OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Bodacious headgear! If you've been reading the newspaper accounts, they mentioned that the Chinese spectators brought in by Perfect had some fancy headgear. They were nicely embroidered towels, and they were told how to wear them!





"Rally towels" aren't new, e.g.:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrible_Towel

I'm sure these people will keep theirs to remember for a long time.







This lady tied hers in a different style (the Princess Leia style.. ):



Should've checked with Perfect - maybe they might've sold me one!

Iskandar

If you entered the playing hall for Divisions 2-4, there's the usual sign for the men's and women's rooms, with an arrow. It leads through a pair of doors to the players' area, and out some other doors.. to this!



Interestingly enough.. here's where some of the players were lighting up. Not something you'd expect from players of that level and fitness!

The 1st division's facilities were at least indoor.

The Liebherr booth was actually manned on Sunday. They put this out:



I suppose it would come in handy if you ever needed to move a container...

There was this rectangular "photo monolith" set up in the middle of the booth. Didn't know what it was until I looked at it from the other side:



Well, there's a Canon DSLR hidden behind the hole. You stare at the lens, it takes a photo..



and you can mail that photo to an email address. Why? I've no idea. It's a selfie booth, I guess. Kind of like those booths where you sit after you insert come coins, and a few minutes later a strip of photos pops out the chute. Except you use those when you want a passport photo or similar, and most people take selfies in front of things, otherwise, why bother?

And speaking of photos... what time is it? (next post, tomorrow.. )

Iskandar

So.. what time was it now??? It's SELFIE TIME!!!!!!











Or at least, take-a-photo-"with"-the-stars-while striking a silly pose time.















Iskandar

This poster was a real selfie-magnet.



If you can't make it out to the beach...





A photo "with" Liu Shiwen:





This guy was taking serial selfies "with" all of the Butterfly sponsored players in turn. Click, step to the left, click, step to the left.. Here he's "with" Tiago Appolonia. Wonder what he does with them all, maybe they're all posted one after another on his Facebook page...



Iskandar

Applying warpaint.

Talk about inspiration. Don't know who suggested temporary tattoos for the iPong booth, but whoever it was deserves a bonus. Or a fat raise! There were lots of close-ups on people in the audience during the games, and many a person did you see with "iPong" across the forehead. Millions of people in China watched. Talk about exposure.



This was easily the biggest crowd at any of the booths on Sunday. People were lining up to get theirs.









I'll betcha next world year's champs, EVERYONE will be doing the temporary tattoos. I just hope they're hypoallergenic..

Iskandar

OK, which one do I want now...



How about this one?



That would go right... here. I think..





Hang on a sec, let me take care of this lady here...



Another one for the arm....



Uh oh.. he's looking this way now..



Iskandar

Souvenir balls. They were selling these for RM5 a pack of three. Or for RM19 you could get a complete set of 11. I ended up getting Zhu Yuling, Ma Long and Ding Ning. (Zhu Yuling and Ma Long below.)



Turns out you can get a hundred assorted ones here:

http://www.tenryu.com.my/store/DHS-WTTC ... d=972&in=4

Only RM50 ($13) for a hundred! Man, these are cheaper than most training balls, I think I might get a pack - but it'd be a shame to run Ma Long through the robot...

Iskandar

Clap sticks. These have to be the ultimate promotional giveaway for sporting events - they're ultra cheap, they're loud, and very visible. You can ship several thousand, deflated and folded, in a cardboard box. They come packed in plastic, with a straw:



On the first day, there were just Butterfly ones - the door guards were inflating them and giving them away, people would abandon them going home. I picked up a pair of Tibhar ones in the exhibit hall, didn't even think of getting more. When I attended the last of the Group Matches on Wednesday I picked up some that people had left behind in the stadium, and I got a pair from iPong.

Well, eventually I ended up with a collection:





Note the DHS ones say "Olympics 2016" on one side, there will be some of these in Brazil!

If you've ever wondered where these came from (like I did):

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/magaz ... sheadlines

Apparently first appeared in Korea, American businessman took the idea home, had some made at a factory in China. I doubt there's any sort of patent, anyone's free to make them. There's some sort of one-way valve - you can inflate or deflate them by sticking the provided straw up the nozzle. The iPong ones came from a different factory, they've got instructions on the packet (as you can see in the first photo).

American ones are a little different, they look like wieners on the ends. They go by many names - Thunder Sticks, Cheerstix, Bangers, Bambams.. Lots of American websites where you can get them made, usually for about $1 a pair (surprisingly small minimum orders, too). On Alibaba, though - the prices are more like 3-10 cents! FOB China, but a lot of the exhibitors were bringing huge items - tables, flooring, merchandise for sale - from China, anyway.

Iskandar

Sunday was the day when the number of these things exploded - they seemed to multiply like mushrooms. It didn't help that the Butterfly booth was handing them out by the dozen - I'd pass by and they'd say - here, take a few. No, take more! I must've gotten a couple dozen. You can see them sitting on the countertop.



The red DHS ones didn't appear until later. When the huge Chinese crowd showed up, there were a couple of volunteers working the crowd, giving away hundreds of the Tibhar ones. Here's the guy with the tattoos carrying a pair.





Later, the DHS people took out a huge cardboard box and started piling dozens of the DHS ones on this DHS table. And someone told the Chinese fans to dump the Tibhars and take the DHS. So they did! They just threw the white Tibhar packets on the table and picked up the red DHS ones. Can't be seen supporting a GERMAN company, can we, now..

That guy with the tatoos - he sort of became an "enforcer" - I saw him popping Tibhar clap sticks by stepping on them. There were Tibhar sticks (mostly uninflated) all over the floor (I rescued a few).



The reason you don't see many on the near side of the table was I took most of them....



And there there aren't all that many DHS ones because... well, I grabbed a couple of handfuls of those, too...

I left there with a three or four dozen of various sorts - I've been giving them away to playing friends (who I tried to get to come with me but couldn't), to people at work who play in the lobby... One of my colleagues brought her kindergarten-aged kids to work and I inflated some for them, they had a great time parading around making noise. I brought a half dozen pairs to my weekend Doubles, and left them at the house of the host... you get the idea. Maybe I should sell some on ebay...

As I left I came across this sad scene:





Easy come, easy go, as they say. Looks like Tibhar and DHS sharing the same fate...

One last photo before it's time to go into the stadium:



Iskandar

Remember those souvenir balls?



Yes I did. There's a hundred in the bag. I hit with one yesterday. They're quite good, actually. At least as good as those Double Fish 1 star celluloids. Can't tell if they're plastic or not - don't want to set one alight just to find out. So should I run Ma Long, Zhu Yuling, etc. through the robot?

Iskandar

Just measured three of the souvenir balls to see if they're celluloid or plastic. I think they're plastic, since they're not close to 39.5 mm like the celluloid balls were. What a pain it was to get accurate readings with digital calipers. First, the ball is a round (you hope) object - you have to get it right on the diameter. Really easy to measure just slightly off. And then the things are flexible. Grrr... I'm sure at least some of the readings are off, I'm sure the balls aren't as bad as they look below!

Anyhow..

Ball 1 (WTTC): 40.28, 40.40, 40.31. Average: 40.33
Ball 2 (WTTC): 40.24, 40.04, 40.04. Average: 40.11
Ball 3 (Li Xiaoxia): 40.12, 40.18, 40.07. Average: 40.12

Iskandar