pongfugrasshopper wrote: No disrespect to Adriana Diaz or Yu Fu, but their popularity and skills aren't anywhere near Wang Yidi and Mima Ito.  Don't know what the host nation is thinking.

Adriana Diaz > Popular "where" ?

https://sportstar.thehindu.com/table-tennis/utt-adriana-puts-smashers-in-final/article24294297.ece" rel="nofollow -

https://sportstar.thehindu.com/table-tennis/utt-adriana-puts-smashers-in-final/article24294297.ece" rel="nofollow - https://sportstar.thehindu.com/table-tennis/utt-adriana-puts-smashers-in-final/article24294297.ece

As far as Yu Fu. She is from Portugal. So you may consider taking some history lessons

I'm suggesting Mima Ito and Wang Yidi are both more popular and more skilled than Adriana Diaz and Yu Fu.  Please share your reasoning why you don't think that's the case.

First of all I am not totally sure how the wild card invitation selection criteria even works or if there is even one.

I would assume that the host can invite any damn person for wild card. Skill may not even be a criteria for the most part

As far as popularity you are evaluating popularity in terms of skill only.

If that is the case WTT can set rules that players should be invited just in order of world ranking. Obviously it is not the case. 

However it is even possible that many higher ranked players like Mima ito or Wang Yidi were invited but chose not to come. I do not know.

Your thinking is like saying that all female fashion models should be skinny. This was the thinking till even 10 years ago. It is more & more recognized that you do not have to be skinny (or anorexically unhealthy) to be a fashion model.

Or maybe in your mind the definition of popularity in tabletennis is just being two winged looper.  

Adriana Diaz may not be popular in China or Japan but she sure seems popular in USA or India.

As far as Fu Yu , I already explained why.

 

Skill and name recognition/popularity attracts spectators and advertisers.  That's why I mention it.  I did not mentioned anything about playing style.  Is Mima Ito a two winged looper?  Anyway, you're free to believe that Diaz and Yu are more popular than Ito and WYD.  

Where ? In India ?

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I was just giving two winged looping as a popularity example.  You are talking about unique exceptions like Mima Ito

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Again, it is not what EVERYONE globally believes. It is what or who is popular in what in a given country or even parts of a given country or region. My interpretation of wild card selection is that it allows for such considerations. Do you know otherwise ? I admitted I don't .  Do you know the exact set criteria by WTT for wild card selections ?

For the 3rd time I already explained in my first post about why Fu Yu is a wild card & it seems like a nice gesture from host nation and if you do not understand history you would not understand why.

   

Goa was a Portuguese colony right up till 1961. FU Yu is a great choice to possibly boost attendance.

Diaz also beat Mukherjee before, good for a India vs Puerto Rico ‘revenge’ match hype.

If that's what the host city is using for their rationale for choosing Yu, then that's fine.  That's their choice.  I'm not sure if that's what host nation's spectators would prefer.  Gotta be honest though.  The US was a former British colony, but if there was a tournament here and the choice was Mima Ito vs. England's top player I suspect the vast majority here would prefer Mima Ito.  Anyway, what's done is done.

Fu yu is a complete table tennis pro player with full honed fundamentals strokes while diaz isa  high level amateur that lives like a pro check the way she performs a slow loop with  no weight transfer.

I am sure I'm missing something here but surely a system whereby current WR 11, European Champion and NR 2 player of Germany needs a wild card to play in this event needs to be looked at? Each of those three things must be enough to just ensure automatic qualification. 

Also, 16 byes in the first round of the men's main draw? Just give more spots to qualifiers.

Looks like he got a lucky loser spot in the Main Draw.

Great 3-1 win for Hana Goda over Sreeja Akula who previous beat her 3-0 at the 2022 WTTTC.

This match was insane on so many levels. The losing team won more points but the winners won all the right points.  There was a point at 9-9 in game 3 I think where Kizukuri lobbed the ball into the air off a Karlson drive and it landed on the net and dribbled when Karlson and Falck had already relaxed and the dribbler forced Falck to push and reset the point enough for the Japanese to win it and take the game.  The Swedes went down a few match points in game 5, got it to 9‐10, and then Karlsson had his nerve drift long and get attacked.

