Site Products
BUTTERFLY FAVORITE: Timo Boll's Behind the Scenes at the Champion's League Bubble

Timo Boll off to promising start while Chinese trio take the plaudits

(by Simon Daish)
Timo Boll promising start while Chinese trio take the plaudits
The start of the Men’s Singles event signalled the final action of the opening day at the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in Astana, Kazakhstan as four Round of 16 encounters took place on the afternoon of Thursday 14th December.

China very much dominated the session with victories for three of the country’s players but there was also early success for Europe as Timo Boll enjoyed a positive outing on day one.

Recovering from a two games to one deficit Germany’s Timo Boll saw off Japanese opponent Yuya Oshima across six games (11-6, 8-11, 3-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-6) to extend his stay at the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals and earn his spot in the quarter-finals.

Fan Zhendong is also through to the last eight after negotiating a tricky opening round match against Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan (17-15, 8-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-5, 11-6).

“Chuang indeed played really well today. The third game was crucial for me, I didn’t have much of an advantage in the first four games but in the last two games I changed my pace and rhythm and minimised my unforced errors.” Fan Zhendong.

Third seed Fan Zhendong is still in with a chance of securing the top position in the men’s world rankings table but requires a title win in Astana and an opening round exit from Dimitrij Ovtcharov. The Chinese star has started his campaign with a victory, now the attention turns to his German rival in the race to become World no.1.

Two further encounters were hosted in the afternoon session of play with both matches featuring victories for Chinese representatives against opposition from Japan.

Lin Gaoyuan has been one of the standout names of the year on the world stage and by the looks of things he is hoping to end 2017 on a high note following a devastating performance from the fourth seed against Masaki Yoshida (11-4, 11-1, 11-6, 11-7).

For full article, please click here

Latest News

Adriana Díaz: Six-Time Pan American Champion And Pride Of Butterfly

October 23, 2025
(By Edgardo Vazquez – Puerto Rico National Coach / Butterfly America Sponsored Coach) Table tennis in the Americas… Read More

Portland Streaks, Princeton Debuts – Bensenville Awaits.

October 22, 2025
(by: Major League Table Tennis) [caption id="attachment_270459" align="alignleft" width="368"] WEEK 4 PREVIEW: CHICAGO[/caption]          … Read More

Keep Your Racket Above the Table Surface

October 22, 2025
Serve, short game, flip with defense to offense (wait function) Jhon serves short backspin, robot plays short backspin… Read More

Use a lot of Wrist and Forearm

October 21, 2025
Serve, short game, flip with defense to offense (wait function) Jhon serves short backspin, robot plays short backspin… Read More

Never Use “Full Power”

October 21, 2025
(By Larry Hodges) When you see a ball you can put away, mentally (and possibly physically) your eyes… Read More

Pan Am Teams: Argentina and Puerto Rico Score Gold, TeamUSA Settles for Two Silvers

October 20, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) The Americans were the second seed in the Men’s Team event, and they performed exactly… Read More

WAB CLUB FEATURE: Greater Vancouver Table Tennis Club

October 20, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins) Founded in 2019 by Wilson Peng Zhang, the Greater Vancouver Table Tennis Club (GVTTC) is… Read More

Butterfly Training Tips with Maybelline Bravo – Backhand Loop & Pivot Forehand Loop

October 20, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tip Maybelline is executing Backhand Loop, then a pivot and Forehand… Read More
View All News

Get the latest from Butterfly

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.