AGTTA Winter 2009 League Winners

Table Tennis Bling-age! Winter 2009 Winners (from left to right): Michiya Suzuki, Juan Wandurraga, Jim Chiem, James Wang, and the Fili-Rican Assassin!

So apparently I’m a slacker, but at least I’m a slacker with a trophy. I’ve been meaning to post these photos for a couple of weeks now, but I’m just now able to get to the photos. Trophies were given to people with the best win/loss ratio for the Winter 2009 League.

Congratulations to:

Michiya Suzuki – Open Class Winner
Jackie Zhang – Class A Winner
Juan Wandurraga – Class B Winner
Jim Chiem – Class C Winner
Rick Merced – Class D Winner (boo-ya)
James Wang – Class E Winner

This was the first time I had competed in the AGTTA league, so when I started I had no idea what to expect. I moved up 200 points in my rating over the 10 week period. I have no one to thank except my coach Didi DeSouza who was not only able to identify my terrible strokes, but also worked on my footwork and strategy with me. Keep an eye on the site since I’ll be doing to a coaching profile on him in the next few days.

After the jump are a few photos from the night…

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Tags: agtta

"Damn it Dad! I told you a million million times that I wanted a BLUE car!" - Wang Hao photo courtesy of GettyImages

China wins all the Gold Medals, and no one is surprised. Let’s face it, when your favorite team keeps winning without breaking a sweat cheering for them gets kinda old. Don’t take me wrong here, I adore Wang Liqin’s ridiculously powerful loop, Ma Lin’s intimidating staredown, and Wang Hao’s ability to Cho! his way to a win. At this point in time, China will continue to dominate the sport for years until other countries start training like they do.

What we need is a good Cinderella story and the number one 18 year old player in the world was there to give us one.

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Tags: Kenta Matsudaira, Ma Lin, Wang Hao, wang liqin, WTTC

Ai Fukuhara - World Table Tennis Championship 2009 photo courtesy of GettyImages

The H.I.S. World Table Tennis Championships is now being broadcast live on itTV. In case you missed the live stream, they are providing Video on Demand of each match. Join some of the conversation with fans from around the world on the MyTableTennis.net forum in our Live Commentary thread while you watch the Live Feed.

Tags: ITTF, itTV, Live Feed, World Table Tennis Championships

Jörgen Persson (Photo By: Ayoade Ademakinwa)

Jörgen Persson announced his retirement today at the H.I.S. World Championships in Yokohama on Friday May 1st 2009 after losing to Jun Mizutani. “The motivation has gone”, said Persson. “I made a big effort to play in the Olympic Games but now it’s time to finish.”

Persson claimed the same thing after losing to another lefty, Timo Boll, after the 2005 Shanghai World Championships, but returned after a brief stint with coaching.

When asked if this was truly was the end of his career, Persson said “Yes, this time it’s true, it’s definite. Eighteen years ago I won the Men’s Singles title at the World Championships in Japan”, he reminisced. “Japan is special for me, I have a special relationship with the people here.”

Its always disappointing to see a legend go out on a loss, but his legacy and contributions to the sport won’t be forgotten.

Read the full article on ITTF »

Tags: jorgen persson, Jun Mizutani, Timo Boll, world championships

Tournaments. Tournaments. Tournaments. I can hardly believe that its almost May already. Well if you’re looking for competition this Summer there are currently 2 upcoming tournaments in Atlanta in May (hopefully more will pop up). I’ll probably be at both competing and shooting photos in between my matches.

Atlanta Table Tennis Tournaments

• May 2, 2009 – AAU Sports District Qualifier at the Decatur Recreation Center. This is mostly an 18 & under tournament, but Ralph Presley stated that there is a U2000 division that takes place at 9 AM that has no age limit. So if you can get up that early and manage to get your entry form in by Wednesday April  29, don’t miss it.
• May 30, 2009 – The 2009 Atlanta Open Giant Round Robin Tournament will be at Lucky Shoals Park. This is an official USATT 1-star tournament. Entry deadline is Saturday May 23. There is a discount for early entry.

Southeast Regional Table Tennis Tournaments (if you want to travel)

• May 2 – The Charlotte Loopapalooza will be at the Hawthorn Racket Club in Charlotte, NC. This is a USATT 2-star tournament. Watch a video of the final round of last year’s Loopapalooza.
• May 23-24 – The Florida Hall of Fame Tournament will be at the Broward Table Tennis Club in Hollywood, FL. This is a USATT 2-star tournament.
• June 6 – The Ocala Open Orange Blossom Tour will be at the Presbyterian Church Gym in Ocala, FL. This tournament is only limited to 40 players, so enter early.
• June 13 – The June MCCC Round Robin is somewhere mysteriously located in Cary, NC. The entry form is nowhere to be found, so email Mike Babuin.

Tags: tournament

So you’re panicking over taxes. Yeah, me too. Thankfully, I get easily distracted.

I just uploaded some new photos from this past Monday’s League Night at Lucky Shoals Park.

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Tags: Lucky Shoals, photos