OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Here is a great match between 2 great world champions.
Sorry for the poor video quality. I am a fan of Guo and there are not too many good videos out there on him playing real matches. Let me know if you find one!

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTE2MjQzMDcy.html


Same match on youtube (better quality), edited post and added July 23, 2010:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNl4VSLx2mo&feature=related[/youtube]

Thanks shaolinTT!

Phew, fast action, these guys are quick! Why are a fan of Guo, shaolinTT?

(PS I've embedded your video (edit your own post to see how it's done )

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Thanks for showing me how to embed a video.
Why am I a fan of Guo Yuehua?
As a CPen player, my favourite CPen players are Zhuang Zedong, Guo, and Ma Lin, with Guo at the top of this list.
-He came 2nd at the World Championship in 1977 and 1979.
-Two times World Champion (1981 and 1983).
-came out of retirement and beat Waldner and Persson when these two were at their peaks.
-When Waldner was asked which Chinese player he respected the most, he gave one name: Guo Yuehua.
Guo's playing style was unique at the time: inverted rubber, a powerful topspin FH. I think his style (not Zhuang's) would still be competitive today.
There are videos of him playing exhibitions recently, but he has gained a lot of weight and not moving too well!
(BTW, in this video Kohno vs Guo, we can see Li Furong, another great player, some say was "ordered" to lose to Zhuang Zedong in the world championships.)

Thanks for the video.

If you're interested in the history of this match and tournament, and the weird stuff that the top chinese players did or had to deal with, tim boggan's account is pretty interesting.

http://www.usatt.org/articles/worlds/worlds13.shtml
http://www.usatt.org/articles/worlds/worlds14.shtml

If you have more time to read, the three tournaments in sequence (1975 Calcutta, 1977 Birmingham, and 1979 Pyongyang) sort of tie together and have interesting stories. Start with chapter 11. You can skip chapter 12 if you're not interested in the US stories, in Birmingham, but do read chapters 13 through 17, including the US chapter in Pyongyang.

_________________
Equipment: Matsushita PowerDefence, Spin Art 1.9 black, Xiying 979 ox red
Style: American | US Rating: barely 2000

Thanks so much for the recommended reading, Kagin! Also, congratulations on your achievement in the journey to empiring!
I have not finished all the chapters yet (still working on it!). The reading is so fascinating! Yes, I've heard this before: "friendship first, competition second", back when I was a kid watching the Chinese exhibition matches.
I watched the video (part one and part 2) on youtube yesterday: Kohno vs Bengtsson (1977 world championship, quarter final). The quality of this video is not bad. Great match! Having read Boggan's writing makes it more "alive".
Thanks again.

Haggisv

I am also a big fan of Guo, as most who watched the game from the late 1070s are bound to be. This is particularly so if you were a cpen player [which I am not].

There is a good reason why Waldner rated Guo highly. From 1977 to 1983, there is no doubt that he was the No 1 in the world. The match against Kohno was played when Guo was 21, playing in his first Worlds, and Kohno was 34 I think. According to many, Guo was "destined" to lose the match. There are also stories on how he withdrew in the final against Ono in 1979.

The World Championship men's singles competition should be a credible yardstick, and I believe Guo is the only Chinese player who has made the final in 4 consecutive championships.

In terms of technical skills, Guo was the first cpen inverted player to combine traditional Chinese close to table attack and Japanese top spin. And he combined that further with Xu Shaofa's high toss service and the best footwork ever, you begin to get the idea. To my mind, even by today's standards, Guo has 1 of the best service action [the service actions in 1977 were not that refined]. His footwork makes Kim and Ryu look pedestrian. And just to put things into context, Kim and Ryu are relatively modern day single sided c/jpen loopers. That single sided loop technique would not be very competitive today; not at the very top professional level anyway. Many would also judged that Guo reigned during a time when the Chinese were quite naive to speed gluing, and at his prime, it did not appear the speed glue of the Hungarians, Yugoslavs, Swedes etc made any difference as he was clearly superior in many aspects of the game.

Ma Lin is the closest China has to a successor to Guo but as gifted as Ma is, it is clear that the ban of speed glue has had more impact on him than probably most of the top players. If you took away the RPB, then Ma would be even more exposed to the deficiencies of a single sided looping game.

Thanks for all the information kineticexplorer, very good to know!

Does he still live in China? He would be a great one to get an interview with!

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

I think he's the current head coach of the Fujian Provincial Team.

Well, here comes an absolutely useless fact from me.

I have quite possibly played on that very table.

Assuming that this is from the World Championships in Birmingham (UK), 1977, a club I used to play at (Fellows Cranleigh in London, UK) got 6 of the tables used; Stiga Expert tables. Excellent tables, lasted years and played really well. Still in use in 1996, wouldn't surprise me if the School there still uses them.

There, told you it was a useless fact ....

_________________
Timo Boll ALC ST
FH Tibhar Evolution MX-P Max
BH Tibhar Evolution FX-S 1.8
185g

Well, Guo has gained quite a bit of weight so his feet are slower now!

http://v.ku6.com/show/mID5lu_PHVyxL2x6.html

How many World or Olympics champions can you count in this video?!
(Hint: more than you think!)

Sorry, I still can't figure out how to "embed" this video. Please show me one more time, haggisv.

Which video on that page?

I can only embed this video if I know the embed code. I've set this up for quite a few video sites, but for for KU6 as yet, since we've not had a video from this site. I you know the embed code, I should be able to add this site as well.

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

It is OK. Thanks. We will leave the ku6 video the way it is.

For all the Guo Yuehua fans out there (like myself), here is a better quality video of the same match I've posted earlier.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNl4VSLx ... re=related
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNl4VSLx2mo&feature=related
[/youtube]