2008 World Veterans Champioshiprs Videos

 

   2. This video shows short flashes from the the men's doubles finals, from 40+ to 85+ age categories:

 

  http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZMHKBYJA

   Men's Doubles scenes

 

   3. Kalinic's partner is Li Yuxiang, former China's national singles and doubles champion, who, after playing in various countries, including more than a decade in Germany, settled in US. He now runs the NY International TT Center (nyittc.com) in Queens. Li was the 50+ singles champion in the WVT 2006. In Rio he finished in second.

 

   4. Andreas Fejer-Konnert was the 40+'s champion with Traian Ciociu. He is the 50th in the German ranking, whereas his cousin Zoltan is 4th.

 

 

  

Please, correct me if I am wrong:

 

   1. Romania is the birth place of Andreas Fejer, T. Ciociu, K. Kreanga, Olga Nemes, Georg Bohm,... Known in the past by its famous ruler Prince Vlad, now is in the news by the thriving economy.

 

   2. The Aussie with the odd name Le Van Ihn, finalist in the 65+ doubles, was a top athlete in Vietnam. 

 

   3. A German site (tischtennis.de) lists the Bundesliga players for the coming season: 1st division:Kim Kyung Ah, Park Mi Young, Chuang Chih Yuan, Jun Hye Kyung, Georgina Pota, Kenta Matsudaira; 3rd division: Hugo Hanashiro (2008 Brazilian Nikkei champion).  

 

1. MS 40 Final Ding Yi vs Carsten Egeholt  241MB

   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RAPOYC7N

 

2. MS 40 SF Ding Yi vs Alexander Savelyev  965MB

   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EYINOFV3

 

3. MS 40 QF Ding Yi vs Traian Ciociu  558MB

    http://www.megaupload.com/?d=438FEWDU

 

4. MS 40 QF Alexander Savelyev vs Colum Slevin  147MB

   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JPX73T9A

 

5. MS 40 Consolation Final  192MB

   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=P7O3I3BK

 

6. MS 50 Consolation Final   408MB

   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3M08S45Z

 

7. MS 60 Final Jaroslav Kunz vs Niels Ramberg   230MB

   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4TRHEVY6

 

8. MS 60 SF Niels Ramberg vs Milos Matejicek   168MB

   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=57510FHO

 

9. MS 70 Final Dieter Lippelt vs Josef Rakosnik   1194MB

   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CKUKW6F8

 

10. MD 65 Final Neubauer/Schmidt vs Le/Kraf   186MB

   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=19MLUPVQ

 

11. Men's Doubles Flashes   138MB

   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZMHKBYJA

 

12. Contrast  30MB

   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SEB9AYM6

 

13. MS 70 Consolation Final Minoru Kohakura vs Kozi Suzuki   668MB

   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4D7V2KHA

 

14. Award Ceremony and Photos  611MB

   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SF0T99BM

 

15. Practice Sessions   797MB

   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=II6X3EKG

 

Software: Ulead Video Studio 11, Photoshop Elements 5

Camera: JVC Camcorder GZ-MG37U

 

 

 

 

First I would like to add some comments of pimpled rubbers

 

1. In veteran's games, europeans have a clear advantage over north, central and south americans: they have a vast experience with pimpled rubbers. They have knowledge to use them technically, tactically and how to play against them.

 

2. The most successfull player in the WVC's is probably Herbert Neubauer, with a total of 7 golds in singles and doubles. In Rio he used his own material (of course), Leopard 1.5 (short pips) in the FH, Super Block OX (long pips) in the BH and High Tech Plus as the blade.

 

3. Doktor Neubauer participated in the 2006 US Open in Charlotte, NC, with good results: gold in the 60+ and 50+ and silver in the 40+ and 30+ categories. In the 60+ he defeated George Braithwaite 3 x 0 (5,2,6).

 

4. Several video clips of Neubauer are available in the Youtube:

From his first dvd

 

from his second dvd with new rubbers

 

 

 

 

A short clip of Herbert playing in the Swiss National Liga (available in the Web)

 

5. According to his website, Neubauer, a former Germany's 1.Bundesliga player,  has a collection of 58 gold medals in the Swiss Championships (he was a German Diplomat in Switzerland).

 

6. Another German expert in long pips that was in Rio is Manfred Grumbach, former professional player, trainer (SSV Reutlingen) and author of several articles, books and seminars.

 

7. The biggest winner in Singles (not in doubles) is the Chinese Liang Geliang with 5 golds. He was 6 times WTTC champion and having lived for nealy two decades in Germany has lots of experience  in the european style of play. Here's a video of young Liang training

 

 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YFVO1VSP

 Liang Geliang training video 138 mb rm

Notice his versatility and agility. It is said that the changes his rubber several times during a tournament, combining different sponges and top sheets. He is considered an allround or material player, but he chops like a chopper.

