Taiwan's new talent

[Tony's Table Tennis]

At 13 years old Kuo Guan-Hong is Taiwan's youngest player to make the mens senior national team (at 13 years and 2 month old), beating the 14 years old set by Lin Yun-Ju and Chiang Hung-Chieh.

Kuo is currently U15, U17, U19 and Senior mens team member.
Here is a video of him today at U17 trials finals, beating no 2 U17 national player.

Kuo is wearing blue

Here is a match from a year ago (12 year old then) during mens trials against seasoned pro Chen Chien-An

Getting into Taiwan's men senior team is not an easy process, not just because of Taiwan's high level, but its knock out trials format.
you need to win 8 matches in a row to get in.
It is a KO format, from Round of 256, and basically every round you could be facing a senior team member or former senior team member.
A bad run/form, you out for the day.
then next spot KO, you start from R256 and need to win 8 matches again. Its up to 6 rounds of the same over 4 days.
Its physically and mentally draining and for a 13 year old kid to do it by round 3 (or 20 odd matches inside 2 days) is not bad.

He currently isn't playing much WTT, so world ranking is extremely under rated

 

[turbozed]

Dang Kuo just demolished that No. 2 ranked kid.

For all of you high level analysts, I have a few questions about that match.

Do you guys think these two play often and Kuo just is reading the other kid like a book? I noticed on serve receive he's almost always in the right spot ready to make the perfect return.

Sometimes he's heading to the right position when the other kid isn't even halfway finished with his serve motion. Is this something you can pick up on against a new opponent, or does this require that you have at least some familiarity with your opponent?

If it is the case that these two are playing each other often, why is it that Kuo is so prepared for the serve receive, but the other kid is so unprepared and looks to be confused as to what's coming next? They seem worlds apart in this part of the game. Is Kuo just a superior tactician, or is something else at play here?

Anyway, I'm trying to understand more about what I'm seeing now that I've started watching more matches (hoping to understand tactics and strategy more while also being entertained). So it'd be great if you experts could tell me if I'm totally off base with what I'm seeing. Cheers!

 

[blahness]

Dang Kuo just demolished that No. 2 ranked kid.

For all of you high level analysts, I have a few questions about that match.

Do you guys think these two play often and Kuo just is reading the other kid like a book? I noticed on serve receive he's almost always in the right spot ready to make the perfect return.

Sometimes he's heading to the right position when the other kid isn't even halfway finished with his serve motion. Is this something you can pick up on against a new opponent, or does this require that you have at least some familiarity with your opponent?

If it is the case that these two are playing each other often, why is it that Kuo is so prepared for the serve receive, but the other kid is so unprepared and looks to be confused as to what's coming next? They seem worlds apart in this part of the game. Is Kuo just a superior tactician, or is something else at play here?

Anyway, I'm trying to understand more about what I'm seeing now that I've started watching more matches (hoping to understand tactics and strategy more while also being entertained). So it'd be great if you experts could tell me if I'm totally off base with what I'm seeing. Cheers!

Mostly because Kuo is a lefty. Lefties play 90% with right handed players but righties only play 10% with lefties. The righty vs lefty game is completely different from the righty - righty matchups.

Kuo appears to be a Lin Yun Ju fan having so similar serve patterns, BH and FH technique. He has the same ultra spinny BH which his opponents are having major trouble with.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Mostly because Kuo is a lefty. Lefties play 90% with right handed players but righties only play 10% with lefties. The righty vs lefty game is completely different from the righty - righty matchups.

Kuo appears to be a Lin Yun Ju fan having so similar serve patterns, BH and FH technique. He has the same ultra spinny BH which his opponents are having major trouble with.

Lefty isn't an issue.

There are lots of them in Taiwan.
The no 2 is from Song Shan table tennis team and their have lots of lefties in there.
In fact, few years ago, that team, would have 2/3 of the national juniors. IE, 12 national juniors, say U15 or U18, they would have around 8 players of the 12.
Now the level is more evenly distributed across different teams, and this time round, they only finished with 5 in the U17 age group, taking 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7th place (5 spots is actually above average compared to last 1 to 2 years result

the no1 is from Tainan, under the guidance of the famous Wu Wenjia (beating Chinese world champ Jiang at a US Open long ago), Tainan also has Chiang Peng Lung (top rank is WR3) and former top junior and Taiwan no 3 Chiang Hung-Chieh.
Tainan had a bit of a loss patch with little super stars coming out (the last being Chiang and he is 34 now), Kuo is a super star in the making.
Tainan took no 1 and no 12 spot in the U17

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Dang Kuo just demolished that No. 2 ranked kid.

For all of you high level analysts, I have a few questions about that match.

Do you guys think these two play often and Kuo just is reading the other kid like a book? I noticed on serve receive he's almost always in the right spot ready to make the perfect return.

Sometimes he's heading to the right position when the other kid isn't even halfway finished with his serve motion. Is this something you can pick up on against a new opponent, or does this require that you have at least some familiarity with your opponent?

