Guess who stopped by Bowmar Sports/Butterfly last week in Wilson, North Carolina? None other than USA’s top ranked player, Kanak Jha (and his mom, Karuna Jain Jha).  Upon arrival last Wednesday, they had a tour of the facility and met with Butterfly Staff before a series of meetings, a group lunch, and a visit to […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo by ITTF World) Obviously, China’s results speak for themselves and are the top storyline of the Olympics.  Of five events, China took Gold in 4 (and Silver in the 5th).  In the two events where two Chinese entrants were allowed, China took both spots in the Finals and claimed both Gold […]

(by Steve Hopkins) {This is a review of articles written during the Olympics. Some of this coverage appeared on the Butterfly website, but much of it was not permitted per IOC Rule 40 -which provides for exclusive use of logos and images for official Olympic sponsors for a limited period during the Olympics.  That period […]

(by Steve Hopkins) South Jersey Indoor Sports Club (“SJISC”) is a multi-sport facility in Voorhees Township in Camden Country New Jersey about 15 miles to the east of Philadelphia.   The club offers table tennis and badminton, and also have indoor turf available for indoor cricket and baseball practices.  It is a 15,000 square foot facility […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo (2016) by ITTFworld) Chinese Dominance has become a common storyline in major table tennis events, and if one just looks at the medal count – the Olympics follows the same pattern.  There were seven Chinese opportunities to win a medal at the Olympics, and all seven attempts resulted in medals.  In […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo by ITTF World) Among the biggest moments of the 2020 Olympics was Japan’s upset of China to win the Mixed Doubles event.  The top two seeds advanced to the Final in Mixed Doubles, but the Chinese pair of Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen were highly favored over Japan’s Mima Ito and […]

(by Steve Hopkins) With their location in Palisades Park, New Jersey, Han-In table Tennis is centrally located in the largest population center in North America.  They are just off of I-95, near the New Jersey Turnpike and the George Washington Bridge – and just across the Hudson River from Upper Manhattan. Han-In offers a table […]

(by Steve Hopkins)   The Table Tennis events have come to a close in Tokyo and TeamUSA has returned home.  No medals this year, but that was not an unexpected result.  The goal for our young American players was to continue to improve, and there were some promising highlights worth revisiting:   Liu Juan and […]