 

8. A little off-topic, but I cannot help mentioning the Rematch commemorating the 37th year (in June 2008) of the famous Ping Pong Diplomacy, widely covered by the american press, from NY Time to Fox News. The high point of the event in California was the match between George Braithwaite and Liang Geliang. It is true that Liang is many years his junior. Certainly China will invited George for the next WVC, but as he will be playing in the 75+ category no re-rematch can be expected. George is currently rated 2140 but probably his real level his higher. I played with him a couple of year ago at the NYTTF and, needless to say, I was mercilessly beaten. He is an orthodox player with inverted on both sides but with an extraordinary fitness (and poised manners).

 

 

 

 

2. Amelie Solja (pronounced zoh-lee-ah), rated 2436, is #1 in the European Junior Girls Ranking. In the last December 2007 World Junior Championship in Palo Alto, Cal, she, at age 16, upset the first seeded chinese player Li Xiodan in the semifinals. Amelie has been playing with Joola Drum 1.8 in the FH and Joola Fakir OX in the BH. As Fakir is in the banned list, she is trying several new rubber, among them Joola Shark (she is Joola sponsored). Last month (July 2008), in a dramatic battle she missed a match point and ended as vice-champion in the 2008 European Junior Championship (source DTTB). Videos of  Amelie Solja matches (source: ttlive.tv, broadcast live)

 

Amelie Solja vs Malin Petterson  flv  158 mb

 

Amelie Solja vs Monika Molnar  flv  130 mb

 

and another from youtube

 

Unlike Deng Yaping that was a forehand attacker, Amelie centers her game on the backhand, delivering long punches altered with loose balls.

 

3. Fabian Akerstrom, the young swede profiled here

http://www.ittf.com/world_events/Stories_detail.asp?ID=8289&PT_Title=&s_Year=2005&

 

and shown in this video

 

He is training in China and will be soon playing in the Germany's 2.Bundesliga (source NoppenTest.de). It is mentioned that he was using Hallmark Original and is now testing Donic Akkadi L2.

 

 

 

 

 

  http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DPKZHKW2

ws 40+ Tatiana Kulieva ( Russia) vs Karin Kruse (Denmark)

 

2. Some other women matches (glimpses):

 

  http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3KEVKC67

 

3. Unfortunately I had only one spare battery and was trying to shoot very sparingly to save for more important matches. I had no connection to the organizers and was allowed to move solely along the edge of the outermost line of barriers.

1. Any veteran attacking player that has faced a solid blocker with a consistent pushing game knows how a strenuous and daunting task it can be. A full attack tactic can be suicidal.; he has to play smartly. One of the weapons is spin variation. What I will discuss here is called "fake loop" or "false topspin".

 

2. It is nor a new deceptive technique. Butterfly released in early 1980's a series of excellent instructional videos and one of them details How to Play a Chopper. The "fake loop" is explained and shown by former World Champion Shigeo Itoh and the defensive star Norio Takashima. (In another video the roles are reversed: Takahima set up an attack after a "fake chop".).

 

3. Using some free time during the Olympic games broadcast, I have assembled this short clip using the video of the match between Jun Mizutani and Kaii Yoshida in the All Japan 2008 Finals. Here it was used a ultra high speed digital camera and what seems to be a not exceptional  match turns out being extremely instructive:

 

   http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YXKK6USB

   Jun Mizutani and Kaii Yoshida  mpg  61mb

 

4. In Japan the no-spin or floating ball is called knuckle ball. This term probably stems from "knuckleball" used in the baseball and which means a ball thrown by the pitcher with little or no spin using his (greasy?) finger knuckles.

 

5. It is mentioned by the sportcaster in the video that some players "like Waldner" use often this kind of stroke and that it is now being used more in Japan. In 1999 the very successful former trainer of the Borussia Dusseldorf Club, the Croatian Mario Amizic was hired by Butterfly as sport director and by the Japan's TT Federation to train the young players. His opinion: "loops with maximized speed and little variation are typical of low class players". (How important are the replays and the timely comments of any video.)!

 

6. Amizic lives in Germany and the whole squadron of young Japanese boys had to settle in Dusseldorf, the city of a large Japanese community (and certainly schools). This metropolis was chosen as the location of the future modern DTTZ-Deutch TischtennisZentrum.. Amizic is seen in the WTTC 2008 videos standing next to Yoshihito Miyazaki, the Japanese men's head coach and former top player (penholder).

 

7. Mizutani is rated 2935. Soon or later the young athletes will be confronted with the same problem of Ai Fukuhara, now 19. At 17 she passed the competitive entrance examination of the Waseda University, which has the same prestige in Japan as the Harvard in the US, left the Chinese Super League and started attending in April 2007 the sport sciences College. Ai-chan even thought, according to his father, of dropping off from college during the intensive preparation for this Olympic games. A different path was chosen by Deng Yaping. She retired from TT at 24 and went back to school. After a master's degree from the University of Nottingham, she started a doctoral program in Economics at Cambridge (and worked in the Olympics Committee).