Saudi Smash 2024

[TampaBayTableTennis]

for me, Fraser does a pretty good job and offers different insights. he overdoes it on the descriptive language sometimes though but its funny most times

 

[zeio]

Best match in this Olympic cycle for Harimoto/Hayata and much better than that slaughter in the last encounter at WTTC 2023. Harimoto tried to man up but still failed. Better late than never.

Sweden and South Korea keep the stats true.

Miracle didn't happen.

More bandage over the forearm is more indicative.

Harimoto: Like, seriously.

XD SF
WCQ/SYS 3-0 Harimoto/Hayata (10, 9, 10)

MD QF
LJK/LGY 0-3 Karlsson/Kallberg (-6, -8, -6)

MS R16
Aruna 2-3 CDS (6, 7, -5, -9, -11)
Jorgic 2-3 JWJ (-11, -6, 6, 12, -4)
Shinozuka 2-3 Groth (-11, 5, -7, 2, -8)

WS R16
Ito 3-1 Kihara (1, 11, -6, 13)
Hirano 0-3 CM (-2, -2, -7)

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

It gives other countries hope so it is good for the sport!

Seriously, Fan Zhendong is now Humpty Dumpty, we will see whether all China's team's coaches, therapists and men can put him back together again.

he should take 1 to 2 months off
he looks really frail

how it is good for other countries - I'm not sure, its a matter about time everyone gets frail.

You are just not allowed to rest....
Lin Yunju was not allowed to rest.... so who else can? Aruna?
Lin almost missed his second flight by high fever, so he could of risked penalty for not able to fly due to health reasons.
Players are fearful to get penalty so close to the olympics, it will throw off the seeding potential way too much

 

[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!

I'm going to copy this to the players problem thread, cause it is a big problem

so, the players in question had to wait in the lobby for some time, until getting moved to another hotel.
it is a bit ridiculous to be asking top level players to be moving hotels due to poor administration - and the daily rate paid in advance for the hotels, isn't cheap too.

 

[zeio]

How's Fransizka not going to the Olympics?

Because DTTB is not xenophobic like CTTA, TTFR, JTTA and TTFI and thus feels sorry for Qiu Dang and Ovtcharov.

Rosskopf: I can't feel sorry for you, Franziska. No hard feelings.

 

[backspacer]

Is it really? Does Ovtcharov lose to players who are clearly worse than him? And if/when he does, does he lose without a close match?

So you are just arguing because Patrick lost against Kao who is not a bad player at all? Did you not see Patrick's results? Has he not beaten two core CNT members? Has he not been playing Bundesliga the past year unlike Dima? It's not like Dima has been bad, but he seemed out of it too many times and I wouldn't count on his fighting spirit he has showed in big events. Anyway, the final decision for Paris wil be made this month. I'm not sure if Patrick's upset against Fan will sway the DSOB.

 

[Egon]

Because DTTB is not xenophobic like CTTA, TTFR, JTTA and TTFI and thus feels sorry for Qiu Dang and Ovtcharov.

Rosskopf: I can't feel sorry for you, Franziska. No hard feelings.

The second link is completely off topic, just like this entire post.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

The second link is completely off topic, just like this entire post.

I agree
zeio really wants to stir unnecessary tension

Germany and Sweden has the same problem
the players not going all deserve the rights to go.

Even same with China. The 3rd/4th/5th players could all have a good day and be a top 2 for the country.
you take the Dang and Dima out, and put in others, say Boll or Patrick, people will still moan. In fact, all 4 should go.

Making OG singles, 2 spots will cause this issue, we knew about it long time ago.

 

[NextLevel]

So you are just arguing because Patrick lost against Kao who is not a bad player at all? Did you not see Patrick's results? Has he not beaten two core CNT members? Has he not been playing Bundesliga the past year unlike Dima? It's not like Dima has been bad, but he seemed out of it too many times and I wouldn't count on his fighting spirit he has showed in big events. Anyway, the final decision for Paris wil be made this month. I'm not sure if Patrick's upset against Fan will sway the DSOB.

No, Patrick did not just lose to a good player, lost to a player who he should be reliably better than under circumstances where Germany needed a win and didn't bring his very best game. This happens too often.

Anyone can play well when you are not expected to win and the stakes are relatively low, just as Franziska did here - it is a hard task, but it is somewhat lucky. The real test is when there is pressure and your team needs you to win or else you are out, and you are facing someone who is playing well but you should beat on a normal day. These are the tricky matches. This is where Timo is reliable. This is where Dima usually plays his hardest.

Patrick has underperformed his talent for a long time - Franziska should be playing internationally at the level of Jorgic, his teammate on Saarbrucken. His ranking should have been clearly above Dima without question at this point in the cycle and at this point in his career. He should have a few singles national championships But he just loses too many matches he is supposed to win. When Dima loses to someone, usually it is multiple deuces and the opponent played well.

