(by Steve Hopkins) Lin Yun Ju is a rising star in table tennis.  Ranked No. 7, the 19 year old Chinese Taipei player is one of small handful of players consistently competing with the Top 3 (Fan, Xu, and Ma).  Yun-Ju is lightning fast, has amazing arm speed, and despite being small – he plays […]

(by Steve Hopkins) PongNow is an interview series talking table tennis with some of the best players and personalities in the sport. The guest this week is Larry Thoman – perhaps the foremost American expert in table tennis robots. He was also an important piece of the Nashville table tennis community, and was a fixture […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The top rating spots in Japan are held by young champions: Defending Men’s Champion Harimoto (age 18) and Defending Women’s Champion Mima Ito (age 20).  But both champions fell this year in their National Championships.  For Ito, she advanced to the Final only to lose to 27 year old Ishikawa Kasumi 4-2.  […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Located in the San Fernando Valley, North of Santa Monica and Malibu in the greater Los Angeles area is Allen & Sons Table Tennis Club.  The club began as the passion of a successful, retiring businessman.  Initially, the club provided four tables, but soon expanded.  Today, Allen & Sons Table Tennis Club features eight […]

(by Steve Hopkins) In recent years, U.S. fans have followed Borussia Dusseldorf (with Timo Boll), and over the last year many have also been following Liebherr Ochsenhausen (who have added USA’s  Kanak Jha to their talented roster).  A few weeks ago these two teams each advanced to the Final of the German Cup – where Dusseldorf […]

(by Steve Hopkins) This video was originally posted by Alexis Zikria in 2012.  The video is titled “2010 Training with Timo Boll” and it shows the progression from warm up to simulated points and match situations.  The full video is 32 minutes and shows a solid work out from Timo Boll in his prime. Timo […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Below are video highlights from the 2020/21 German Cup Pokalfinal.  Defending champion ASV Grunwettersbach fell in the semifinal to Borussia Dusseldorf 3-1, and Liebherr Ochsenhausen needed the doubles tie breaker to beat Schwalbe Bergneustadt 3-2.  Ultimately it was Borussia Dusseldorf winning the Cup with a 3-1 win over Ochsenhausen. Boll was perfect […]

(by Steve Hopkins) When you visit the WE ARE BUTTERFLY Clubs page on the Butterfly Website, the map at the top of the page stands out.  There are We Are Butterfly (WAB) clubs in every major population center in the US and Canada – clubs in nearly every location where there are active groups of […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Four teams competed today in the 2020/21 German Cup.  Defending champion ASV Grunwettersbach fell in the semifinal to Borussia Dusseldorf 3-1, and Liebherr Ochsenhausen needed the doubles tie breaker to beat Schwalbe Bergneustadt 3-2. Borussia Dusseldorf was the top seed having dominated the regular season with only one loss.  The team played […]