Tell me about your table tennis experiences in foreign countries

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I recently traveled to Hong Kong and got a chance to play table tennis with good players there. You would think that getting to play TT is easy in Hong Kong, but you are wrong. During the pandemic, they removed all outside tables and you only get to play good opponents if you know where you can find them. Luckily locals and friends could help me find a place to play. It was a weekly meetup where the best players from the region play against each other and I could take part at it. If you have seen Adam Bobrow in HK, you know the hall. When I got to this place, everybody wanted to play me - they had never seen an european play table tennis before. People came here to watch me play and filmed me, even though I definitely didn't play the most spectacular matches in the hall. What was interesting is that so many more people are playing pimple rubbers in HK. Most people played penhold. If they didn't play pimples, they played the hurricane rubber with the blue sponge. Most people had a great forehand, not so good backhand. Their footwork had much more system that mine. I was doing much more excess work when I was moving. They were using side spin much more as a technique. When you were too far in the backhand side, they would play a side spin topspin killer into your forehand. When you were too close to the table at the serve receive, they would play a long serve with heavy backspin, exactly on the white line. I also played against ~NR40 from Hong Kong. The match wasn't really spectacular, as he had so much spin in his shots that no long rallies could happen and I also think he didn't play seriously. He told me afterwards that I am playing a totally different technique than everyone he has played before. His trainer is Wong Chun Ting, he also gets his old rubbers. I also played a table tennis trainer from Shenzhen, who could hit crazy shots. (Second match in the video) I played from 11:00 in the morning until 23:00 that day, and was invited to play table tennis again the next day at 8:00.

(I am the Dr. Neubauer shirt guy)

Tell me about your experiences in foreign countries!
 
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I haven't experienced this yet, but I visit far away areas like 15hr bus rides away to play table tennis at times or a plane ride but going to another country to play, not yet but would definitely want to try this!
 
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It was quite a routine for me to play belgians as I was born in the north of France near the border, my grand mother used to own a bar at Salles on the road to Chimay, my father has been working in belgian industries. It's not really like playing a foreigner but more of a cousin: same language, same patterns, and at that time a strong rivalry between us because of Gatien vs Saive and Levallois UTT vs La Vilette Charleroi, best european clubs at that time. It was easier for me to go support Levallois when they were playing in Charleroi, only 1h drive.

We also used to train in Chimay for some of us, and some belgians from the border used to train in our french clubs near the border. When I was studying in Lille University I also crossed the border sometimes to train in Mouscron. We could indeed play TT nearly everyday, the goal was to find a club near the border that was open the days we were closed hahaha

Played a few with dutchmen and germans too, but again it's a very european kind of patterns.

Also played once in Scotland, Stirling University, but the level was quite low to be honest... on the other hand they killed me at badminton :ROFLMAO:
 
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That's great. I'd love to play in Hong Kong. I'm American. I've played a lot table tennis in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia. I'm currently living in Vietnam and I have visited the other countries many times. Even though the professional level table tennis in Vietnam isn't super high, the club level here in Ho Chi Minh City is quite good. My level is somewhere in the 1800 - 2000 USATT range. In Saigon I'm a middle of the road player at most clubs. There are several clubs where I'm in the bottom 20% of players. The only problem with playing here is the heat. It's blazing hot and none of the clubs have air conditioning.

In Cambodia I was in the top 20% at every club I went to. The players were friendly, but I never encountered any players in Cambodia that could speak English. Language barrier was a bit troublesome. Most of the clubs were dark, the tables weren't great, and it was super hot with no air con.

In Malaysia the playing levels varied quite a bit depending on which club you visit. There were some really good players (USATT2300 and up) and also a lot players around my level and lower. Kuala Lumpur is probably my favorite place to play. The players at most of the clubs are super friendly, though I did encounter one club that wasn't friendly. I've visited like 6 or 8 clubs in KL. The rest were great. At least half of the players in every club speak English. At some clubs nearly everyone speaks English. All of the clubs in KL have air conditioning, excellent lighting, and very good tables. 10/10 for Kuala Lumpur table tennis.
 
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so many places to play TT in Japan ! i run a team of gaijin (= foreigners) in Tokyo. We train together, play in league and tournaments. if you stay for a while in Japan, don't hesitate to contact me

TT is quite a big sport in this country. There are many TT schools with coaches. But most of amateur clubs / teams are just nomads who train here and there at various public venues. Apart from pro clubs and TT schools, other structured clubs are (some of the ) schools and unis.
 
