(by Steve Hopkins) Most of the Butterfly/Bowmar Sports team arrived in San Juan on Monday night.  The US-based and Puerto Rico-based crews worked together Monday morning to unload tables and barriers from trucks.  An assembly line of volunteers put barriers together and placed them around the venue.  The tables were carefully unpacked (generally four guys […]

(by Steve Hopkins) With their location just North of Atlanta in Suwanee, Atlanta International Table Tennis Academy has a strong presence in the largest metropolitan area in the Southeast.  AITTA is the result of a 2014 merger between Yang’s Table Tennis Academy and Atlanta Table Tennis Academy.  They have full-time coaches across and have been […]

(by Steve Hopkins) In the latest ITTF Rankings, Fan Zhendong, Ma Long and Wang Chuqin continue to hold the top three positions.  In fact, when you include Liang Jingkun at No. 7 and Lin Gaoyuan at No. 12, and Lin Shidong at No. 19, China holds almost a third of the Top 20. Japan’s Tomokazu […]

(by Steve Hopkins) World No. 1 Fan Zhendong and World No. 2 Ma Long seemed destined to meet in the Final.  Both swept through the early rounds almost unchallenged – with Fan not losing a game until the Quarterfinal and Ma Long not losing a game until the Semifinal.  Ma Long continued to cruise with […]

(By Steve Hopkins) The Folsom Table Tennis Club has two locations in Folsom, California to the Northeast of Sacramento.  The Folsom Sports Complex location has ten tables and there are twelve more at the Rusch Park Community Center Gym location in Citrus Heights. Between the two locations, the Folsom Table Tennis Club serves about a […]

(by Steve Hopkins) World No. 1 Fan Zhendong rallied to beat Truls Moregard 4-2 to reach the Semifinals on Friday.  Fan was up after the first game, but Moregard won two in a row to take the lead.  The fourth game was pivotal, as Moregard couldn’t convert on two match points on his way to […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Five of the ITTF’s Top 10 reached the Quarterfinals as the third elimination round concluded today at this year’s Singapore Smash.  However, since all ten of those players competed, that means there have already been five big upsets. Tomorrow’s quarterfinal pairings are Fan Zhendong v. Truls Moregard, Wang Chuqin v. Lin Gaoyuan, […]

(by Steve Hopkins) With all ten of the ITTF Top 10 in attendance, there are no easy matches at this year’s Singapore Smash.  In the first round, only one of the Top 10 fell. We have now finished two full rounds in the Main Draw and there is no shortage of surprises. Ovtcharov was the […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The ITTF Rankings come out every week.  Sometimes its interesting to watch large jumps (up or down) as new players burst on to the scene, and sometimes its important to follow a more nuanced slow climb as points are accumulated and players carefully pick and choose events.  With all of the top […]

(by Steve Hopkins) With all ten of the ITTF Top 10 in attendance, the WTT’s Singapore Smash is the most competitive tournament of 2023 thus far.  Of those players, only Ovtcharov was upset in the opening Round.  Ovtcharov fell victim to Shunsuke Togami (the 21-year-old, fast-rising Japanese star who recently won the All-Japan Championship).  Ovtcharov […]