(by Steve Hopkins) At this point we are all pretty used to the bubble concept at sporting events – creating a protected cohort of players and staff that are separated from the general public in order to minimize the risk of travel and competition.  But as the US is emerging from pandemic protections with most […]

(by Steve Hopkins) On Tuesday the best players in Europe will start group play in Warsaw for the Liebherr 2020 ITTF European Individual Championships.  The entry list includes expected Olympic medal contenders – Timo Boll, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Liam Pitchford, and Mattias Falck will all be in the top 12 seeds in Tokyo.  On the women’s […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The ITTF announced recipients this week for this year’s With The Future In Mind scholarship program.  The list (2021 WFIM Athlete List) includes two young American Champions, Lily Zhang and Kanak Jha.  Puerto Ricans Adriana Diaz and Brian Afanador also made the list. The program is designed to assist rising players in […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The Russian Premier League Final was held this weekend – a best of 3 series between UMMC Jekaterinburg (with a top 3 of Tomislav Pucar, Jonathan Groth, and Liam Pitchford) and Fakel Gazprom Orenburg (lead by Ovtcharov, Freitas and Shibaev).   Gazprom dominated the semifinal round winning 3-0 and 3-0 in their semifinal […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The Swedish Championships finished today and familiar names were in the Finals.  Truls Möregårdh won the Men’s Singles title with a 4-2 win over Anton Källberg.  This is the same Final as last year except a year ago, Anton won 4-3.  Mattias Falck is the top ranked Swede, but an injury kept […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The PongNow Interview Series – talking table tennis to some of the best players and personalities in the sport. The guest this week is Ian Seidenfeld, one of Team USA’s three table tennis Paralympians getting ready for Tokyo. Ian is one of the best Class 6 players in the World, with titles that […]

(by Steve Hopkins) A week after Dusseldorf won the German League Final, the other dominant team in Europe is on the cusp of their league’s Final.  Fakel Gazprom Orenburg, the Russian team anchored by Ovtcharov, Freitas and Shibaev has advanced to the Finals of the Russian Premier League.  Gazprom dominated the semifinal round winning 3-0 […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Twenty of the best players from USATT’s T2 Season 2 competed in the Season Finals this week.  After fighting through the group stage, there were four undefeated players: Jishan Liang, Xin Zhou, Jimmy Butler, and Kai Zhang.  Those top four players matched up against the next four highest qualifiers (each of whom […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The final weekend of the TTBL German League ended today and the result was as expected – with Borussia Dusseldorf winning 3-1.  The win is basically a Triple Crown for the stacked Dusseldorf squad.  The team won the mid-year title, won the regular season and won the final.  That isn’t all, they […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The USATT completed the 2021 National U19 and U15 Team Trials today at the ICC Table Tennis Center in Milpitas, California.  The top juniors from all over the country competed – with the largest event the U19 Boys event with 44 competitors. The U19 Boys winner was Sid Karesh.  Sid was followed […]