I'm currently in Istanbul Turkey (on holiday as they call it). This past Monday I visited Fenerbahçe Veteran Table Tennis Club and had a great time. The people were great and playing was a blast.

Interesting that people half the world away can find a common sport and have fun. I'll visit again in a few days.
 
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I have been to China 8 times to go to trade shows in Shanghai. We stayed at a Marriot hotel in the Pudong part of Shanghai. The Yuanshen sport center was about 1 mile away down the street the hotel was on. There were two places to play. One was a big hall with 24 tables. I didn't like that place because you had to chase balls too far. The second place was where the coaches taught. We preferred that place but it was harder to schedule time there. There were three coaches there are different times. I thought the two male coaches were worthless as the concentrated on multi-ball but didn't correct the students strokes. There was a third female coach there that I thought was the best of the 3. Since we played there enough the female coach recognized what we could do. She sometimes sent her students to play against me. I would make the little kids look good in front of their parents by playing very defensively and "fishing" balls back to the students so they could slam or hit the ball back with enough force that I had to play back. I had to hit the ball back not so high because a few times I ht the ball high enough so that it bounced over the students head.

Another time I was playing with LP 0X. 755 0X on a very slow blade. The female coach sent one of her better students to play against me. That was a challenge for both of us because the Chinese student hadn't played against LPs and my paddle was a LKT Instinct blade with LKT Pro XT for the FH and 755 0X on the BH. It was hard to hit a ball fast enough to score a point. I had to play defensive all the time and block and only attack loose balls.
I really wanted to schedule time with the female coach but it never happened. I think it would have been a good match.

Another time I had given a presentation at a university. Afterwords we were treated to a dinner with lots of drinking. Lots of beer and a sorghum vodka like drink. Lots of toasting and kong bei ( bottoms up, a toast ). Afterwards we went back to the hotel where they had a good table with lots of room. I played against most of the professors but my timing was so bad I just had to block.
I have some video and pictures of that event.

BTW, I can play c-pen/rpb well enough that no one would ever know I am not a c-pen player.

I/we had fun in China up to about 2017. I haven't been there since and will probably never go back.
 
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Moved from Belgium to the island of Crete in Greece almost 2 years ago. There are not many clubs on the island, only 4 or 5. The first club we tried here was a 3.5h drive from our house. The first team of that club plays in the top division of the Greek table tennis federation with professional players. Unfortunately you never see them in that club I suppose. The other players were a mix of my age and some youngsters. 👍The playroom was in the basement of a school. Still fairly cool in winter but must be horribly hot in summer. They had a reasonable floor there and acceptable lighting, but the playing height had its limitations. It has only remained a one-time visit because it is too far away.
In the meantime we have moved on the island and are now less than an hour's drive from one of the two clubs in the capital of Crete. We met some very nice people there. Two players who are a lot younger than me and also much better, really do everything for the club there and even follow training courses in the capital of Greece, which is always quite an undertaking for them.
Unfortunately, the club no longer has any team(s) in the Greek league, but this would change with the new season.
There is not really a competition on the island unless it is a kind of friendship meeting for veterans with players from the local clubs.
Their playing space could be a beautiful space, but unfortunately, due to a lack of financial resources and a the historic location, it has to contend with moisture problems on the roof and therefore also on the playing floor, which is loose in many places and is dangerous..
I hope that with the start of the new season we can still be part of a team (veterans) to play competition.🤞
 
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Glad you could have big time viel Spass herr Loerting...

I lived 4 years in Korea it was a total blast being one of the guys and doing everything together.

I made a thread where I bought a Volvo from the factory in Gotenborg, then drove to Copenhagen for TT action and family short vacation.
TT forums can really help you get to places and people you never could imagine.

GOOD on you loerting, you are getting a great experience difficult to do elsewhere.
 
