A significant upset by Maze from Denmark over Mizutani from Japan. Maze has been battling injuries over the past 2 years and Mizutani was one of 2 players who have the best chances of upsetting the top 2 Chinese players. Zhang Jike barely survived 4-3 against Samsonov. The Chinese coach was nearly *****ting himself. This would have been another epic upset considering how much pressure the Chinese are under to win gold. Awesome match by Sammy, wish he could move on. He's a great role model in the sport and probably the most textbook technique you can find. But I had to root for ZJK who I pattern my game the most after. His trademark shot is something to watch and I love his creativity. The other player w/ the best chance of upsetting the Chinese is Germany's Timo Boll. By far the best player outside of China and the top European player for the past few years. His match is starting now. He's also struggled w/ injuries over the past few months so I'm not sure what to expect from him in the later rounds, but I'm pretty confident he'll win today. I think he could pull the upset against China's Wang Hao and make it to the finals but I'm getting ahead of myself. I'd love to see a Boll/ZJK finals.
I play. I am moderately good if you play me. I will beat you if you've drunk a few beers just before we play. Also, <object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eaEUiI_ygl4?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eaEUiI_ygl4?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
I play a decent amount of tennis, but for some reason have never been good at ping pong, thence I think I don't like it.
Being a tennis player I have always loved ping pong. When you're good the sport can tire you out. I was reminded how out of shape I am last time I played for about an hour.
I loved playing it. I was pretty darn good. I don't much care about watching it though. I played a lot when I was in high school. In college I actually ran into a guy that was nationally ranked in Taiwan , so we played a lot together. To the OP that said that this is not a sport, the reaction time and high eye coordination required to play this is similar to hitting a major league fastball. It is way harder than it looks . I used to watch it some but gradually lost interest. Same thing with tennis , I used to watch tennis all the time back in the day of Connors and McEnroe but lost interest gradually.
You come across to me as a very narrow-minded person. sport  an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sports Looks to me playing ping pong fits the definition very well. What is your take? Racquetball is a sport too. No question about it. But it has to be a sport and also be popular world-wide in order to become an Olympics event. Ping Pong is more popular than racquetball. It is just as simple as that. Now, sitting around a table and playing poker or chess is not a sport. Is there still anything you do not understand?
was a bit of a skeptic (in regards it to being an Olympic sport) but some of these are damn impressive.
The definition fails in my opinion. Frisbee, marbles, hopscotch, pool, arm wrestlimg, thumb wars, spitballing, Etc are all sports by that definition.
This is probably the best highlight compilation I've seen where you can get a better sense of the speed in person because it's shot at ground level instead of from above. I wish they'd film more pro events like this. Much better for the spectator IMHO. You can also get a better sense of how the ball arcs due to topsin and sidespin as well. Spin is 50% of the game and extends the sport (or not) from just being about speed and power. Reading, reacting, and the need to be very precise on both counts to make each shot forces you to make a few decisions in a split second. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/max-n37Y5J8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
There are other things that should be reconsidered as a sport in the Olympics before ping pong. Case in point:
