(by Steve Hopkins) The ITTF’s China Bubble has moved to Zhengzhou for the third and final RESTART Event, the 2020 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals. Sixteen of the world’s best are competing – based upon accumulated point totals from previous tour events. UPDATE 1: Another Day, Another Woojin Surprise The headline of the first day […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The ITTF’s China Bubble has moved to Zhengzhou for the third and final RESTART Event, the 2020 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals. Sixteen of the world’s best are competing – based upon accumulated point totals from previous tour events. The participating Men are: Fan Zhendong, Xu Xin, Ma Long, Harimoto, Lin Gaoyuan, […]

(by Steve Hopkins) COVID-19 continues to cause disruptions in the table tennis world as different areas experience travel restrictions.  Like other sports, table tennis has managed to use the “bubble” model to create safe environments for select events.  Unfortunately, many of the Continental Federation qualifying events for the Olympic Games were unable to occur earlier this […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The World Cup ended on Sunday (click here for the Butterfly article about the Semifinals and Finals) with Fan Zhendong securing the title in an All-Chinese Final. Some of the matches were amazing – a side effect of having a tournament filled with the best players in the world – but there […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Sunny Culture & Sports Center is located at Scarborough, Sheppard, and Brimley Street in Scarborough – a city within the greater Toronto Metropolitan area.  The club is just off of the Ontario 401 Express, about 25 kilometers to the North of the Toronto city center and easily accessible via public transportation. The […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo ITTFWorld) The Knock-out Rounds of the Dishang 2020 ITTF Men’s World Cup came to a close Sunday.  Of the 21 elite players who qualified, othe final four were Fan Zhendong,  Jang Woojin, Tomokazu Harimoto, and Ma Long. The first Semifinal was Harimoto and Ma Long.  Ma Long started fast, logging the […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo ITTFWorld) The Knock-out Rounds of the Dishang 2020 ITTF Men’s World Cup have almost concluded.  Of the 21 elite players who qualified, only four remain. Fan Zhendong versus Jang Woojin and  Tomokazu Harimoto versus Ma Long. The first Semifinal was Harimoto and Ma Long.  Ma Long started fast, logging the first […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo ITTFWorld) The Knock-out Rounds of the Dishang 2020 ITTF Men’s World Cup are underway.  Thirteen of the 21 elite players who qualified played a group stage and the top 8 advanced to face the top 8 seeds. There were two upsets in the Round of 16, Woojin Jang and Youngsik Jeoung […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The Knock-out Rounds of the Dishang 2020 ITTF Men’s World Cup are underway.  Thirteen of the 21 elite players who qualified played a group stage and the top 8 advanced to face the top 8 seeds. UPDATE 2 In the bottom half of the draw, the four seeded players have all advanced. […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The Knock-out Rounds of the Dishang 2020 ITTF Men’s World Cup are underway.  Thirteen of the 21 elite players who qualified played a group stage and the top 8 advanced to face the top 8 seeds. The first two matches in the Main Draw were Ma Long versus 22-year-old Slovenian Darko Jorgic […]