Hopefully the highlights capture all the drama lol!

He just won the WTT Feeder Dusseldorf II beating 2 Chinese players along the way. He also beat Xu Yingbin in the qualifiers of this tournament. So despite his poor showing in the Main Draw here, he's shown some promise.

Wow thanks will have a look at some of his matches

FZD is wearing black uniform. Black shirts on black floor is prohibited for 2023 WTT series.

His uniform is not treated as black one?

Comes back from 0:2 and saves 1 match point iirc to win against FZD. I thought Cho would collapse in game 5, but he was mostly in the zone!

Xu has been defeated even by a player from puerto rico among other no names so beating xu is no biggie.
 

Ignore me : I probably mistook Mr Diaz for another person.

Qiu jinxin has trained Maze,Mizutani and Diaz has several basic shortcomings 

While I was wrong about the coaching change, what basic shortcomings does she have?  

I think that was Qiu Dang's father.  Surprised me too!

Koki Niwa has similar touch, but Truls has more variations and can hit much harder if needed.

So does Ma Long, but my main point is that usually if you play like this, people discourage you from doing so because it is hard to do.  I do agree that it is the offense that makes it work, because all he needs is one loose ball to play his forehand.

NextLevel wrote: I Dang's father coaching Diaz?

Yup, Qiu Jianxin was Adriana Diaz's bench coach this tournament. According to this https://www.elnuevodia.com/deportes/otros-deportes/notas/adriana-diaz-cae-en-su-debut-en-la-temporada-2023/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1677773883-1" rel="nofollow - article , Diaz has been training in Japan with Qiu since November of 2022. This was Diaz's first match with Qiu Jianxin has her bench coach, but Bladimir Diaz, Adriana's dad, is still part of her entourage during international matches.

Impressive that Qiu Jianxin is a multilingual coach who can coach players from a variety of nationalities. Coached Mizutani in Japanese, Ishikawa in Mandarin, and Diaz in English. Likely coached someone in German too.

Twitter Video of Diaz training in Qiu Jianxin's TT Academy as early as before the 2022 WTTTC  https://twitter.com/qiujianxin1226/status/1572913054802583552" rel="nofollow - https://twitter.com/qiujianxin1226/status/1572913054802583552

Diaz was warming up with Ishikawa in this tournament as well. In this instagram video, for a brief second, you can see Qiu Jianxin (in a gray shirt near Lin Yun-ju) behind Diaz.  https://www.instagram.com/p/CpPxGtUgSBn/" rel="nofollow - https://www.instagram.com/p/CpPxGtUgSBn/

I’m not sure about him training/coaching Maze, though.

You might be confusing him with Hu Wei Xin, who worked with Maze for many years?

https://ttireland.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/from-the-great-wall-to-a-great-hall/" rel="nofollow - https://ttireland.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/from-the-great-wall-to-a-great-hall/

He seems to have fully integrated his hook serve into his game - which brings his serve/receive complexity all the way up with his rival Wang Chuqin.

My original point still stands that his medal was due in 2019.  And he has his off days - he really should have beaten Duda and given South Korea the silver in Chengdu.

The Indian commentator has not been completely seized by the sentiments that permeate the West.

She obviously isn't a massive reader of mytt and ttd...

Not sure they have a chance against Harimoto and Nagasaki but it will be worth watching.

Yes, everyone is speaking about the Harimoto's and it's normal but the Lebrun have such a great potential. I think Felix is probably even more dangerous than his brother when playing top 10 players.

1 No weight transfer doing FH

2 No upward movement doing BH

3 Bad FH slow loop upward weight transfer( feet stuck on the floor)

How does she beat Lily Zhang so badly with all these basic shortcomings?

She s very tricky and smart good flat hitter/ blocker  like koki niwa

Have you seen diaz doing a slow loop? Watch the sun yinsha diaz match.

This sports is more about being smart

Felix really exploited Trul's BH weakness there, and it seems that Truls didn't really like the sidespin in Felix's RPB...great win nonetheless!

I think it is pretty difficult to beat players like Lily, Chen Szu Yu, Amy Wang and Bruna Takahashi just by being smart, especially when you have basic shortcomings they can exploit.  Kudos to the size of her brain then!