WTT Star Contender Lanzhou 2023

[NextLevel]

How many times did he use the shovel serves?? He rarely used it. Lin GY lost that match because he was passive.
It was the same pendulum serves they were dishing out.

So the pendulum serves are not hidden? Or we are watching different matches?

 

[Shifu]

Am I the only one who thinks that for a GOAT, Ma Long is given a huge pass on his hidden serves?

He has always done that. Most pros serve behind their head nowadays.

 

[NextLevel]

He has always done that. Most pros serve behind their head nowadays.

Obviously. And no one seems to care. When Truls goes out of his way to show it is possible to unhide these things, people don't give him enough credit IMHO.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Ma is world junior champion at 14

Ma Jinbao world junior champion??

 

[NextLevel]

Disappointing ending but it is okay. Frlix is a quick learner. And Wang will destroy Ma in the final as usual. I can go to bed now.

 

[Shine]

ITTF are not WTT events and the issue is not around having a tournament but the status of the tournament in the WTT hierarchy and the funding required to support it.

Cool.
ITTF Swedish Open had a prize money of 170,000 dollars.
Guess how much is WTT Feeder prize? 20,000 dollars.
ITTF Sweden was last held in 2019. It's not like this was 10 years ago, In case COVID is the next thing to blame, COVID affected China worst. Sweden president/NA still is among the higher ups in ITTF and WTT.
I'm not sure "WTT" is a congruent justification for this sudden downgrade. How was "incorrupt" Sweden able to host ITTF events every year until they changed to WTT?

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Cool.
ITTF Swedish Open had a prize money of 170,000 dollars.
Guess how much is WTT Feeder prize? 20,000 dollars.
ITTF Sweden was last held in 2019. It's not like this was 10 years ago, In case COVID is the next thing to blame, COVID affected China worst. Sweden president/NA still is among the higher ups in ITTF and WTT.
I'm not sure "WTT" is a congruent justification for this sudden downgrade. How was "incorrupt" Sweden able to host ITTF events every year until they changed to WTT?

Did you know when WTT took over ITTF/TMS?

 

[Shine]

Did you know when WTT took over ITTF/TMS?

ITTF sold the commercial rights to WTT, the whole infrastructure of table tennis remains the same besides the commercialisation. Dainton and co are still the ones making the "WTT" schedule. They're still the ones presenting the trophies at the biggest events and all that, So I don't know what difference does it make?
Please address the points that I made.

 

[Shine]

How is India able to host a Star Contender( for a relative newcomer, that's amazing), and that's 250,000k dollars btw, but Sweden is Oh so Hurt by the big bad WTT??
Oh, India and Liu Guoliang are best friends now? Or India is this rich utopia compared to Sweden??
Let's call a spade a spade.

 

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

I love Félix, really brilliant so young and he was a nice challenge to MA Long. He got 2 brilliant games, but was given a beating in G5.

time to remember what a 14yo Harimoto did to a younger Ma Long at Japan Open 2018 (SF)

Harimoto went on to beat (an injured) ZJK in the final

 

[NextLevel]

Cool.
ITTF Swedish Open had a prize money of 170,000 dollars.
Guess how much is WTT Feeder prize? 20,000 dollars.
ITTF Sweden was last held in 2019. It's not like this was 10 years ago, In case COVID is the next thing to blame, COVID affected China worst. Sweden president/NA still is among the higher ups in ITTF and WTT.
I'm not sure "WTT" is a congruent justification for this sudden downgrade. How was "incorrupt" Sweden able to host ITTF events every year until they changed to WTT?

You are not sure but I am. I am curious, what have you heard about how WTT intended to professionalize table tennis and the things they tried to get more money into TT?

 

[NextLevel]

How is India able to host a Star Contender( for a relative newcomer, that's amazing), and that's 250,000k dollars btw, but Sweden is Oh so Hurt by the big bad WTT??
Oh, India and Liu Guoliang are best friends now? Or India is this rich utopia compared to Sweden??
Let's call a spade a spade.

India has wealthy benefactors investing into to TT alongside a push by its government. But that is a separate and at best tangential issue to what we are discussing now. Or if you know the families and people funding Indian table tennis, we can discuss this a bit. But if not, no point wasting time on the issue.

Not sure what you mean by call a spade a spade. You mean that the bottom line is that Sweden just couldn't fund a contender which is why they couldn't have one? Or that all the events on the WTT calendar are funded above the board and Sweden just has lost its ability to fund such events? In forming the WTT and changing the structure of events, no old relationships were severed or new ones formed, so it was just business as usual per you, right?

