll certainly be back for the Olympics and get to the semis..from there on, anything can happen. Timo Boll at his best can definitely beat Ma Long or ZJK, but it's indeed a high hurdle to jump over for him due to the bad match-up against Zhang. He's lost to him 3 times in a row now.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I agree with Wiwa's original point: Ma Long and Zhang Jike.

I think Ma Long and Zhang Jike are the two best players in the world right now. I think they will go to the Olympics. I think Wang Hao is just a small notch below them. But if any combination of those three go, they will probably not be beaten until the finals. Unless the ITTF or the Olympic committee does some bs magic trick with the seeding, the seeds from China should be #1 and #2 which means they would not meet each other until the finals. Unless something happens where one of them is really off, none of those three will lose to a non-Chinese player. Since Ma Long got on this roll he is on I do not think anyone has beaten Zhang Jike in the single elimination part of a tournament except Ma Long or Wang Hao. I think I can make the same statement about Wang Hao. And nobody has taken a match from Ma Long since he won that first tournament at the end of the summer.

I think it would be great for someone, anyone, to challenge the Chinese players. I see them get thrown off by someone having a different style than they are used to, or coming at them in a match, and they might drop a game or two. Like Ryu Seung Min took ONE game from Ma Long in a match where Ryu played great and surprised Ma Long in the first game. But then he still lost 4-1 and in each game Ma Long became more dominant.

I don't think anything is going to change in those regards at a "bigger" forum. Whoever the Chinese send between Ma Long, Zhang Jike and Wang Hao, they will be seeded #1 and #2 and they will probably get to the finals.

Mizutani loses 4-0 or 4-1 to any of those three regularly. I have not seen Timo win a tournament where the Chinese were there this year. Timo actually got lucky in the 2010 World Team Championships. Ma Long was crushing him and choked. He started playing tight. I have not seen that happen since he has been on this roll. It almost happened when he had Match point against Jike in the first tournament he won. He started playing tight and pushing the ball. That is also what Jike did when he had 5 match points on Wang Hao in the finals at the worlds. I think both of them have learned not to do that. They are both at their best when they are playing their game which means they are attacking everything they can.

 

[PlasmaLight]

Olympic Games are the last chance for Boll. If he fails, he will retire.

 

[paras.oriental]

Olympic Games are the last chance for Boll. If he fails, he will retire.

Guys I think we all are skipping one more important player who made his presence count in the recently held World Cup, ANd he is Joo Se Hyuk.

Joo defeated Boll to have a 3rd position. Boll Must tackle him before he meets the chinese players, and also Joo can be a threat to chinese as well , as he

maintains his great form and his accurate chops which are his ultimate weapon .

I am not saying he will win against them but can make them shiver their feet.

 

[WiWa]

Guys I think we all are skipping one more important player who made his presence count in the recently held World Cup, ANd he is Joo Se Hyuk.

Joo defeated Boll to have a 3rd position. Boll Must tackle him before he meets the chinese players, and also Joo can be a threat to chinese as well , as he

maintains his great form and his accurate chops which are his ultimate weapon .

I am not saying he will win against them but can make them shiver their feet.

Joo will never be a threat to Zhang Jike and Ma Long I think.
But for Boll there are more players to watch out for than for those two. Oh Sang Eun has a pretty good record against Boll, and his matches against Mizutani are often close as well. If I'm correct he lost to Joo in the Superleague as well. But with the current world ranking, Joo would be the 6th seed, which puts him in the top half I think. Boll as 3rd seed would be in the bottom half of the schedule.

 

[scylla24]

I do unterstand your point but I believe that Timo will be back.. he's been struggling with some injuries/illness lately which resulted in some rather poor results for his standard. He'll certainly be back for the Olympics and get to the semis..from there on, anything can happen. Timo Boll at his best can definitely beat Ma Long or ZJK, but it's indeed a high hurdle to jump over for him due to the bad match-up against Zhang. He's lost to him 3 times in a row now.

I think Ma Long actually will dominate Boll even more than ZJK. Before he was having trouble, but his new style of play is more about slowing things slight down compared with his old style of just pushing the pace. Now he aims better and has higher quality of shots, so his quality has gone up, where as his old style was more about just speed and quantity. I think in the China vs world match or whatever they played against each other, Ma Long after the first game pretty much dominated Boll, I think that type of result will be what we are most likely to see in the future between Ma Long and Zhang Jike.

 

[scylla24]

Joo will never be a threat to Zhang Jike and Ma Long I think.
But for Boll there are more players to watch out for than for those two. Oh Sang Eun has a pretty good record against Boll, and his matches against Mizutani are often close as well. If I'm correct he lost to Joo in the Superleague as well. But with the current world ranking, Joo would be the 6th seed, which puts him in the top half I think. Boll as 3rd seed would be in the bottom half of the schedule.

Yeah I have to agree, Joo might get lucky and throw off some other players, but he poses no threat to any of the the three Chinese players who might go. Even in his recent match against Boll, it was more a combination of Boll playing bad, Joo playing great, and thus pulled the upset, even with that, Joo only won in 7. In most circumstances Boll should win that match up.

Mizutani doesn't really pose a threat to Ma Long, but I think when he is playing well, and ZJK or Wang Hao are playing average, he has a chance to cause them a great deal of stress. I don't know how Ma Long would do against the apparently improved Ovtchov, but I don't see him having any really trouble. Despite Wang Hao actually losing to Ovtachov in the world teams, I think that match really should hold all that much weight in determining how they would do if they met up again. Wang showed he was more than capable in the world cup match, when the match is to 7. I think ZJK would have the most trouble against Ovtchov of the three, since ZJK's backhand, his main strong point also is Ovtchov's, so they match well against each other.

The three young koreans are unknown factors, because they definitely are really good, and the Chinese players haven't really played them that much, so they could be not use to their styles. ZJK already has lost once against one of them this year.

Its for these two main reasons that unlike many in this forum, I actually am not sure ZJK would be the better choice above Wang Hao to represent China.

 

[WiWa]

Yeah I have to agree, Joo might get lucky and throw off some other players, but he poses no threat to any of the the three Chinese players who might go. Even in his recent match against Boll, it was more a combination of Boll playing bad, Joo playing great, and thus pulled the upset, even with that, Joo only won in 7. In most circumstances Boll should win that match up.

Mizutani doesn't really pose a threat to Ma Long, but I think when he is playing well, and ZJK or Wang Hao are playing average, he has a chance to cause them a great deal of stress. I don't know how Ma Long would do against the apparently improved Ovtchov, but I don't see him having any really trouble. Despite Wang Hao actually losing to Ovtachov in the world teams, I think that match really should hold all that much weight in determining how they would do if they met up again. Wang showed he was more than capable in the world cup match, when the match is to 7. I think ZJK would have the most trouble against Ovtchov of the three, since ZJK's backhand, his main strong point also is Ovtchov's, so they match well against each other.

The three young koreans are unknown factors, because they definitely are really good, and the Chinese players haven't really played them that much, so they could be not use to their styles. ZJK already has lost once against one of them this year.

Its for these two main reasons that unlike many in this forum, I actually am not sure ZJK would be the better choice above Wang Hao to represent China.

Apart from the last line, I totally agree You also have to consider that the young Korean guns will most likely not participate in the Olympics. Korea only gets to send two players too. Those will most likely be Joo Se Hyuk and Oh Sang Eun/Ryu Seung Min. And if not I don't think Zhang would struggle with them on an occasion as serious as the Olympics. His motivation tends to be low when the occasion isn't big. This is a weak point of him, but since the Olympics are the biggest event in a year, I have no doubt that he will show his best performance there.

 

[scylla24]

Apart from the last line, I totally agree You also have to consider that the young Korean guns will most likely not participate in the Olympics. Korea only gets to send two players too. Those will most likely be Joo Se Hyuk and Oh Sang Eun/Ryu Seung Min. And if not I don't think Zhang would struggle with them on an occasion as serious as the Olympics. His motivation tends to be low when the occasion isn't big. This is a weak point of him, but since the Olympics are the biggest event in a year, I have no doubt that he will show his best performance there.

they might, but if they choose joo, oh, or ryu, I personally think they would be making a mistake in doing so. I would much rather send the unknown factors such as the three young koreans, who when they play well, can definitely cause problems for a whole host of players, if for no reason because people are not used to their style. That way they also get some great experience for the future.

 

[WiWa]

they might, but if they choose joo, oh, or ryu, I personally think they would be making a mistake in doing so. I would much rather send the unknown factors such as the three young koreans, who when they play well, can definitely cause problems for a whole host of players, if for no reason because people are not used to their style. That way they also get some great experience for the future.

I think they get alot of experience from playing Pro Tours already. If you can send two players to the Olympics, you should sent your two best. I don't think the youngsters are that, even though they do well against some top players. But maybe Joo and Ryu automatically get the spots because they were the two highest ranked Koreans on the WR after the WTTC 2011. I believe that is how it works according to Azlans post in another thread on the selection matter.

 

[goldhand96]

in my opinion ma long and zhang jike would be the best choice
ma long is nearly invincible now, and zhang jike is world champion and has also won the grand finals!
so i don't think that wang hao will go instead of one of them, because he "only" has his wttc title from 2008 and, looking back to the past few months, he has always played worse than zhang and ma !!

 

[YosuaYosan]

A bit out of current conversation but I will hope the best for Schlager in his late career

 

[goldhand96]

yess i hope that he will also play well in the future

and (i'm glad that nobody spotted the mistake), relating to my post, of course i meant "world cup" instead of "grand finals"

 

[wLatisha]

I think at the Olympic games China will win or maybe Korea

 

[Beartrendy]

yeah, anyone can be a threat to China.. Timo Boll, Ryu Seung Min, Kim Min Seok, Ovtcharov, Gao Ning, Joo Se Hyuk... I think these guys performed really great recently and maybe, right now they're working even harder.. and who knows, they might be a big surprise. You know a lot of things can happen in 7 or 8 months..

Wishful thinking? We'd all enjoy a nice old-fashioned surprise but I really think China will prevail.

 

[SteVenRoCK]

Well Guys Zhang Jike is such a great player I personally like him He's the great one about him so many peoples always commented in positive sense that sounds really cool.......