says
Not for sale, I liked it actually
Kou Lei was WR20 at his peak. He's now down to 183. but his USATT rating is over 2800 still. Now sure the names of these players in this video but we were able to know their names and if they had a WR, we might be able to make a semi accurate comparison.
Just to remind you, WR is completely meaningless because you get points based on whether you've won ITTF tournaments. If you stop playing for ITTF, then your ranking will drop to the bottom, but your skill level will be the same. Only the top 3 Chinese players ever get to compete, so none of the other Chinese players ever get ITTF points and they are low-ranked in WR. However, their skill level is all near the top 3. If we ranked by skill rather than ITTF points, then China would dominate the list, probably top 15 men in the world or more.
I would say Kou Lei is currently definitely probably at a similar level to these guys in the vid: "provincial level", "superleague player", something like that. However, it's difficult to say because Kou Lei isn't in this video and these guys look much faster than Kou Lei is. But who's to say that Kou Lei wouldn't let these guys use their speed if Kou Lei played them? A good reference video to show Kou Lei's skill is his game against Jun Mizutani, one of the top players in the world. Kou Lei put up a good fight and won many points.
He plays professionally in ITTF representing Ukraine. Prob more money in the US for him because he wins every tournament (except the last 2) + coaching. And apparently he even has a club now that I assume he collects fees for. Congrats to him winning $10k today though.Why doesn't Kou Lei play in China superleague? Actually why is he playing USATT tournaments at all if he's world ITTF level.
Isn't USA like a relatively weak country in TT? Why doesn't Kou Lei play in Germany or France or Japan or something? What am I missing?
So he just plays USATT tournaments to collect $10k here and there? He doesn't want to compete against the best or other top Euro players, but just bullies USATT players to collect money?
Yeah I guess so. But you don't have to be so negative. He's a good challenge and practice for top US players like Zhou Xin, Jishan Liang, and Nikhil Kumar. He's also training people at his own club, I guess his way of giving back. btw, this discussion is off-topic. This thread is about whether he's the same level as the Chinese provincial players in the vid.
So he just plays USATT tournaments to collect $10k here and there? He doesn't want to compete against the best or other top Euro players, but just bullies USATT players to collect money?
He did play China Super League representing Beijing, but it seems something happened and he left and will never be back to China Super League.
I believe playing USATT tournaments is not only for the prize, but also promotes his club and his coaching.