 

[Egon]

So you are just arguing because Patrick lost against Kao who is not a bad player at all? Did you not see Patrick's results? Has he not beaten two core CNT members? Has he not been playing Bundesliga the past year unlike Dima? It's not like Dima has been bad, but he seemed out of it too many times and I wouldn't count on his fighting spirit he has showed in big events. Anyway, the final decision for Paris wil be made this month. I'm not sure if Patrick's upset against Fan will sway the DSOB.

Although I have more reasons to root for Dima, since he is from Ukraine, I believe that today Patrick plays at a higher level than Dima. And it is Patrick who deserves a place at the Olympics.

 

[kindof99]

No, Patrick did not just lose to a good player, lost to a player who he should be reliably better than under circumstances where Germany needed a win and didn't bring his very best game. This happens too often.

Anyone can play well when you are not expected to win and the stakes are relatively low, just as Franziska did here - it is a hard task, but it is somewhat lucky. The real test is when there is pressure and your team needs you to win or else you are out, and you are facing someone who is playing well but you should beat on a normal day. These are the tricky matches. This is where Timo is reliable. This is where Dima usually plays his hardest.

Patrick has underperformed his talent for a long time - Franziska should be playing internationally at the level of Jorgic, his teammate on Saarbrucken. His ranking should have been clearly above Dima without question at this point in the cycle and at this point in his career. He should have a few singles national championships But he just loses too many matches he is supposed to win. When Dima loses to someone, usually it is multiple deuces and the opponent played well.

Kao almost beat WCQ at one time.

 

[kindof99]

Although I have more reasons to root for Dima, since he is from Ukraine, I believe that today Patrick plays at a higher level than Dima. And it is Patrick who deserves a place at the Olympics.

Really no need to talk about this as Germany has its standard for picking players and Patrick failed to qualify. There is always times that players play good or times they play bad. But the test is usually the most important one.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

imo Patrick showed higher potential in recent years, but has really not lived up to the international expectation.
I don't follow him that close enough to tell what challenges he has (ie bad draws for example).
Dima is on the decline and Patrick didn't really over take him like Dang has.

both are however old, with Dima 35 and Patrick 31
I'm not sure if Patrick can get any more stronger, since post 30, its a different world.
Dang isn't that young either at 27

these full calendars (first time that pack in many of these players career) is going to be very interesting.

 

[kindof99]

FZD still suffering from the Taylor Swift curse.

The news is that he watched the soccer match last night. Maybe not enough rest?

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

The news is that he watched the soccer match last night. Maybe not enough rest?

going with CNT traditional
FZD would be sent back to China immediately and go to one of the disciplinary camps

but mark my words - we will have another smiley face social media post after today's loss

ZJK: why can't I have this era's policy during my time

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

This OG qualifying with only two players from each country is akin to me after eating a hearty buffet breakfast on a cruise ship and before you get to digest it, it is lunch time already and before me is another spread of international five star buffet and I have stomach space for only two dishes. it sucks man, I tell you, it truly sucks.

 

[kindof99]

going with CNT traditional
FZD would be sent back to China immediately and go to one of the disciplinary camps

but mark my words - we will have another smiley face social media most after today's loss

ZJK: why can't I have this era's policy during my time

The problem for CNT now is that they don't have anyone else who are really consistent. And I believe FZD will play much better after the famous CNT closed training. He just needs to be disciplined.

 

[enj]

Another point regarding Bobrow. I like his YT channel but saying this as a huge Timo fan myself, I feel he hypes Timo up too much. During the warmup Qiu vs Bobrow, he kept talking about what Timo told him, his various achievements etc. etc. and nothing about Dang Qiu. Even during the match, there was no analysis about what Dang Qiu was doing to shut down Timo's countering game.

IMO, Bobrow's comments were often off the topics lately, some of them were just not appropriate.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

The problem for CNT now is that they don't have anyone else who are really consistent. And I believe FZD will play much better after the famous CNT closed training. He just needs to be disciplined.

May 30~ June 3 WTT Champions Chongqing
June 11~16 WTT Star Contender Ljubjana
July 2~7 WTT Star Contender Bangkok
July 26~ Aug 11 Paris Olympics Games

well, China is hosting another tournament now
no rest time for poster boy just yet

want to see how many CNT players will "withdraw" from Star contender - they not allowed to have any other TT events during the period of the WTT tournaments.
I wonder if "closed training" counts. I'm sure they will say, it doesn't count.

 

[NextLevel]

Kao almost beat WCQ at one time.

Why almost? I bring up the example of Kao for a reason but it is not the only one - Franziska also lost to Kao earlier in the year before Busan, but it is not just about losing but how you lose. You can look at his history of losses and you will see the number of losses to players that one could argue he might lose to, but not with the fight that a player of his quality should show - if you lose 2-3 after being down 0-2 or even being up 0-2, that is one thing, But a player of Franziska's quality should be doing better.

Whether it is injury or something, Rosskopf will decide what is best for Germany.