(by Steve Hopkins) Since table tennis officially became an Olympic Sport in 1998, Men’s and Women’s Singles have each awarded nine Gold Medals.  In Men’s Singles, China has won six of those nine events, with Korea winning twice (Yoo Nam-Kyu won the inaugural event in Seoul in 1988 and Ryu Seung-Min won in Athens in […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin hold their dominant No.1 and No.2 positions in the latest World Rankings.  Ma long is safely in third, but since players can achieve as many as 1500 points with a single WTT event, Harimoto (No. 4), Calderano (No.5) , and Jingkun (No. 6) are potentially within reach.  Lin […]

(by Steve Hopkins) As a part of the 50th anniversary of Bruce Lee’s Kung Fu classic “Enter the Dragon”, the movie is being rereleased this week.  As fans of Bruce Lee revisit the artistry of the movie, we thought we’d take this opportunity to invite table tennis fans to revisit (and reimagine) the famous Bruce […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo ITTF’s Remy Gros) There were several neat story lines to follow in Rio this week at the WTT Contender series event.  The biggest early story was that Brazilian Hugo Calderano flamed out in the first round, losing to Korea’s Cho Seungmin.  Another story was bad news for Germany, as despite holding […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Seven players in the World Top 25 signed in to play in the WTT Contender series event in Rio de Janeiro.  That included Brazilian Hugo Calderano as the top seed and favorite, as well as Jang Woojin of Korea, Germany’s top three players (Ovtcharov, Franziska, and Qiu), Sweden’s Mattias Falck (who is […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT) When the Pan Am Youth events concluded, Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, West Virginia immediately transitioned to being host of the WTT Youth Contender series.  Among the top stories of the tournament – USA’s Sally Moyland winning both U19 and U17 Singles events. Sally entered the U17 Girls Singles event as […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The San Antonio Table Tennis Club is located on Lookout Run, just Northeast of downtown San Antonio off of I-35.  The club has twelve tables in an 8,000 square foot facility with a locker room area and players lounge.  Club activities include a ladder for competitive play among beginners, a monthly beginner’s […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT) Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin are solidly ahead of the pack, but who else is in the top 20?  In third position is Ma Long who maintains a moderate lead over Hugo Calderano.  Tomokazu Harimoto is in fifth, only 125 points behind Calderano.  Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan are sixth […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT) In a strong event with seven players in the World Top 25, and great competitors like World No. 4 Hugo Calderano, World No. 10 Dimitrij Ovtcharov, and World No. 13 Dang Qiu, it took a lot of upsets before the final could feature World No. 30 Marcos Freitas, and World […]