(by Steve Hopkins) The opening weekend of the 2021/22 German Bundesliga is underway, and most of the strongest teams are off to a solid start.  Borussia Dusseldorf scored a 3-1 win over Muhlhausen (Muhlhausen’s Ionescu topped Kristian Karlsson for the one win), Neu-Ulm was too much for Schwalbe Bergneustadt (Tiago Apolonia and Kay Stumper combined […]

By Steve Hopkins) The Folsom Table Tennis Club has two locations in Folsom, California to the Northeast of Sacramento.  The Folsom Sports Complex location has ten tables and there are twelve more at the Rusch Park Community Center Gym location in Citrus Heights. Between the two locations, the Folsom Table Tennis Club serves about a hundred […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Sweden’s rising star Truls Moregard won the Men’s Singles event at the WTT Contender Budapest 2021.  The top two seeds in the Men’s event were Liam Pitchford and Quadri Aruna – both fell in the Quarterfinals to the eventual Finalists.  Moregard topped Aruna 3-2 (winning the first two games, losing the next […]

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 […]