Saudi Smash 2024

[pongfugrasshopper]

By the way, did you notice that the makeshift doubles team we were giving Hirano and Harimoto flack over losing too also beat the Chinese Taipei team 3-0?

Yangzi Liu has shown herself to be pretty crafty just barely losing to Mima Ito and playing Miwa pretty well at least initially. And maybe they don't know how to adjust for an unknown pairing. Nagasaki and Kim Nayeong just beat the formidable Mukherjee pairs as well. I'm just so surprised that Miu and Miwa who are T-League teammates and individually incredibly talented haven't been able to make it work. I think people don't give enough credit to Miyuu Kihara for her well balanced ability in both singles and doubles. She was the other half of the pair that beat SYS/WMY [ Edit: at the 2023 Asian Games ].

 

[NextLevel]

Yangzi Liu has shown herself to be pretty crafty just barely losing to Mima Ito and playing Miwa pretty well at least initially. And maybe they don't know how to adjust for an unknown pairing. Nagasaki and Kim Nayeong just beat the formidable Mukherjee pairs as well. I'm just so surprised that Miu and Miwa who are T-League teammates and individually incredibly talented haven't been able to make it work. I think people don't give enough credit to Miyuu Kihara for her well balanced ability in both singles and doubles. She was the other half of the pair that beat SYS/WMY [ Edit: at the 2023 Asian Games ].

Yeah but how is the Miyuu and Joo Cheonhui pair working out? I am just saying that two righties always have a lot of work to do to get on the same page. They will get better, it is just going to take a lot of work and time, and doubles is rarely prioritized.

 

[Robin0910]

I love Fraser’s accent. Also, he’s much better than some of the commentators at the World Cup

I don't understand how WTT has chosen Fraser Riley and the other guy as commentators....
They're constantly talking during crucial points like they're buddies watching the games by their homes drinking beer...
Not to mention Riley's awful accent and the complete ignorance of tt by the other guy...

Bobrow is by far the best commentator. He has deep knowledge of tt and his remarks are always to the point.

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

Yeah but how is the Miyuu and Joo Cheonhui pair working out? I am just saying that two righties always have a lot of work to do to get on the same page. They will get better, it is just going to take a lot of work and time, and doubles is rarely prioritized.

FWIW, Kihara/Joo made the SF at the 2024 Singapore Smash beating JJH/SYB at the QF stage, but your point is taken. Hopefully, they can fix their issues soon because there are teams even before they reach China that might be able to trip them up if they don't bring their A game.

 

[NextLevel]

FWIW, Kihara/Joo made the SF at the 2024 Singapore Smash beating JJH/SYB at the QF stage, but your point is taken. Hopefully, they can fix their issues soon because there are teams even before they reach China that might be able to trip them up if they don't bring their A game.

Mizutani and Niwa made a serviceable doubles team. I am sure Miwa and Miu will figure it out at some point. One of my high level coach friends remained adamant despite any argument that I gave him that doubles was largely roulette and that I shouldn't read too much into the results. I never got to agreeing with him, but I place that perspective here so that people can see that some people who know *a lot* about table tennis really believe this.

 

[turbozed]

After barely scraping by Pucar and then getting wrecked by Lim Jonghoon in the first game 11-3, I wasn't giving Harimoto a chance at advancing.

But he somehow found a way to flip a switch and went on to win the next 3 games pretty convincingly. Not exactly sure what happened in between Game 1 and game 2 but it felt like a complete 180.

 

[longrange]

I don't understand how WTT has chosen Fraser Riley and the other guy as commentators....
They're constantly talking during crucial points like they're buddies watching the games by their homes drinking beer...
Not to mention Riley's awful accent and the complete ignorance of tt by the other guy...

Bobrow is by far the best commentator. He has deep knowledge of tt and his remarks are always to the point.

True, but WTT/ITTF have to get new commentators somewhere. I guess they are trying to grow a new generation and practice makes perfect. Not to mention that Bobrow has probably other things to do than commentating a WTT event every other week.

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

So I just noticed that Joo/Kihara vs. Bajor/Kulkova was a walkover. Also, the Hirano vs. Joo match was a walkover. Anyone know if Joo got injured or sick on Monday?

