(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 […]

(by Steve Hopkins) From their locations in Fremont and San Ramon on the Southeastern side of San Francisco Bay, the Fremont Table Tennis Academy (FTTA) is easily accessible to San Jose as well as the other major cities that surround the Bay.  The main Fremont location is located on Warm Springs Blvd., sandwiched between the […]

(by Steve Hopkins) With the German Budesliga (TTBL) season underway, many Americans have been following USA’s top player, Kanak Jha, who is 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) We’ve struggled through closures and lock downs – but now we have sports back on TV (including some ITTF events and USATT’s Thursday Night Live Challenge events) and it looks like most US clubs will be back in action in 2021.  Very soon we are all going to have opportunities to return […]

World Rankings for March:  Largely Stable at the Top (by Steve Hopkins/Photo by ITTF) After an eight month hiatus, the ITTF World Rankings are back.  Fan Zhendong tops the final rankings of a very strange year.  He overtakes Xu Xin on the strength of his World Cup title.  Ma Long finishes third, and Harimoto is fourth. […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo by ITTFWorld) World Table Tennis is a new ITTF entity designed to create table tennis entertainment events – and their inaugural event concluded over the weekend in Macau.  The official name of the event was WTT MACAO 2020 Presented by Galaxy Entertainment Group.  The event is at the TAP SEAC Multisport Pavilion […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The Harimoto Innerforce ALC Blade is on sale right now at ButterflyOnline.com. The ALC have been among the best selling Butterfly Blades for years – the technology in the plies of the wood are proven technology.  That said, the Harimoto Innerforce is a little different from the earlier ALC versions in the […]

(by Steve Hopkins) I recently had opportunity to try Butterfly Rozena, I’ve been playing with Butterfly Tenergy and Dignics rubbers for some time.  Most recently I have had Dignics 09c on my forehand and Dignics 05 on my backhand.  There are some interesting differences with this rubber and I’m going to try to relay those […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The final RESTART Event, the 2020 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals, has finished in Zhengzhou, China.   The Sixteen best Men and Women were narrowed down to the final two for Sunday’s Final – and two the most celebrated players of recent years closed out this very strange year on top. THE FINAL: […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The final RESTART Event, the 2020 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals has advanced to the Final.  The ITTF’s China Bubble moved to Zhengzhou, bringing sixteen of the world’s best Men and Women. UPDATE 2: Fan Zhendong and Ma Long Repeat The Saturday Semifinals saw Fan Zhendong and Ma Long advance – this […]