Jul
27
"Uhhh, I meant the new SHOE helped me win... not glue"
Perusing the ITTF site I noticed that there is a new series of videos called “ITTF World of Table Tennis.” In the first episode the ITTF recaps the World Table Tennis Championships and has one on one interviews with Ma Lin, Wang Liqin, and Wang Hao. The interview of interest is the Wang Hao one where he practically admits to cheating as if it were nothing serious.
Fast forward to 23:00 if you want to see the Wang Hao interview, or just read the transcript of the question below.
ITTF: You’ve been good at using your tactics before, but never this good. How come?
Wang Hao: Well I think the new glue has really helped me. Not only to win World Cups, but also today to become World Champion. I think I am the one who has benefitted the most from the new glue.
On September 1 2008, the ITTF bans Speed Glue, introduces the ENEZ device at major tournaments while at the same time doing little to penalize or deter players from cheating. Let’s face it, whether you’re a speed glue fanatic or not, using the stuff in competition is illegal and here we have the World Champion possibly admitting that he cheated in an interview on the ITTF site. Did anyone at the ITTF actually look at the final video before it was uploaded?
Now, there are two things to take note of here. First, I don’t speak Mandarin, but it is very well possible that there was an important detail lost in translation during the editing process. Why doesn’t he credit his win to his training, his team mates, or his coach? Second, the translator doesn’t actually say “Speed Glue” or anything to that effect, but something tells me that he isn’t crediting his win to standard water based glue. The interview in its current form just leaves too much to the imagination.
How can any serious player take the glue ban seriously now? What do players like Timo Boll and Michael Maze who have converted over to using Butterfly Tenergy rubber and have admitted to no longer speed gluing have to say?
EDIT (July 25): Chinese reader Yuewei watched the video interview and was able to correct not only me but ITTF’s terrible translator. Thank you for clearing that up Yuewei!
He was talking articulately about the “INORGANIC GLUE or GLUE BAN†which he thought might have given him some sort of edge over other top players. Yet the English interpretor translated Wang’s explicitly spelt “INORGANIC GLUE or GLUE BAN†into “the new glueâ€
Tags: speed glue, Wang Hao, World Table Tennis Championships
Table Tennis Spring 2009 Winners (from left to right): Jason Zhang, Jimmy Tan, Yoshiyuki Okawa, and George Cooper
Congratulations to:
Eugene Utsalo – Open Champion
George Cooper – Class A Champion
Yoshiyuki Okawa – Class B Champion
Israel Orija – Class C Champion
Jimmy Tan – Class D Champion
Jason Zhang – Class E Champion
Tony Liu – Class F Champion
Photos of the night are after the jump
Tags: agtta
Stone Mountain - The only place where lasers, fireworks, beer, humidity sound appealing for your July 4th Weekend
While most of the state of Georgia is getting ready to set off illegal amounts of fireworks tomorrow night, players from around the country are competiting right now at the US Open in Las Vegas.
- The USATT site has a link to the official 2009 US Open results page with day writeups by Larry Hodges. Also there’s mention about video coverage by the USOC that will be available sometime next week. Great site, terrible navigation. Their Table Tennis section is a bit difficult to find.
- Bruce Liu of USATT Magazine has been keeping updates via Twitter. If you don’t what Twitter is, now is a great time to learn.
- Varghese over at Spin Mantra has been keeping daily US Open updates with his blog.
- Milpitas has been blogging and posted the cutest photo. Losing to someone that cute should be illegal.
- I’ve got nothing else so here is a video of a penguin playing table tennis.
Textbook Table Tennis is a 2 hour series of exercises designed by USATT Certified National Coach Brian Pace for beginner to intermediate level players. Whether you are looking to finally break yourself out of that basement stroke, gain an edge for league night this week, or if you are just simply hoping to somehow justify that ridiculous $150+ blade purchase you made, then this video series is for you.
What is unique and innovative about Textbook Table Tennis is that you can purchase it for immediate download in MP4 or WMV format to watch on your iPod or computer for US$39.99. Or if you prefer the traditional DVD you can get that too for a few more dollars. So instead of ordering a video and clicking refresh on the tracking number page every 15 minutes for a week, you can simply pay using Paypal and begin watching the series after you download it.
Tags: Brian Pace, Textbook Table Tennis, video
Everyone gets “owned” at least once in a while. After you’ve loosened up and are starting to get use to your opponent, you are playing and notice an opening and go for the kill shot only to have the ball mockingly click back onto your side of the table before you know it. It happens to everyone. Above is a video by TTvirusPremium that shows some of the best moments where even pro players get humbled.
If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been, I’ve just recovered from a large data loss and have taken a few weeks to get back into my online routines. I am back now and hopefully will continue with the regular updates.
Other interesting news…
- The ITTF met on Friday June 26 to discuss why VOC racket testing is already considered a mockery in the table tennis community. It hasn’t even been a full year since the new rules have been implemented and teams and companies have already found alternatives for speed glue (Haifu Oil or Lamp Oil tuning anyone?). And everyone thought the banning of speed glue would ruin the game. It just goes to show that if you take away a dishonest player’s ability to cheat, he/she will just find another way around the system. So in an effort to “crack down” they’ve lowered the amount of allowable VOC’s to 4ppm (parts per million). Although, by this time next year I’m sure the Chinese will have discovered another substance they can use to tune or boost their equipment with.
- I had a brief love affair with a rubber by Dawei call Inspirit Quattro Utralight (IQUL) from Cole’s Table Tennis Supply. A full review of the rubber will be coming soon.
- Dynamic Table Tennis will be releasing a new DVD called Competition Table Tennis which is specifically tailored for players who are looking for a series of training exercises for the tournament season. Visit Dynamic Table Tennis and contact Brian Pace if you are interested in getting a downloadable copy before the link goes live.
I don’t know how to end this entry, so here’s a video of a penguin playing table tennis.
Tags: Dawei, Elize, ENEZ, Inspirit Quattro, IQUL, ITTF, racket testing
