(by Steve Hopkins, photo from ITTFworld) The Semifinal rematch between Harimoto and Ovtcharov flipped the script from a week ago in the first Middle East Hub Event- this time with the players trading games to a 2-2 tie before Harimoto pulled ahead for the 4-2 win.  Last week Ovtcharov won that match and went on […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Dimitrij Ovtcharov overcame 6 match-points by Anton Kallberg to log one of the biggest come-backs of the young 2021 ITTF Calendar. Kallberg won the first two games and the two were tied 13-13 in the third game of the best-of-three match.  But Ovtcharov won 15-13, 12-10, 11-9 to pull out three 2-point […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Three of the four Semifinalists from the last Middle East Hub event have now made it through to the Quarterfinal of the WTT Middle East Hub Star Contender Event in Doha, Qatar.  Top seeded Tomokazu Harimoto has topped his first two opponents 3-0, and will face Youngsik Jeoung in his Quarterfinal match […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Five Koreans, four Japanese, and four Germans have made it to the Round of 32 in the second ITTF event of 2021 – The WTT Middle East Hub Star Contender Event in Doha, Qatar.  Top seeded Harimoto will face India’s Gnanasekaran on Tuesday.  Second seeded Hugo Calderano will see is first action […]

(by Steve Hopkins) As the table tennis world emerges from shutdowns caused by the Pandemic, there are great opportunities to speculate on how those stoppages have affected the world’s best.  Some areas completely shut down facilities leaving players to struggle to find competition (Timo Boll, for instance, released videos of his solitary training with an Amicus […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The PongNow Interview Series – talking table tennis with some of the best players and personalities in the sport. The guests this week are the Alguetti Brothers.  Adar, Sharon, and Gal have each crossed 2600 on their rise up the ranks of elite US players.  They share some interesting stories and poke […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The first ITTF event of 2021 ended today with Dimitrij Ovtcharov’s dominating win over Lin Yun-Ju.  With the Olympics just four months away, Ovtcharov showed he may be peaking at just the right time.  In fact, his run to the this title, and its $15,000 purse, included consecutive upset wins over Falck […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo ITTFWorld) UPDATE: Semifinal Results Simon Gauzy, France’s best player, is one of the quickest players in the German League – seemingly getting to every ball and often moving away from the table for deep drives or lobs.  Today, however, the quickness advantage is clearly on the side of Lin Yun-Ju – […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The WTT Contender Event in Doha is down to the Final 4, and three of four in the Men’s Semifinals are Butterfly Players.  Top seeded Tomokazu Harimoto had smooth sailing again with a 3-1 win over Korea’s Cho.  Dimirij Ovtcharov, World No. 12,  won the first, third, and fifth games on the […]