(by Steve Hopkins) The ITTF Rankings take on more meaning as we are now 23 away from Preliminary Singles rounds at the Olympics (and one month away from the first Team matches). In the most recent ITTF Weekly Rankings there was some shuffling near the bottom of the Top 10.  Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Timo Boll […]

by Steve Hopkins) Despite a draw that required Timo Boll to tackle German teammate Benedikt Duda early (winning 4-3 in the Round of 16), and Dusseldorf teammate Anton Kallberg in the quarterfinals, and top seed Mattias Falck in the semifinals, it was Boll that cruised most of the way.  When Boll faced Dimitrij Ovtcharov in […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Central Ohio is home to Spin & Smash.  Its a table tennis club that is part ping pong social club and part table tennis training center. The club is located on the West side of Columbus just off of I-270, the Jack Nicklaus Freeway.  The club features eleven Butterfly tables and there are […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Germany and Sweden were dominant through the Finals 16 in Men’s Singles, but as the field narrowed, there are few surprises in the final four.   Top seed Mattias Falck, second seed Dimitrij Ovtcharov, and third seed Timo Boll are each in the Semifinals.  The only surprise to the seedings is that Portugal’s […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Germany and Sweden remained dominant as the third day of Men’s Singles competition came to a close at the Leibherr 2020 ITTF European Table Tennis Championships in Warsaw today.  The results bode well as a preview for the Olympics Team competition as Sweden’s Falck, Persson, Kallberg, Morgard, and Karlsson all advanced – […]

(by Steve Hopkins) PongPlanet is a full-time table tennis club with a variety of programs for adults and juniors of all levels. The club is located in San Carlos, California, about half way between San Francisco and San Jose, just off the 101 on the West side of bay. The facility is 9600 square feet with […]

(by Steve Hopkins) At this point we are all pretty used to the bubble concept at sporting events – creating a protected cohort of players and staff that are separated from the general public in order to minimize the risk of travel and competition.  But as the US is emerging from pandemic protections with most […]

(by Steve Hopkins) On Tuesday the best players in Europe will start group play in Warsaw for the Liebherr 2020 ITTF European Individual Championships.  The entry list includes expected Olympic medal contenders – Timo Boll, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Liam Pitchford, and Mattias Falck will all be in the top 12 seeds in Tokyo.  On the women’s […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The ITTF announced recipients this week for this year’s With The Future In Mind scholarship program.  The list (2021 WFIM Athlete List) includes two young American Champions, Lily Zhang and Kanak Jha.  Puerto Ricans Adriana Diaz and Brian Afanador also made the list. The program is designed to assist rising players in […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The Russian Premier League Final was held this weekend – a best of 3 series between UMMC Jekaterinburg (with a top 3 of Tomislav Pucar, Jonathan Groth, and Liam Pitchford) and Fakel Gazprom Orenburg (lead by Ovtcharov, Freitas and Shibaev).   Gazprom dominated the semifinal round winning 3-0 and 3-0 in their semifinal […]