Adapting: Against Long Pimples etc.



(Picture Credit - Waldner by Guano)

3\2\13:      A postponement, a "cup week" (we are Out!) and a "blank week": couldn't be a quieter start to the 2nd half of the season. Seems ages since we beat "Fast Shipping" 6-4. Oh well, am recovering from my injuries.

From the 11^th February, however, we will be all action: 2 matches in 2 days and a busy “Closed Championship Week”! The good news is that my back and knee are now okay for the rest, though my left heel is still sore.

Been thinking. Against long-pimples the first choice tactic is to flat-bat everything. Push or hit straight through the ball to avoid putting any spin on the ball. Simples. Topspin drives can be effective too so long as you go more for power than spin. “Alternating” (chop\loop) is an option also , especially if your loop creates lots of backspin for you to handle. Actually topspin-driving works well against Pete Calvert’s anti-loop rubber.

The big decision with alternating is whether to loop or chop first. If you open with a loop you will get lots of chop back... But if you chop initially you will receive an attackable topspin ball. Against pimples You decide what’s on the return, but you Must remember what you’ve decided! Of course once your opponent uses his spin-side, all this changes! That’s the challenge: so much to think about.

They say you should never compromise on your main game. Yet I can think of many situations in which you simply have to. For example, having to be patient against a chop player or a lower-league opponent with a points handicap. Then there is playing against long pimples or anti-loop, as I’ve said. Wheelchair-users such as Colin Woodford present another unique challenge: you have to push more and beware the early block.

 
 Think that covers everything, for now. Out.  

(But do please scroll down for earlier posts)

Ping Pong World Championship 2013

(Picture Credit - Daniel Schwen)

The following blog was first posted on Triond on 12th January. It got 6 Views and went onto the "Sportales" top ten straight away. However, unfortunately I made a typo on the submission page: "champoinship" so I asked for a "fix". They fixed the title and even the URL, but sadly none of the links work (apart from a link in "Sportales:Sports") so nobody can see the blog. Hence no further Views. Rant over. Here it is (Enjoy):

This is not Table Tennis as we know it. Called “Liha” in the Philippines: played with sandpaper-covered bats. I watched it on Sky Sports early in the New Year. Maxim Shmyrev (Russia) was defending his title here, at the Alexandra Palace, in London...

It was not Table Tennis as we know it. Early in the New Year I watched highlights of the Ping Pong World Championships on Sky Sports. This tournament was held at the Alexandra Palace, London.

Most Table Tennis (confusingly called “Ping Pong” by the Americans) is now played with bats (American “paddles”) covered with sponge and very fast, spinny rubber. Very spinny rubber indeed. Most of the top players play a “three-ball-attacking” game: swirly horrible spin serve followed up by an attacking topspin-loop-drive, usually a big forehand. Harsher critics of the modern game say that it’s too “samey”: all the players are the same and there are few rallies. Sometimes it’s the player with the best bat who wins. This is like watching lawn tennis when it was dominated by serve-volleyers and formula one if ruled by one constructor.

“Ping Pong”, or “Liha” as the Filipinos call it, is different. Everyone uses the “same” bat, as far as physically possible: the wooden blade is covered with black sandpaper. On this occasion bats were handed out by the organizers to competitors just before the start of each match.

Sandpaper puts next to no spin on the ball. Yet these international Table Tennis players were able to topspin-loop the ball very effectively. Unlike in modern table tennis, players seemed reluctant to block back those loops, preferring instead to backspin-chop the ball back. Thus there were many long loop versus chop rallies, like there was (I’m told) in the 1930s when short-pimpled-rubber-covered hard bats were used. Ping Pong seems much more “tactical”, again a throw-back to the good old days.

The highlight for me, however, was seeing the amazing Backhand attack of a Lithuanian girl called Egle Adomelyte. Like me she uses a mainly wrist movement on her backhand, but she plays it from almost anywhere, attacking both wings of her opponent. Egle seemed to use very long fast serves mainly and then attack every return. I say “seemed” because it’s difficult to tell serve-length on the telly. Anyway, she reached the last 16 and was unlucky to lose there to Martin Groenewold (Netherlands) 11-7, 6-11, 9-11. (Yes, most matches were best of 3 ends). As the only female in the tournament Egle showed lots of Girl Power!

Another “difference” in this tournament was that each player, in each match, could call for a “Two Point Ball”: any point won with that ball would be doubled. Nice variation. (Most points were played with a yellow ball, but the two pointer was white.

