OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Apparently Bastian Steger felt the serves were illegal coming from the left handed Riuwu. But he lost his cool to such an alarming extent that I am sure this match will be discussed for a long time.

Throws bat
Throws up his hands several times
Directly confronts Riuwu about his serve (This is height of unprofessional behavior in an umpired match. I really like the fact that Riuwu didn't get angered and channelled this well in his game)

Is Tan's serve really illegal? I am playing a left handed player whose serve is exactly like that and the contact is so swift that even I dont know if I am actually seeing it or not.

Is Steger within the game spirit? I really don't think so. It looked like he was really really angry the whole time and to be honest I have seen such burst from him (throwing racket, ridiculing the referee etc.) earlier also.

This is truly unprofessional. After so many years (he is over 30 if I remember correctly) of high level competitive table tennis, he should know the limits of a dispute. If the umpire is not doing anything about it, throwing tantrums will change nothing. Don't they teach such "exception-handling" in professional coaching? I am yet to see Chinese/Japanese/Korean professional players throwing tantrums like this. Maze, Weixing, Keinath, Mattenet etc have done it all. I hate to generalise but I see this pattern..

Another super-weird thing about this match - Tan gives away 2 (yea TWO!) diplomatic points at 10-0! I have no clue what that was for. Probably to ensure Steger doesnt suddenly jump on the table to beat him up!

Here is the video in question-

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Butterfly Timo Boll ALC FL, FH - Tenergy 05, BH - Tenergy 05
Buying equipment is like getting into a relationship. One night stands are great but you get the most out of it when you work at it for a long time.

Thanks for posting Rahul - despite the controversy it was a very entertaining match. I'm not sure of the exact rule on service these days so I will leave it to others to decide. He does ensure that his arm is out of the way but his body appears to obscure the ball at the point of contact. There is no way the ump can see the ball when Tan has his back to him and I wonder if the assistant can see the ball either (?).

If the serve is indeed illegal then I don't think Steger over-reacted but if it is legit then he should have known better.

Thx for video Raul. Very entertaining match. Service wise Tans serving and Stagers serving was pretty much same, nothing illegal there. The fact that Tan was more aggressive player and with his attacks he pushed Stager to defence probably irritated Stager a lot so frustrated Stager had to pick on something . Never underestimate opponent.I think Stager underestimate Tan so it got bitten lol

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Blade:
F/H:
B/H:

Steger is known for his tantrums, I have seen many of them on youtube

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Xiom Zetro Quad
FH: Tibhar 1Q XD
BH: Yasaka MarkV XS

remember the days when you could hide the serve legally and learnt to read the spin based on the movement of the ball? I dont think that losing it was the answer, he was fine with it until he started to be put under pressure and lose points and concentration. There are only a few points in that vid that look like he misread the serve and my guess is more due to the pressure of the game then anything else. Im not at the other side of the table so its hard to see how hidden or not that serve is though.

That said there is a lefthanded server to a right hander so there is more chance for the ball to be hidden on contact with the bat, I also think that if it was brougt up from the beginning of the match, not mid way through, there would be more ground for Steger to stand on for an illegal service motion. But as he was ok until he was losing the umpires have to assess that action as well I guess.

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CORNILLEAU Hugo Calderano FOCO OFF+
FH: ANDRO Hexer Powergrip 2.1
BH: ANDRO Hexer Powergrip 2.1

Serve had the contact hidden with shoulder for sure on many of them. Doing it all game. Agree with previous comments. Why make it an issue then instead of right away? Steger was pissed and it was a great match.

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Goof-off chopping bat
Gambler All Rosewood
Aurus Soft / Gambler GXL .6 sponge

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

We had similar problems/arguments at our club tourneys with lefty players all the time. The thing is, the lefties argued, their contact point is not hidden if they face other lefties. Also they say when they face right-handed players they couldn't see their contact points most of the time either -from where they stand-, but they NEVER complain.

Most of us right-handed players do not realize that our serve's contact points are usually barely visible to other righties, and completely hidden from lefties.

Here is another Steger classic. In contrast - a humble Kenta Matsudaira.

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Butterfly Timo Boll ALC FL, FH - Tenergy 05, BH - Tenergy 05
Buying equipment is like getting into a relationship. One night stands are great but you get the most out of it when you work at it for a long time.

In the match against Riuwu, Steger was covering his serve with the free hand. His free hand was going out, then back in to cover the moment of ball contact, and then out again. I think that everybody should follow the serve rules, but I think it's very strange that he complains when he is clearly breaking the rules himself.

The problem with the rule is that it is never policed at a consistent level by anyone. So there is a culture of making it 'close' to the rule by players that then promotes the umpires to just go with it.

Also when it is policed the match becomes a farse and it is slowed to a halt, momentum stops and there is usually a heated discussion about it between the players and/or umpires. This is why I think that most players and umpires alike are usually ok to just go along with the flow.

Steger's serve is also pretty suspicious, so he is also being a hypocrit on the rule as its intended, although he's following the umpires ruling in the game....

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CORNILLEAU Hugo Calderano FOCO OFF+
FH: ANDRO Hexer Powergrip 2.1
BH: ANDRO Hexer Powergrip 2.1

=> Yes the serves are clearly out of rule.

=> as the referee seemed to have been blind (or ignorant), it was absolutely OK to adress the opponent directly.

I agree with Cogito. Steger is not the most fairplay player in the world, but he is right about Tan serve.

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Capoblanco

Blade: Dotec Ovtcharov All +

FH: Friendship 802-40 2mm
BH: DMS Transformer 1mm

Steger get a guernsey here. Chen Weixing gets several! I like the bat chuck at 2.39.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbQDrRRq ... re=related

CWX cracks me up (American expression for he makes me laugh) and I will miss the TT if he is gone from public comps...

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Goof-off chopping bat
Gambler All Rosewood
Aurus Soft / Gambler GXL .6 sponge

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter