(by Steve Hopkins/Photo by WTT) The two WTT Middle East Hub Events have had some effect on the Rankings.  Harimoto (who won the second event) has moved back into the World’s Top 4, and Ovtcharov (who won the first event) has moved up one position to No. 9.  Others who finished in the Top 4 in […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo from ITTFworld) Despite surprises throughout the event, the final story in both the Men’s and Women’s event is that the top seed cruised on the final day. Harimoto beat Ovtcharov in the Semifinal (flipping the script from a week ago in the first Middle East Hub Event) and then rolled over […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The PongNow Interview Series – talking table tennis with the best players and personalities in the sport. The guest this week is Kai Zhang, a US Team who has been steadily improving with solid international results.  _________________________ PongNOW Interview are powered by Butterfly.  Comment on videos via twitter @PONGNOW.     […]

(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 […]