Last year this same Championship was played in Las Vegas (America), with lots of razzmatazz (as you can imagine)! Maxim Shmyrev (Russia) won that first title, and lots of US Dollars. Well this time he won again. He beat Sule Olaleye (Nigeria) 11-5, 13-15, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8 in the 5 end final for $20,000. Sule won $10,000. The losing semi finalists got $5,000 each: Christopher Doran (England) and Ilija Lupulesku (USA).

Sule was the Nemesis of the Brits in this competition. In the last 16 he defeated Gavin Rumgay (Scotland), then beat Andrew Baggaley (England’s Number Two) and then Christopher Doran (England).

The Filipinos made a good showing. Richard Gonzales and Joseph Cruz reached the quarter finals. Having dominated the US Open earlier, they were philosophical in eventual defeat. Incidentally, they were the only Asian country to respond positively to the invitation to participate.

Much was made of the presence here of “Veterans” such as Patrick Chila (France) and former England number one Denis Neale. Sadly the latter fell in the group stages.

Altogether an interesting experiment. As for me, I’m busy practising my backhand attack to my opponent’s forehand wing.  

Paul Butters

How to CHEAT at Table Tennis

(Picture Credit - John McEnroe by The Abbott on bestplayerintheworld dot com)

(Blog - As posted on Triond - )

The other day a table tennis unofficial umpire accused me of cheating. This has never happened before. Allegedly I deliberately forgot the score in order to put off my opponent. Nonsense of course, but as we say in the UK, in for a penny, in for a pound. Here are some more cheating tips...

Having been accused of cheating at table tennis by deliberately forgetting the score to break the concentration of my opponents, let me see what other forms of cheating I can list:

1)     Foul Serves: the easiest foul serve is simply to hold onto the ball and brush your bat across it before it leaves your hand. None of this six inch toss rubbish. With this serve you can get lots of speed! Very popular in the lower leagues where it comes naturally to raw novices.

Getting your arm in front of the ball as you serve can be effective. At one time young kids practised this for hours. Be careful, though, there are laws against it these days.

2)     Damaging your bat-rubber on the table can yield benefits. The rough edge of the remaining rubber can be used to impart some amazing spins. Well, that’s what the umpires told me when they disqualified me at a Two Star Tournament at Huddersfield. I was surrounded by blue uniforms and one of them filled in the gaps on my blade with a felt tip pen. I was informed that if I beat my Staffordshire County player opponent I would be out. In the event I lost about 12-5, 21-4! I borrowed an undamaged bat for the remaining events.

3)     A common form of gamesmanship is “Old Manning”. This can be effective against young, lively players who prefer a fast rhythm to the play. All you do is take your time. Go slowly to pick up the ball, towel down, check the score, chat with spectators... (anything you can think of to disrupt the flow).  Leave your mobile on and get someone to ring you. A slow, defensive chop or push game is ideal for this approach. Anything to frustrate these young whipper-snappers.

4)     Use an “effect rubber” such as a long pimpled one. This will give you all sorts of weird spins. The more spin an opponent uses, the more funny spins he or she will get back from you! Best of all use a “Combination Bat”: an “effect rubber” on one side of your blade and a spin-rubber on the other side. Expert exponents of the combi-bat also “twiddle” the blade in order to confuse. And it’s all legal!

Our own John Hilton won the European Championship by using two black rubbers: one anti-loop and the other spin-rubber. After he’d bamboozled everyone they brought in the rule whereby one side of the bat must be red, the other black...

5)     If you want to make your own “funny rubber” it has been suggested you might bake a spin-rubber in the oven! That will change its playing  “properties” completely. Sorry but he didn’t give me the exact recipe. Lol

6)     For the girls: against male opponents, wear very short skirts and low-cut tops to show yourself off and distract your opponent. Giggle at every opportunity and smile. Flutter your eyelashes. Turn your back to him when you bend over to pick up the ball. These techniques may also work when you take your driving test. But not if you are a “minger”, as we say in the UK.

7)     If you are a strapping, athletic male you might be able to distract a female by leaving your shirt off to show off your six-pack. Beware, though, the umpire might have you painted red, blue or some other officially acceptable non-white shirt colour! With my beer-belly, I’ll pass on that one. Lol

Yes this is all tongue-in-cheek. Hope you had a nice giggle to yourself.

Paul Butters

PS my team Nemesis (Grimsby League D2) are currently on 14 points from 8 matches, level with "Fast Shipping", 6 ahead of "Pipefit Supplies" and 7 ahead of "Parkside C". So far so good.