The only thing still keeping this sport afloat is that it is played in the Olympics.

 

[Shine]

You are not sure but I am. I am curious, what have you heard about how WTT intended to professionalize table tennis and the things they tried to get more money into TT?

Please table what you have heard/read, and explicate how the "professionalisation" of TT enables a 2600$ gdp per capita India host a Star Contender event, but turns a 61,000$ gdp per capita Sweden into a pauper.

How can Muscat, Antalya, Almaty host contenders but Sweden are blocked?
When has WTT shoehorned anyone into categories?, This same WTT looking earnestly for sponsors that they had to take a trip to Japan to encourage Japan to host a WTT event?, and made Ai Fukahara their manager!. Is there a punchline somewhere that I'm missing??

 

[NextLevel]

Please table what you have heard/read, and explicate how the "professionalisation" of TT enables a 2600$ gdp per capita India host a Star Contender event, but turns a 61,000$ gdp per capita Sweden into a pauper.

How can Muscat, Antalya, Almaty host contenders but Sweden are blocked?
When has WTT shoehorned anyone into categories?, This same WTT looking earnestly for sponsors that they had to take a trip to Japan to encourage Japan to host a WTT event?, and made Ai Fukahara their manager!. Is there a punchline somewhere that I'm missing??

I will not table what I have heard because there is no upside to me doing so. Especially when dealing with someone who takes pride in arguing as if he understands how the world works without providing any insight beyond what is publicly available and without any insight either. That someone is citing GDP per capita as a measure of national wealth in a corrupt sport is just weird. Countries with low GDP per capita have billionaires too, sometimes even more than the countries with higher GDPs, and they can fund things that the market has little to no interest in.

 

[bachikho]

Ma Jinbao world junior champion??

Ma Long

 

[Shine]

I will not table what I have heard because there is no upside to me doing so. Especially when dealing with someone who takes pride in arguing as if he understands how the world works without providing any insight beyond what is publicly available and without any insight either. That someone is citing GDP as a measure of national wealth in a corrupt sport is just weird. Countries with low GDP have billionaires too, sometimes even more than the countries with higher GDPs, and they can fund things that the market has little to no interest in.

There's no upside for you to explain, because your rationalisations are bogus at best. Onus of proof is on those claiming there's something happening. Was ITTF ( with Shahara and others) a beacon of morality that Sweden and others were able to keep holding high quality tourneys every year but WTT is much of a drawback. If corruption is your yardstick for investment, then Sweden must have become anti corrupt after COVID then. Yeah right!

I used gdp per capita as a metric because you mentioned the "hierarchy of WTT and funding". Sweden has billionaires and the governmental agency to keep running a high quality tournament. The discussion should be about how Historic Table Tennis powers are faltering in investing into the further development of TT. That TT isn't getting enough support in their country is actually a sign of misappropriation of funds. But hey let's turn the forum into a leftist enclave where patriarc- ehem WTT and China are the problem.

 

[Shine]

The complaints that professional players, "few Asian countries" have given over the past few years, and that some other forum users here have mentioned ad nauseum is that WTT isn't managing the events very well, Participation ( Registration, Flights and upkeep) are now more expensive than the potential winnings for the players below the top 20. Lack of support from the association for the players. China is hoarding balls and the halls, China brings much more support staff, There's not enough fairness in the way WTT wildcards are distributed( often it's fair actually, as Zeio has proven in the other thread). I've even seen an article of Japan saying there's not enough money to host an event ( oh oh..)

Never have I seen an article ( And I've read all these articles btw, NextLevel) about countries complaining about WTT putting them into hierarchies, or restricting them from bidding from tournaments. Germany and Japan just got their acts together, bidded and got two tournaments reinstated. Korea too in recent years.There's little doubt that the devolution of the Swedish Open from a High level Tour event to a WTT Feeder event is solely at the hands of Sweden and the Swedish federation. If there's any riposte to this, I'll appreciate if you could share @Tony's Table Tennis , @zeio and @NextLevel .

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Ma Long

you do know we talking about Ma Jinbao?

 

[superbackhand]

you do know we talking about Ma Jinbao?

no he doesn’t have a clue what you talking about

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

no he doesn’t have a clue what you talking about

There is like 2 pages of Ma Jinbao 🤷‍♂️
If he isn't the talk of the whole star contender,
who is? lol