OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Did a search for a TT club in Quanzhou and what came up was Table Tennis Hall.
I will be staying not to far from there - around a 20 min walk.

Has anyone on the OOAK played there and are there any others clubs in the city that can be recommended ?
Is it possible just to arrive and pay and play or is there a protocal of booking in advance ?
Also looking for the times that they will be open and is it more of a club than a centre ?

I guess you'll know more when you get there and visit. Let us know what's what and with photos as well...

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instagram: rokphishtt

Arrived late last night after a bumpy plane ride courtesy of the typhoon that's hit Taiwan.
Reception desk advised that I walk as opposed to getting a taxi since it was on a 'short' walk.
The 20 minute walk took and hour and half. Did take a very slight detour looking at electric bikes being sold at around €300. Difficult walking on the footpath since it is mostly used by people on small motorbikes or electric ones. Temperature around 39 degree.

Ended up with a hall where they seem to have stopped playing table tennis or so I was left to believe.
A kind Chinese women who was playing badminton gave me the address of where I could play TT.

Practically no one spoke English and had to resort to a lot of sign language. Showing a ping pong ball helped. Has a piece of paper written in Chinese from reception which probably saved the day. The map that I had showing the google map journey unfortunately got mislaid after the eventful taxi ride from Xiamen. And Google doesn't work here so could not re-produce it.

Excuse the extra post.
Here are the details where I did get to play TT.
Guys were very friendly. Sunday - arrived at 7pm. A good taxi ride away from where I was - approx. 20 minutes.
Guys were coming near the end of their session - took the pics before leaving.
Got to play for about an hour and a bit with 3 different guys. All good. Could not get over how difficult it is to play when jet lagged and the heat - despite air conditioning it must have been a good 30 degree. Started off well and then seriously faded.
Invited back to play Monday for 6.30pm. Hopefully I'll be able to make it.
It is situated next to the Baoshan Garden Club which is where I went into initially. This has one TT table on the 3rd floor. It is high brow club with sports on different floors. The TT club that is pictured is in the building to the right of it on the 1st floor.
To find this place took a good 2-3 hours of searching.
If you end up in Quanzhou the address on the attachment given to a Taxi driver will bring you straight there.

I was worried you might run into that super typhoon that had previously hit Taiwan.
I haven't been to Fujian but I am sure there is a lot of good TT fun there. Guo Yuehua, one of the greatest names in TT, is from Fujian.
Wishing you a good time in China and a safe journey home!
(BTW, youtube is still blocked there?)

Checked out Guo Yuehua and he got a lot of Gold medals in the 80s. He seems to be one of the legends of TT.

Came across the TT setup on the attachment below which is in stark contrast to the previous pictures.
Seems that some companies have a TT table on one of their floors in their buildings and staff get to play each other. Had a suggestion from a person that I'm dealing with to play with owner / supplier of the company. Was initially tempted but thought that he might not take to kindly if I ended up beating him.

Managed to get back for another session tonight and hoping to get one last one tomorrow. Doing the rounds and the club is brilliant. Quite a mix of age groups. Really nice people. They could not have been more welcoming.

P.S. youtube doesn't work but they have http://www.youku.com/
P.P.S. One of the guys in the club tonight went up yesterday to Shenzhen to watch Ma Long, Zhang Jike and others play in a demonstration / training match. He said that they were incredible.

could you also provide the cost/fee?

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instagram: rokphishtt

Hi Rokphish2.
I actually didn't pay anything. Had planned on going back this evening for 6.30pm but was unable to get out of a meeting since it's my last night. If any of the guys in the club are reading this my sincerest thanks for your hospitality. Will definitely go back if you'll still have me.

p.s. I could have taken more pictures but felt a little uncomfortable posting them on here unless I had their permission. 2 of the guys played with LP on the BH - one of them seemed to use an aggressive pip. They used the DHS poly 40+ and it was terrible. They all seemed to love the NP 40+ Tried using the XSF and it was too bouncy. Floor was a gerfloor covering but it was over a tiled floor. So there was no give. Club where the place was is secured so you can't just walk in - hence the taxi ; flashing a TT bat in the back seemed to do the trick.