If it is the case that these two are playing each other often, why is it that Kuo is so prepared for the serve receive, but the other kid is so unprepared and looks to be confused as to what's coming next? They seem worlds apart in this part of the game. Is Kuo just a superior tactician, or is something else at play here?

Anyway, I'm trying to understand more about what I'm seeing now that I've started watching more matches (hoping to understand tactics and strategy more while also being entertained). So it'd be great if you experts could tell me if I'm totally off base with what I'm seeing. Cheers!

I don't watch a lot of Kuo, as I am in Taipei, while he is in Tainan.
However, Kuo is many levels higher and in U17, U15, he is untouchable.
There is few that is neck to neck with him in U19, and good day he will be top 3, bad day, would be top 5 for example. At 13 years old, I think that is pretty good.

Hopefully soon, we can see more of him in WTT and see how he match up against Japanese or Chinese players.
He is beating WR 100~200 Taiwanese players already at 12 or 13 years old. Just imagine when he is 15 or 16, he is a Top50 potential for sure and maybe Top 20 too (his results so far is better than Lin at the same age)

 

[NextLevel]

Dang Kuo just demolished that No. 2 ranked kid.

For all of you high level analysts, I have a few questions about that match.

Do you guys think these two play often and Kuo just is reading the other kid like a book? I noticed on serve receive he's almost always in the right spot ready to make the perfect return.

Sometimes he's heading to the right position when the other kid isn't even halfway finished with his serve motion. Is this something you can pick up on against a new opponent, or does this require that you have at least some familiarity with your opponent?

If it is the case that these two are playing each other often, why is it that Kuo is so prepared for the serve receive, but the other kid is so unprepared and looks to be confused as to what's coming next? They seem worlds apart in this part of the game. Is Kuo just a superior tactician, or is something else at play here?

Anyway, I'm trying to understand more about what I'm seeing now that I've started watching more matches (hoping to understand tactics and strategy more while also being entertained). So it'd be great if you experts could tell me if I'm totally off base with what I'm seeing. Cheers!

I am not a high level analyst. That said, let us separate game reading and rally skills slightly from the first four balls of table tennis. Understanding the first four balls is where one should focus for tactical development in my opinion.

The biggest issue in this matchup is that the quality and speed of what the lefty is doing is repeatedly surprising the righty. And this is true even in the rally, indicating a level difference in game reading skills across the board and especially in the first four balls. Even when the righty gets an advantage, he is often on the back foot soon after as he doesn't seem ready for his opponent to recover. This is very common when there is a level gap between the players. You think you hit a winner but the ball comes back and you don't process.

it's easier to discuss player specific tactics meaningfully for a specific match when you are really familiar with the players or have sampled their play in a few matches. Then you can see how a player wins points and what the opponent, if well prepared, is trying to take away. Beyond that, general match strategy (serve to short forehand or middle forehand, prevent powerful first attack, get weaker attacks to counter, play to the elbow on openers), it was clear that both players were doing that. One just did way better in just about every regard and defended against it far better to put pressure on the opponent to maintain consistency in the fact of good defense.

In this match, there were IMHO too many instances of tactical advantages lost to discuss the result as anything other than a level difference.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

4 Taiwanese kids (U17) went to play in the US Open in December.
These 4 kids are not national team level, but have wins against 2200~2500 players.
Close loses with many 2400, so I will put the best at maybe 2400 ~ 2450.

Herewith the results:

T-Tourney

T-Tourney

T-Tourney

T-Tourney

I would say No2 in the video would easily beat these 4 kids (that went to the US) straights.
So say maybe that no2 is 2500~2550, while Guo would be higher.

 

[SFF_lib]

He plays shockingly similar to Lin Yun-Ju.

 

[michaeldeodhar]

Am surprised nobody has asked the "all important" question: what equipment does young Kuo use ? !!

 

[fermih]

Am surprised nobody has asked the "all important" question: what equipment does young Kuo use ? !!

Timo Boll ALC
T05 Hard + D05

Kuo Guan-Hong (TPE) | Sponsoring | Butterfly Global Site: Table Tennis Equipment

Kuo Guan-Hong (TPE) | Introduction of Butterfly players, national teams, clubs and coaches who play in the top of the world. Table tennis equipment brand Butterfly by Tamasu Co., Ltd. since 1950.

www.butterfly-global.com

 

[fermih]

I don't watch a lot of Kuo, as I am in Taipei, while he is in Tainan.
However, Kuo is many levels higher and in U17, U15, he is untouchable.
There is few that is neck to neck with him in U19, and good day he will be top 3, bad day, would be top 5 for example. At 13 years old, I think that is pretty good.

Hopefully soon, we can see more of him in WTT and see how he match up against Japanese or Chinese players.
He is beating WR 100~200 Taiwanese players already at 12 or 13 years old. Just imagine when he is 15 or 16, he is a Top50 potential for sure and maybe Top 20 too (his results so far is better than Lin at the same age)

2023 WTT Youth Contender Cheongyang U17 (Aug 6)

Final
KUO Guan-Hong 3:0 Kazuki YOSHIYAMA

Sen WR: 331
Win rate: 90%
Age: 14