Why Table Tennis is such a pure, unique 1-of-1 sport

[NetProphet]

bullcrap. If i'm 4 inch taller the game would've been much easier for me.

No it wouldn't, you'd still be rubbish.

Except Lin Shi Dong and some rare players, most CNT teams are taller than average in china. Most are 5'9 while average height there is 5'6.

While the average HEIGHT in China might be 5'5" the average MALE height is 5'8".

Zhou xin's height and build is what a typical provincal pro is like, same as xia jiwei.

Wrong again. Zhou Xin is 6'. Way above average

If ma long is any shorter, he won't be the rally machine he used to be back in the days because it means he will need an extra half a step during FH to FH rally against his competition (XX, ZJK)

Yeah, at 5'7" or 5'8" Ma Long would be shite. In fact if we both played with our shoes off I'd be at him 4-0 🤣.
Unless he has a golden Viscaria 😳

You're fixated on height
Even if the CNT are an inch above national Chinese height they're still shorter than the rest of the world!
And the women aren't taller....

 

[Manto76]

... i'm already really good probably the best in this thread.

... Have no problem getting girls cuz of my radiating confidence and omnipresence aura...

You forgot to mention your endearing humility.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Nah you won't. Even if you could you will lose to me more than 50% of the time.

Also, I'm not small. My paddle is really heavy and big. 200g of destruction

Puny human!

 

[greenbeanmachine]

Wrong, despite my height disadvantage i'm already really good probably the best in this thread. Moreover, i body max to my fullest potential. If i am 6 ft and i body max to my fullest potential i would cover the table a lot faster.

The average male height measured recently, but the CNT team is taller than average. The height does make a difference.

And no, i do not have inferiority complex regarding my height. Have no problem getting girls cuz of my radiating confidence and omnipresence aura. I'm just stating facts here. If I'm 4 inch taller i would at least be 2300+ with the same amount of effort i put in pong. However, i would be more prune to injury as well.

I don't think being tall is particularly advantageous. It means that you are heavier with longer lever arms, so it takes more time to swing your body and generate torque to make a high-quality stroke. I am 6ft 5in and 105kg and I can't play a looping/counterlooping game close to the table because the amount of time it takes me to make a stroke is too long. I have to play big swinging strokes from far behind the table. Taller players in general need to play further back if they are looping/attacking on the forehand.

I learned recently that I can manage playing close to the table with pips. This is not exactly an advantage on the whole, though. I think that being too big is why Mattias Falck plays with FH pips -- it's simply too much time and effort for tall people to make a big stroke and generate high enough racket speed with their forehand. While Faclk is a very good player, I think it's fair to say that his height is a disadvantage for him because it causes him to use pips on FH.

Being tall also means that your crossover point in the middle is larger. You have a wider reach, but you also have a wider body.

If being 6ft was an advantage, I think we should see a lot more 6ft professional ping pong players. But they are pretty rare. Being smaller, being more agile, and being able to accelerate quickly outweigh the height advantages, in my opinion.

 

[rpb23]

That's because china dominate the sport and asian are generally smaller. There are clumsy tall people, there are as many clumsy smaller people too. Nba players under 6'6 are super agile and fast, they would've translate well into table tennis if they train at a young age. That said why would they? pong don't earn as much $$$ as basketball.

In general, there are lot more clumsy tall people than clumsy short people. Even in NBA, guards are overwhelmingly more speedy, agile and athletic than centers. Do you know why? Check their average height.
Agility in table tennis is quite more demanding than basketball because the much shorter reaction time in table tennis. I can tell you, take the best NBA guard, train him a few years in table tennis, the king of the agility in table tennis Ma Long will make him look like a clumsy tall guy.

 

[CPH_Tiny]

I'll just leave this here to support OP's original point and then leave TFO...

https://olympics.com/en/news/paris-2024-ni-xia-lian-61-wins-table-tennis-olympic-games

 

[PhoenixTT]

We don't have controversial players like Lia Thomas of swimming AFAIK.
But yeah, as others mentioned, if "superior Size/Strength/Speed gives you no real advantage over your opponent" is true, the top women would be just as good as the top men.

 

[greenbeanmachine]

We don't have controversial players like Lia Thomas of swimming AFAIK.
But yeah, as others mentioned, if "superior Size/Strength/Speed gives you no real advantage over your opponent" is true, the top women would be just as good as the top men.

Strength and speed give a bit of an advantage, but not that much compared to other sports. Top women can compete with top-100 men in table tennis, for instance. There are women who can beat men in the top 100.

As opposed to track & field or wrestling, where male high school athletes can compete with female Olympians. Optimizing for strength doesn't pay off so well in table tennis.