2014 Swedish Open

Watched one of Liang Jingkun s match today. I like his reverse pendulum serves.

seems like all the high-ranking seeds only go to the big tournaments. But still again, Chinese  will dominate this sport again for may be next decade

I see you have brought this up multiple times, skip.  I guess it is time to address that.  According to the media, Japan is trying to give their players as much exposure as possible.  They are taking this very seriously and really want to take home the gold at Tokyo 2020.  In response, the JOC has poured tons of money into table tennis.  The JTTA is now spending 300 million yens(~US $2.6 million) every year.  They are also imitating the Chinese state-program in that all players study and train together at the national center, with all expenses taken on by the government.

Edited by zeio - 11/13/2014 at 12:23am

Looks like Ma Long is not going to play the Pro Tour Grand Finals this year.  Smart decision or wrong decision?

Edited by NextLevel - 11/13/2014 at 8:34am

NextLevel wrote: Looks like Ma Long is not going to play the Pro Tour Grand Finals this year.  Smart decision or wrong decision? Actually, it looks like none of the top Chinese players are going to make it!

Even if he wanted to play, he couldn t.  None of the top Chinese players qualified this year.

NextLevel wrote: One of the hottest women on tour is playing now...

Edited by popperlocker - 11/13/2014 at 11:55am

Yes Barthel....

Barthel Zarif...what a weird match, in the second game..Zarif won something like 9 points in a row and in the third Barthel did nearly the same. Both players are not very consistant. I Know Zarif, this is a very dangerous player.

skip3119 wrote: Feng Yalan & Gu Yuting advanced to the Main Draw. Not surprising. <span style="line-height: 1.4;">Before they lost their world ranking, ITTF ranked them as #13 and #39.</span> <span style="line-height: 1.4;">==================</span> <span style="line-height: 1.4;"> </span> <span style="line-height: 1.4;">Ratings Central ranked these two female players behind the top 3 seeds, but ahead of the other 29 seeds.</span>

The ranking rule is ridiculous.

skip3119 wrote: Surprised Hung is ahead Lundqvist in games, 3 - 2.

It s 3-3 now. When you allow close games, anything can happen. Lundqvist needs to attack Hung"a serve but he lacks a modern backhand. Luckily for Jens, Hung has issues with the reverse serve.
Edit: Hung s serve goes long at the worst possible moment.

Edited by NextLevel - 11/13/2014 at 1:44pm

kakapo wrote: Barthel Zarif...what a weird match, in the second game..Zarif won something like 9 points in a row and in the third Barthel did nearly the same. Both players are not very consistant. I Know Zarif, this is a very dangerous player.

NextLevel wrote: Liao Cheng Ting is the most powerful player I have watched in person.

Edited by skip3119 - 11/13/2014 at 2:18pm

Women s Singles Main Draw:

Eugene Wang might have tough time passing first round, I hope he does.

Edited by mwang - 11/13/2014 at 4:46pm

Hugo Calderano did well with this new plastic ball, interesting to see how far he can go.