 

[NextLevel]

After barely scraping by Pucar and then getting wrecked by Lim Jonghoon in the first game 11-3, I wasn't giving Harimoto a chance at advancing.

But he somehow found a way to flip a switch and went on to win the next 3 games pretty convincingly. Not exactly sure what happened in between Game 1 and game 2 but it felt like a complete 180.

Barely scraping by Pucar isn't entirely fair to Harimoto, Harimoto's underestimated edge against most players is his pushing and serving game, but Pucar's height makes it easy for him to attack balls over the table that other players would struggle to get to without giving out major effort and directional signals. What cracked me up a bit was that at 9-9 in the 5th, Harimoto baited Pucar to attack two fairly high but extremely heavy backspin serves with his backhand and Pucar dumped them both into the net.

In the Lim Jonghoon match, the main thing was to be more aggressive by taking a small step back to he could counter and play more down the line shots into the backhand to reduce Lim Jonghoon's transition power. That managed to get him into the more playable rallies and attacking opportunities.

 

[d3nium]

Felix just missed a shot and smacked his bat against his head 🤣

 

[d3nium]

Felix getting destroyed by Duda and having a full blown meltdown

 

[Gtsnake]

Kinda weird why the CNT would announce Olympic players in the middle of a tournament. Couldn't they have just waited until the day after? Maybe they don't think this tournament is very important so it was no big deal if players got demotivated.

 

[NextLevel]

Wow, Felix looks decoded!

 

[NextLevel]

Kinda weird why the CNT would announce Olympic players in the middle of a tournament. Couldn't they have just waited until the day after? Maybe they don't think this tournament is very important so it was no big deal if players got demotivated.

Because they didn't expect Wang Manyu to lose so early but they also have know for a long time that Fang and Wang and Sun were in. This not news to anyone. The fact they haven't announced the last woman in Singles is likely their way of saying that Chen Meng has a genuine chance to make it if she beats all the Japanese players in her way.

 

[jfolsen]

Watching the main table for the first time this tournament. Obligatory comment on how there are no spectators in the stands, most of the close VIP seating is players on their phone.

 

[d3nium]

Watching the main table for the first time this tournament. Obligatory comment on how there are no spectators in the stands, most of the close VIP seating is players on their phone.

Same with big boxing events, no atmosphere whatsoever. Saudis are only into football.

 

[NextLevel]

Post meltdown recovery is impressive. Hari-Boy vs Flashy-Felix!

 

[Gtsnake]

Because they didn't expect Wang Manyu to lose so early but they also have know for a long time that Fang and Wang and Sun were in. This not news to anyone. The fact they haven't announced the last woman in Singles is likely their way of saying that Chen Meng has a genuine chance to make it if she beats all the Japanese players in her way.

What about the men's side?

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

a bit of back end stuff
hotel forced some players to check out, as the rooms are "fully booked".
WTT busy sorting out this mess

Jeddah Marriott, not cool!

 

[Arkady]

They are not close to Adam (Adam went as far as to form relationships with players and learn languages), but they are not that uninformed and I don't hate their vibe. The other play-by-play guy has been commentating TT for years and amongst all the guys who don't really understand TT, he is the best to be honest. Maybe I am making excuses for bad commentators but he is the one guy who actually seems to enjoy the sport amongst the guys who don't understand it and has some familiarity with the players, even if simulated. He understands the magnitude of many moments far better than the other non-technical commentators.

Fraser makes points that are above his pay grade (or really, suspected playing level) but he comes up with interesting ideas, that is what the "expert" is supposed to do. It would be interesting to understand how commentators are viewed in the WTT world.

I don't think it's necessarily a matter of playing level.
I mean if you see Bobrow playing in his videos, he's not really a top level player, more like an advanced veteran.
He has however deep knowledge about tactics, game strategy, strokes and players game styles.
When you hear him commenting, you easily understand that he has a deep understanding of all aspects of the game and knows a lot of about each individual player.
I would say that his knowledge far exceeds his playing level.

On the contrary, Riley and the other guy, I don't think they know anything about table tennis.
All their comments are general, comments that even a first time watcher would make.
Especially when I hear Riley with his cockney-Irish-I-don't-know-what accent, I can picture him in an English pub with a pint of beer, commenting about something he knows nothing about...