(by Steve Hopkins) In January, we reported that Fan Zhendong won the Marvellous 2020.  In February Xu Xin topped the German Open, Timo Boll won the Euro Top 16, and Harimoto won the Hungarian Open. In March, the US Olympic Trials resulted in Zhou and Kumar joining Jha on the Men’s Team, and Liu and […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The Chinese Super League has a new team, the ITTF World Professionals, which includes USA’s Lily Zhang, Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz, Jeon Jihee, Doo Hoi Kem, and Cheng I-Ching.  They are three matches into a condensed bubble season (to run from December 21 through December 29) and are currently 2-1 after their […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo by ETTU) Borussia Düsseldorf won the Table Tennis Champions League (TTCL) Final last week.  The TTCL is an international competition of European teams.  This year, they played the Final in a bubble with the Final Four teams invited.  Borussia Düsseldorf and FC Saarbrücken (both German teams) faced off against Fakel Gazprom […]

(by Steve Hopkins) This video was originally posted by ITTF in 2019.  The video is titled “Timo Boll | Top 10 Shots | Table Tennis Legend”.  The video shows clips of recent great shots by Timo Boll, most to close out long rallies.  Interestingly, of this Top 10 list, 6 shots are backhands, 3 shots […]

(by Steve Hopkins) This is a post for fans of USA’s Kanak Jha.  He is a part of the German Budesliga’s TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen.  Ochsenhausen has recently moved up from fifth to second in point totals and is poised to be in the title hunt. For those who have not been able to visit one of […]

(by Steve Hopkins) With the German Budesliga (TTBL) season underway, many Americans have been following USA’s top player, Kanak Jha, who has joined one of that league’s top teams, TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen.  Ochsenhausen has finished near the top in Germany for several years – a strong team where Kanak by ranking is third behind Hugo Calderano […]

(by Steve Hopkins) USATT announced today that they are suspending all sanctioned events and approved activities until January 15, 2021. This is another reaction to health concerns related to Covid-19.  In addition to sanctioned tournaments, the events to be cancelled or suspended includes USATT Leagues, USATT Training Camps, and other Events like USATT’s T2. USATT’s […]

(by Steve Hopkins) I recently had opportunity to try sheets of Impartial XB and Impartial XS.  These are two of Butterfly’s most popular short pips out rubber sheets designed to provide control with spin possible as well. As a 2000-level player, my analysis and comparison of equipment has limits.  I don’t have the arm speed […]