Sponsored by Mecano Sports, presented by Caliente.mx, sanctioned by ICTTF
(by Larry Hodges, photo by Larry Hodges: “Sandpaper Champion Hunag Jungang”)
Sandpaper Singles had the most entries among the ten events at the Ping Pong World Cup. As I learned here, there are pockets of sandpaper aficionados all over the world, probably more than hardbat, which I thought would have more. The bleachers were packed for the semifinals and final of Sandpaper Singles. So, perhaps this is a good place to thank the volunteers and sponsors, many of whom are sandpaper players?
A big thanks goes to the staff that ran the event – Steve Claflin, Marek Zaskodny, Mike Babuin, Nora Louie, Jeff Milford, and Uriel Valdes. Also a big thanks to Event Directors Micky “Miky” Huidobro and Alexandra Hoefer. A HUGE thanks goes to the sponsors, including Mecano Sports, Caliente.mx, and of course Butterfly, who ran all of the articles on this event. See the full list of sponsors!
The preliminary round robins and single elimination to the semifinals was covered in the article “Sandpaper Singles to the Semifinals at the Ping Pong World Cup.” We’ll continue here with the semifinals. There’s a lot of money at stake – $5,000 for first, $2,500 for second, $1,500 for 3-4, and $500 for 5-9. (There was a playoff for the 9th spot, as covered in previous article.)
Semifinals
Paul McCreery (BEL) vs. Adam Vitasek (CZE)
In game one, McCreery played super steady, never overplaying, making lots of consistent counters from a few feet back. Vitasek was erratic, and the result was a 15-4 win for McCreery. But in game two, Vitasek suddenly was the steady one. He has a nice backhand counter that rarely misses, and also mixed in chopping. Vitasek led 9-4 and held that lead all the way to 14-10 game point. And then . . . disaster for him as the once-again consistent McCleery, with a forehand that rarely misses (more on that in the final), won five in a row to win the match and advance to the final, 4,14.
Wang Shibo (CHN) vs. Jungang Huang (CHN)
Back in 2018, these two played in the final at the 2018 World Ping Pong Championships in London (sandpaper), where Wang won, with Huang the runner-up. Would this be a repeat?
While it was an all-Chinese semifinal, it was a contrast in styles. Wang plays penhold with a conventional backhand jabbing block, and likes to lock up opponents on the backhand side with relentless wide-angled blocks there. But Huang was perfectly willing to do this, and so the match turned into a large number of backhand-backhand rallies. Both players were extremely consistent and rarely overplayed a shot. Early on it was close, with Huang up 10-8. But his shakehand backhand was just too strong and consistent, and he scored the last five in a row to win game one, 15-10.
In game two, it was more of the same as Huang’s backhand dominated, though it often took perhaps ten shots to get through Wang’s backhand blocking. Huang goes up 11-3, and Wang calls for the 2-point ball – and wins! Now it’s 11-5 . . . and then 11-9, and Wang is back in it. But Huang kept coming at him, winning the next three in a row to 9-14, and again wins 15-10 to go into the final.
One point was interesting. At 9-12 in the second, Wang is caught out of position and does a running chop-lob that goes straight up, hits the far side, and bounced back. Wang couldn’t stop and so ended up running well into Huang’s side. Meanwhile, Huang, seeing the ball bounce back, moved to Wang’s side. Seeing Wang a good thirty feet away on the wrong side, rather than smash, Huang just stuck his racket out – on Wang’s side – and just tapped the ball, a drop shot winner. So the point ended with both players on the wrong side, with a drop shot that didn’t cross the net after being hit, that bounced about five times on Wang’s side.
Final
Huang Jungang (CHN) vs. Paul McCreery (BEL)
After playing more of a consistent countering game in the semifinals, McCreery became much more forehand aggressive in this match, often dominating point after point that way, often playing forehands from a few feet back. (Because you get far less topspin with sandpaper than most other surfaces, by taking the ball late it gives gravity more time to pull the ball down. It also gives you more time to run each ball down.) Huang plays more at the table with a strong, consistent backhand counter and efficient forehand. Huang mostly serves backhand while McCreery has more serve variation, serving both forehand and backhand.
In the first game, McCreery went up 5-2, then it was 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8, 9-9, 10-10, 11-11. Then the very forehand aggressive McCreery pulled away, 14-11, 15-12. The last point was crazy – McCreery was playing aggressive, off-balance, leaning backwards off-table forehands from his wide backhand corner, over and over, as Huang hit forehands and backhands at him. McCreery ended it with a sudden down-the-line smash that hit the edge.
There’s not much to say about game two. Huang pulverized two forehands to go up 2-0, then it was 5-0, and eventually 15-3.
In the third, at 3-3, Huang scores three in a row to lead 6-3, and McCreery calls a timeout. He loses the next point, but then gets three in a row, 6-7, then 8-9. But that’s the last time it’s close as Huang scores two in a row to lead 8-11, and then, despite having the lead, calls for a 2-point ball. He serve and smashes, and that makes it 8-13, and he wins the match at -12,3,9, and is the 2024 Ping Pong World Cup Sandpaper Champion. That’s $5,000 for Huang Jungang, $2,500 for Paul McCreery, $1,500 for the semifinalists, and $500 to the 5-9 finishers.
I spoke with Huang afterwards through an interpreter. Like many, he used to be a sponge player, but he’s been only sandpaper for a while – as noted above, he finished second at the 2018 World Ping Pong Championships in London (sandpaper). He and Hardbat Champion Wang Shibo both live in the Xuzhou in the Jiangsu Province of China, and sometimes practice together. He works full-time for the government. After the match, he was pretty happy, and spent seemingly forever signing autographs and taking pictures with fans. To talk to him and take a picture I had to wait in line!
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