What’s New?: A larger handle and Kevlar carbon – The Omar Assar Blade

September 29, 2020

Assar uses a customized Butterfly inner fiber carbon blade that bears his name (OMAR ASSAR BLADE), and Tenergy 05 Hard. Omar Assar is an exciting player from Egypt. The Olympian currently plays for Borussia Dusseldorf and was one of the most successful players in the recent Dusseldorf Masters Series. He is currently ranked No. 38 […]

USATT’S THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE: Sheth over Sung

September 24, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) USA Table Tennis conducted its eighth Challenge Series event this week. The event was another battle of the sexes with Ved Sheth taking on Joanna Sung. Sheth represented Team Nittaku and Sung represented Team Butterfly. The players traded the first two games. The first game was 11-10 Sung. A late surge by […]

BUTTERFLY FAVORITES: Energy of Omar Assar

September 23, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) This is a Butterfly Favorite. One of the strongest players through the Dusseldorf Masters Series was Egypt’s Omar Assar. The World’s No. 38 has an athletic and exciting style – amazing court coverage and long strokes create crowd-pleasing shots and great angles. The video is one of his signature matches, overcoming the […]

Happy 90th Birthday Tim Boggan

September 22, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) Tim Boggan is turning 90 this Friday. Longtime friend, Larry Hodges, has posted a request seeking as many table tennis players as possible to Say Happy Birthday to Tim Boggan by posting birthday wishes to this Facebook link: WISH TIM A HAPPY 90th BIRTHDAY As Larry noted in his blog today: Few, if any, […]

Johnathan McGinty’s Collegiate Table Tennis Article (Part 2 – The Pursuit of Belonging)

September 21, 2020

(Intro by Steve Hopkins) Augusta-based sports writer Johnathan McGinty has released Part 2 of his series about the early history of college table tennis in the US. The article is titled “The Pursuit of Belonging: The amazing and untold story of the Anderson College and Augusta College table tennis dynasties”. This article includes quotes from […]

WAB CLUB: PowerStroke Table Tennis Club

September 19, 2020

(By Steve Hopkins) PowerStroke Table Tennis Club is located in Saint Augustine, Florida. The club is just off of I-95 on the Northwest side of the city, about 30 miles South of Jacksonville. The club has six professional tables in their air-conditioned facility. Flooring and lighting are ideal for play of all levels. As they say on their […]

PongNow: David Zhuang

September 18, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) The PongNow interview series discusses table tennis with some of the best players and personalities in the sport. This edition features David Zhuang, one of the most decorated American table tennis players of a generation. He is an Olympian, a 6-time National Champion, and a Hall of Fame Member. In addition […]

USATT’S THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE: Lily Zhang Gives Butterfly 5-2 Lead

September 17, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) USA Table Tennis conducted its seventh Challenge Series event this week. The event was another battle of the sexes with Olympian and US Champion Lily Zhang representing Team Butterfly and rising junior Adita Godhwani playing for Team Nittaku. The players traded the first two games. In Game 3 it was Adita who […]

Top Speeds: 90 mph? 60 mph?

September 16, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) For a number of years, articles about table tennis in the United States regularly referenced “speeds up to 90 mph” when discussing our sport. Most of us in the sport (who knew that there was some exaggeration involved) did little to correct the misconception. There were some articles that touched upon the […]

BUTTERFLY FAVORITE: The Anticipation of Lin Yun-Ju

September 15, 2020

(by Steve Hopkins) In 2018, a 17 year old Chinese Taipei player made an amazing jump in the ratings – moving up about 100 spots to break into the Top 30. That feat was perhaps eclipsed in 2019 when Lin Yun-Ju moved from No. 28 to No. 6, scoring tour wins at the T2 Diamond and […]