(by Steve Hopkins) Its been over a year since Russia invaded Ukraine.  The response of the international sports community at that time was not just to isolate Russia and Belarus as countries, but also to ban individual players from those countries from competing in international events.  At the end of March, after a full year […]

(by Steve Hopkins) In their last match of the season, Ochsenhausen defeated Saarbrucken to secure the third overall position.  The reward for this win – playing second-position Saarbrucken in the Final Four tournament.  When the two faced off on Friday, Saarbrucken was ready.  Patrick Franziska dominated Sam Kulczycki 3-0 to give Saarbrucken the 1-0 match […]

(by Steve Hopkins) MK Georgia Table Tennis is a fully air-conditioned facility that features 8 professional tables, professional quality red rubber flooring, high ceilings, a practice robot, customized high intensity lighting, and spectator seating.  The club is a great location for competition, fun, or training. The club name (“MK” Georgia Table Tennis) comes from the director […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The WTT Star Contender Bangkok featured eight players inside the Women’s Top 20.  China’s Chen Xingtong (World No. 5) was the tournament’s top seed, followed by Sofia Polcanova of Austria and Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico.  USA’s Lily Zhang (World No. 23) was seeded 11th. Chen Xingtong dominated the top half of […]

(by Steve Hopkins) In the Summer of 2019, Lin Gaoyuan was the fastest rising player on the circuit.  His three year rise up the rankings had taken him steadily up from No. 62 all the way to No.2.  However, the momentum didn’t last, and through the frozen rankings of the Pandemic he was No. 5, […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT) By Sunday afternoon, all that was left was the Final.  With an upset taking out Fan Zhendong (he fell to Alexis Lebrun), and Harimoto’s loss to Wang Chuqin, the last two players standing were World No. 2 Chuqin and World No. 4 Ma Long. After such a long and decorated […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The Ly Table Tennis Academy in Montreal has been home to many members of the Canadian Junior national team and provincial team. LYTTA offers quality training sessions up to the highest of levels to help even the strongest players perfect their game. Youth development programs are available for juniors.  Whether they are […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT) Following a similar script to last week’s WTT event, there were a lot of surprises through the early and middle rounds – but the underdogs have failed to reach the Final.  The final day in Macao will be a battle between World No. 2 Wang Chuqin and World No. 4 […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT) Six months ago at the WTT Champions Macao 2022, France’s Alexis Lebrun introduced himself to the world with a surprise upset over  World No. 3 Liang Jingkun.  Six months later, Alexis has returned to Macao for the WTT Champions Macao 2023 – and he has improved upon last year’s results […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The Austin Table Tennis Club has been around for more than thirty years.  Their current 12,000 square foot full-time facility is a big change from the wooden dance floor in the back of a bar where they started.  That current facility offers high ceilings, great lighting, 15 tables for normal play and three […]