March | 2019 |

2019 World Tour Qatar Open Recap

March 31, 2019

(by Steve Hopkins / Photo by ITTF) Doha, Qatar was host this week to the Seamaster 2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open. The only player in the top 16 in the world that did not attend was Fan Zhendong (World No.1). Xu Xin (World No. 2) was the top seed of the tournament and […]

WAB CLUB FEATURE: Houston International Table Tennis Academy

March 29, 2019

(by Steve Hopkins) Located in Katy, Texas on the West side of Metropolitan Houston, is the Houston International Table Tennis Academy (HITTA). Consistent with being located in the largest city in the largest State, HITTA provides one of the largest professional table tennis training academies in the country. The facility is 11000 square feet with 18 […]

Denver Table Tennis Alliance’s 2nd MENSUAL Tourney of 2019… went GREAT!

March 29, 2019

(By Angelo Gandullia) Hello Table Tennis players and friends! On Saturday, March 23th, Denver Table Tennis Alliance hosted our 2nd MENSUAL Tourney of 2019… and it was another even bigger success! We had again a FULL tournament in all 3 divisions, and we want to thank very much all players who participate and made a great day of exciting matches […]

Southern Calif. Schools Table Tennis Tournament

March 25, 2019

(By LATTA) “What a very bright & young day at LATTA on Sunday, March 24….Southern Cal Schools Table Tennis Tournament! We had about 40 young players, from middle school (grades 6-8) to high school (grades 9-12). The 4 schools were represented by Gabrielino High School (San Gabriel), Walnut High School (Walnut), Mark Keppel High School […]

Advanced Sponge but No-So-Fast Blades

March 25, 2019

By Larry Hodges Most players at the beginning/intermediate level use blades that are too fast. This not only hurts their control, but it also develops bad habits where the player uses the speed of the racket to rebound the ball back instead of stroking it, leading to poor strokes that won’t work very well at […]

Oman Open Recap

March 24, 2019

(by Steve Hopkins/Photo by ITTF) The Seamaster 2019 ITTF Challenge Plus Oman Open concluded today in the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat, Oman. Oman did not attract the most elite players in the world, but it did bring a competitive field including 11 players ranked in the Top 50 in the current ITTF Rankings. […]

Where Are They Now? Marcus “Ping Pong” Jackson

March 24, 2019

(by Steve Hopkins) Ten years ago, a seventeen-year old Marcus Jackson was the top ranked junior in the country. His 2574 rating peak came in October of 2009 – one of many highlights of that year. This month marks the ten-year anniversary of his amazing Cary Cup performance that included wins over Canadians Pradabeen Peter-Paul […]

WAB Club Feature: Golden Link Sports

March 23, 2019

(by Steve Hopkins) Golden Link Sports has a long history as one of Butterfly’s largest and best equipment distributors in North America. They have been the top WE ARE BUTTERFLY group in equipment sales in numerous years. The group’s Director is Raymond Szeto. Golden Link Sports is located at the Canadian Chinese Table Tennis Association […]

Tenergy 05 and Tenergy 05 Hard: A Non-Pro Review

March 21, 2019

(by Steve Hopkins) I’ve been playing with Butterfly Tenergy 05 for about two years but I switched to Tenergy 05 Hard a few weeks ago to see how the updated version of 05 would work for my game. As a 2000-and-change level player, my analysis and comparison of equipment has limits. I don’t have the arm speed […]

Two Local Juniors Battle it Out at Table Tennis Tournament

March 20, 2019

(By Andre Stoner) Dion Payne-Miller and Marty Stoner, two South Bend juniors, battled it out in the final of the 2200 event at the Robo-Pong St. Joe Valley Open Table Tennis Tournament on Sunday. The two have been playing together for five years under the coaching of Dan Seemiller. They have been friends since kindergarten. […]