(by Steve Hopkins) The 2020 Chinese National Championships are underway in Weihai.  Many of the early round matches include players unknown to most Americans, but that doesn’t mean that the level of play isn’t phenomenal.  The ITTF has been releasing daily highlight videos.  If you are interested in watching some great table tennis action, check […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The PongNow interview series discusses table tennis with some of the best players and personalities in the sport. This edition features Shigang Yang, one of the most decorated Butterfly coaches. Shigang Yang is the Head Coach at Atlanta International Table Tennis Academy in Duluth, GA.  He has been the US Junior Boys […]

(by Steve Hopkins) USA Table Tennis conducted its ninth Challenge Series event this week.   The event was another battle of the sexes with Aziz Zarehbin taking on Rachel Sung.  The promising junior Zarehbin represented Team Nittaku and Rachel Sung represented Team Butterfly. Rachel started hot, cruising to an 11-3 win.  The second game was much […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Earlier this week, ITTF announced the 21 male and 21 female athletes who will participate in the RESTART events in November. Three major events will be held in China, including the 2020 ITTF Women’s World Cup, the 2020 ITTF Men’s World Cup, and the 2020 ITTF Finals. The Women’s World Cup will […]

(by Steve Hopkins) USA Table Tennis conducted its eighth Challenge Series event this week.   The event was another battle of the sexes with Ved Sheth taking on Joanna Sung.  Sheth represented Team Nittaku and Sung represented Team Butterfly. The players traded the first two games.  The first game was 11-10 Sung.  A late surge by […]

(by Steve Hopkins) This is a Butterfly Favorite.  One of the strongest players through the Dusseldorf Masters Series was Egypt’s Omar Assar.  The World’s No. 38 has an athletic and exciting style – amazing court coverage and long strokes create crowd-pleasing shots and great angles.  The video is one of his signature matches, overcoming the […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Tim Boggan is turning 90 this Friday.  Longtime friend, Larry Hodges, has posted a request seeking as many table tennis players as possible to Say Happy Birthday to Tim Boggan by posting birthday wishes to this Facebook link: WISH TIM A HAPPY  90th BIRTHDAY As Larry noted in his blog today: Few, if any, […]

(By Steve Hopkins) PowerStroke Table Tennis Club is located in Saint Augustine, Florida.  The club is just off of I-95 on the Northwest side of the city, about 30 miles South of Jacksonville. The club has six professional tables in their air-conditioned facility.  Flooring and lighting are ideal for play of all levels.  As they say on their […]