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I recently traveled to Hong Kong and got a chance to play table tennis with good players there. You would think that getting to play TT is easy in Hong Kong, but you are wrong. During the pandemic, they removed all outside tables and you only get to play good opponents if you know where you can find them. Luckily locals and friends could help me find a place to play. It was a weekly meetup where the best players from the region play against each other and I could take part at it. If you have seen Adam Bobrow in HK, you know the hall. When I got to this place, everybody wanted to play me - they had never seen an european play table tennis before. People came here to watch me play and filmed me, even though I definitely didn't play the most spectacular matches in the hall. What was interesting is that so many more people are playing pimple rubbers in HK. Most people played penhold. If they didn't play pimples, they played the hurricane rubber with the blue sponge. Most people had a great forehand, not so good backhand. Their footwork had much more system that mine. I was doing much more excess work when I was moving. They were using side spin much more as a technique. When you were too far in the backhand side, they would play a side spin topspin killer into your forehand. When you were too close to the table at the serve receive, they would play a long serve with heavy backspin, exactly on the white line. I also played against ~NR40 from Hong Kong. The match wasn't really spectacular, as he had so much spin in his shots that no long rallies could happen and I also think he didn't play seriously. He told me afterwards that I am playing a totally different technique than everyone he has played before. His trainer is Wong Chun Ting, he also gets his old rubbers. I also played a table tennis trainer from Shenzhen, who could hit crazy shots. (Second match in the video) I played from 11:00 in the morning until 23:00 that day, and was invited to play table tennis again the next day at 8:00.

(I am the Dr. Neubauer shirt guy)

Tell me about your experiences in foreign countries!
Where is it located? Can you hook me up? I'm visiting Hong Kong. The last time I been there I can't find anyone to play with. I'm usatt 2100
 
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I recently traveled to Hong Kong and got a chance to play table tennis with good players there. You would think that getting to play TT is easy in Hong Kong, but you are wrong. During the pandemic, they removed all outside tables and you only get to play good opponents if you know where you can find them. Luckily locals and friends could help me find a place to play. It was a weekly meetup where the best players from the region play against each other and I could take part at it. If you have seen Adam Bobrow in HK, you know the hall. When I got to this place, everybody wanted to play me - they had never seen an european play table tennis before. People came here to watch me play and filmed me, even though I definitely didn't play the most spectacular matches in the hall. What was interesting is that so many more people are playing pimple rubbers in HK. Most people played penhold. If they didn't play pimples, they played the hurricane rubber with the blue sponge. Most people had a great forehand, not so good backhand. Their footwork had much more system that mine. I was doing much more excess work when I was moving. They were using side spin much more as a technique. When you were too far in the backhand side, they would play a side spin topspin killer into your forehand. When you were too close to the table at the serve receive, they would play a long serve with heavy backspin, exactly on the white line. I also played against ~NR40 from Hong Kong. The match wasn't really spectacular, as he had so much spin in his shots that no long rallies could happen and I also think he didn't play seriously. He told me afterwards that I am playing a totally different technique than everyone he has played before. His trainer is Wong Chun Ting, he also gets his old rubbers. I also played a table tennis trainer from Shenzhen, who could hit crazy shots. (Second match in the video) I played from 11:00 in the morning until 23:00 that day, and was invited to play table tennis again the next day at 8:00.

(I am the Dr. Neubauer shirt guy)

Tell me about your experiences in foreign countries!
ah, the famous cornwall street park table tennis centre. They had it renovated and it looks much more modern now. Hit me up in dm's and please do come gaain so we can play together.
 
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I recently traveled to Hong Kong and got a chance to play table tennis with good players there. You would think that getting to play TT is easy in Hong Kong, but you are wrong. During the pandemic, they removed all outside tables and you only get to play good opponents if you know where you can find them. Luckily locals and friends could help me find a place to play. It was a weekly meetup where the best players from the region play against each other and I could take part at it. If you have seen Adam Bobrow in HK, you know the hall. When I got to this place, everybody wanted to play me - they had never seen an european play table tennis before. People came here to watch me play and filmed me, even though I definitely didn't play the most spectacular matches in the hall. What was interesting is that so many more people are playing pimple rubbers in HK. Most people played penhold. If they didn't play pimples, they played the hurricane rubber with the blue sponge. Most people had a great forehand, not so good backhand. Their footwork had much more system that mine. I was doing much more excess work when I was moving. They were using side spin much more as a technique. When you were too far in the backhand side, they would play a side spin topspin killer into your forehand. When you were too close to the table at the serve receive, they would play a long serve with heavy backspin, exactly on the white line. I also played against ~NR40 from Hong Kong. The match wasn't really spectacular, as he had so much spin in his shots that no long rallies could happen and I also think he didn't play seriously. He told me afterwards that I am playing a totally different technique than everyone he has played before. His trainer is Wong Chun Ting, he also gets his old rubbers. I also played a table tennis trainer from Shenzhen, who could hit crazy shots. (Second match in the video) I played from 11:00 in the morning until 23:00 that day, and was invited to play table tennis again the next day at 8:00.

(I am the Dr. Neubauer shirt guy)

Tell me about your experiences in foreign countries!
that last shot with the shenzhen trainer is what is called 海底捞鱼(under table net fish)
 
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