Bajor sometimes plays like the best women's player in Europe, and then sometimes plays like a very good player - I think as you pointed out, it is probably something about the backhand rally and whether you can use tactics to constrain her. It was probably a case of strength against strength and Bajor just won out. After all, she has beaten Miwa Harimoto before.
Ranfeur is a bit older already (late 20s), and with the Swedish logjam on the top team, it is unlikely he will ever get major burn. But crazier things have happened. I believe the current men's team is Truls, Anton, Mattias, Kristian and Jon. Ranfeur was the other semi-finalist at the last Swedish nationals, so he isn't completely out of the mix, but unlikely to get in without something changing.
You may be right regards Ranefur - I saw the vert close semi vs Anton last year. In my opinion he has more in his arsenal, both in shots and mentally than Anton and Jon and better touch than Kristian so I would be putting him in the mix as he continues to develop.
. The Saturday was almost more fun - lots of close games.
Agree with your thinking and think Pitch wouldn’t have got the job done and Drinkhall was nowhere near Ranefur never mind Cho. We said the same - Sat probably better!Ranefur was so relaxed - like he had turned up just for a knock
Agree his touch was incredible, and his backhand serve really gave everyone trouble with the variation.
As i said Cho - was just a different level - approach, his play, temperament - hes obviously played at a higher level and in that next bracket above of top players. But he went out and got the job done - even if something went against him he was focused on that next point. I think your right the occasion got to a lot of the Brits. Even before his injury Pitchford wasn't looking great and it felt like Drinkhall was keeping him in the doubles. Pauls game really lends itself to doubles. Pitchford was walking through on crutches and a moonboot on the Sunday so I hope he isnt to badly injured.
I was in the seats right by where Lily (and Cho) coach was - she was struggling after that first end, you could tell it wasnt going to plan - but something clicked after the second and she got it done comfortably in the end.
Maybe as it was mainly Europeans playing - the amount of yellow and red cards being dished out on the Saturday was funny. A lot of passion on display!
The prize money sucks big time, like really really bad - like the sport needs to pay more and a way to generate more income for these tournaments.
Cho’s service game was also a cut above I thought.
I joked with the mate, saying Lily needs to stay behind and clean the dishes for around 650 in value, to cover unsettled expensive after putting her income into the account.
The parents at ICC (Lily's home TT club) spend more than that a month for their kid to get coached there. Cost of living in California is truly insane.
Why would anyone encourage their kid to become a professional table tennis player for that pittance?
I also think that TT does itself no favours in terms of commercial promotion - the WTT Manchester was attended by maybe 2-300 people (die hard fans mostly) and there is not a lot of fun activity to keep things interesting, no bars, no action replays, commentary etc.
you see, you saw the real problem
Completely agree mate.
Makes sense, but needs to change. Even in UK, our top premier league is managed very poorly - it is shown on TTE (Table tennis England TV) - if you are lucky you see every other point as the feed is dropping in and out constantly and the quality is no better than an iPhone court side. Commentary, if there is any is laughable. The surrounding structure and support to build this league is laughable and so even die hard fans don't bother with it and not many would know what is going on or who is winning unless they have a specific interest (for me I like to watch my coach play)
ITTF needs to get rid of so many WTT events.
