(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT) Following a similar script to last week’s WTT event, there were a lot of surprises through the early and middle rounds – but the underdogs have failed to reach the Final.  The final day in Macao will be a battle between World No. 2 Wang Chuqin and World No. 4 […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT) Six months ago at the WTT Champions Macao 2022, France’s Alexis Lebrun introduced himself to the world with a surprise upset over  World No. 3 Liang Jingkun.  Six months later, Alexis has returned to Macao for the WTT Champions Macao 2023 – and he has improved upon last year’s results […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The Austin Table Tennis Club has been around for more than thirty years.  Their current 12,000 square foot full-time facility is a big change from the wooden dance floor in the back of a bar where they started.  That current facility offers high ceilings, great lighting, 15 tables for normal play and three […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo by WTT) If you only tuned in on Saturday for the Finals of the WTT Champions Xinxiang event, you saw a somewhat predictable No. 1 over No. 7 Final in Men’s Singles and an equally predictable No. 1 over No. 3 Final in Women’s Singles.  Those winners were Fan Zendong and […]

(by Steve Hopkins) There was a moment on Wednesday when Lee Sang Su was up a game on World No. 1 Fan Zhendong, where this tournament could have been turned on its ear with nearly all of the top seeds out before the Quarterfinals.  However, Fan righted the ship and ran off three wins in […]

(By Steve Hopkins) Essential Table Tennis operates two club locations.  The Oklahoma City location is just South of downtown Oklahoma City off of I-35.  The club operates every day in this main location.  They also have weekend hours at the Moore Community Center in Moore, a few miles South of the City on Highway 35. […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo ITTFWorld) On the Men’s side, Jishan Liang was the only competitor to beat Nandan Naresh (a 4-1 score in the final match-up for both players).  By the time these two top seeds met, the top position was already decided.  Nandan Naresh was 6-0 with the other competitors, though his 4-3 win […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo by ITTFWorld) The ranking points system can be confusing – and adjustments made during COVID complicated it further.  This week, there were some major changes in the World Rankings – changes that were largely due to COVID adjustments expiring.  For instance, this is the first week where results of the Olympics […]

(by Steve Hopkins) After two thousand six hundred and eighty six singles matches, a champion was crowned.  The winning team (Aria TT) had a combined rating of their three players of 8185.  The top player (Kou Lei) entered with a 2818 rating.  Kou Lei, and his teammates Eugene Wang and Angel Naranjo made it through […]

(by Steve Hopkins) From the beginning of the year, the European Table Tennis Union Men’s Champions League was really a story of two teams – Borussia Dusseldorf and Neu-Ulm.  The Dusseldorf squad had been at the top of the pecking order in both German League play and the Euro League matches for a decade – […]