I'm willing to bet money that anybody who doesn't think table tennis is a sport would get mercy ruled every time by a professional table tennis player.
I've played a semi-pro once and got mercy ruled. My smashes were slow motion to him. Whatever tho, I bet I can beat him in basketball :grin:
Glad to see some people interested in it. I hope you guys check it out during the Olympics. Many of the top players are in action starting tomorrow. Better yet if you ever have the chance to watch pros in person it's twice as fast then watching on video. Coincidentally America's very own Ariel Hsing nearly pulled off an upset over Li Xiaoxia from China today. Ariel is 16 yrs old and ranked around 110 or something. Li is #3 in the world, and quite frankly the Chinese women are in a league of their own making the perceived gap that much bigger. It would have been an upset of epic proportions. But nonetheless an incredible performance by Ariel. BTW here's an upcoming documentary about her and US TT coming out soon. <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1341817656/top-spin-a-ping-pong-documentary-post-production/widget/video.html" frameborder="0"> </iframe> As for being a sport, you've probably made up your mind one way or another and I don't care to debate it. But you can definitely get a workout from it. If you're playing in your garage w/ your friends w/ a beer in one hand then you might not be pushed to break a sweat. But if you play competitively or had serious training it's just as tiring as any exercise. Practicing forehand loops where you're basically throwing your hardest punch every 2 seconds for a minute straight can have you gasping for air. FYI Europe was just as strong in TT as Asia during the 90's and the Michael Jordan of the sport is undoubtedly Sweden's Jan Ove Waldner. Sweden was the team to beat but unfortunately they've fallen off steeply. China is back on top followed by Germany, Japan, and Korea. I think France has potential in the next few years. Check out http://www.thepongcast.com/ if you're interested in seeing table tennis action over the past year, especially if you aren't familiar w/ the pro scene.
Not even close to that. Go to a local USATT tournament in Houston, pick out the median player and he/she will take care of it. That's overkill as it is. The difference between an amateur bottom ring tournament player and a casual player who's never been is already noticeable.
Ping pong is a combination of quickness and intelligence. It requires you to think. If you played seriously, you know what I am talking about. Say all you want about Ping-pong, it is a fun sport. Try play with somebody that knows how to play.
That was a great match to watch. I was hoping she could force a 7th game but nerves cost her too many points and Li's forehand was not going to be denied.
Awesome that you watched! You impress me once again A_3PO. I agree, she had some good opportunities but got a little anxious and missed them. Against the 3rd ranked player in the world you can't pass those up and expect to pull off an upset. BTW, Bill Gates fulfilled his promise to watch her there in person. US table tennis has been on the decline for awhile but this very young crop of players is turning that around. I can't tell you how excited I am for them.
True dat, brah. I played a lot last year, at least a few times a week and I change shirts at least twice every time I play. I'm not even a heavy sweater. It's fun playing nonstop for about 2 hours. What I hate is when some pretty female friend of ours come over and gets all cute and wants to play.
Kate is that textbook wifey-material. Beautiful, classy, down to earth. Everything you'd want from a woman.
I got decent in college. They used to call me gump. But, I won't play unless someone has 3 star ping pong balls. Get those 1 stars outta here :grin:
Some good men's singles matches up now. http://www.nbcolympics.com/liveextra/video-watch.html?video=men-singles-4th-round-table-1-pm Maze vs Mizutani or Ovtcharov vs Chen could be very entertaining depending on the fitness of the players. Maze and Chen have struggled recently but if they're on their game there should be entertaining points. Table 1 is current world champ Zhang Jike vs veteran and future legend Samsonov who's near the twilight of his career. He's been top 10 for the past 10 years though, quite a run. Zhang is probably the most creative player in the game today, and the top seed in the tournament. Due to weird circumstances and maybe controversy, Ma Long is regarded by many as the best player in the world but he's not participating in the singles.
