I am sure it's an old topic. A lot of us are sitting at home during this Covid-19 pandemic, away from the TT table, so why not post some nice TT matches from the past?
I'll start with the match, Kim Taek Soo vs Liu Guoheng:

I am sure it's an old topic. A lot of us are sitting at home during this Covid-19 pandemic, away from the TT table, so why not post some nice TT matches from the past?
I'll start with the match, Kim Taek Soo vs Liu Guoheng:

Poor Kim Taek Soo, for my money one of the unluckiest TT players who ever lived.

All credit to Liu Guozheng, but if Kim had won, Korea would have played Belgium in the 2001 Swaythling Cup Final, where they would have been favourites to win for the only time in their history.
Later, in the singles event at those championships, Kim was all square with eventual champion Wang Liqin for half-an-hour when Wang got an edge which Kim thought was a side (it certainly looked like one). But the umpire went with Wang, and Kim lost his focus, that game, and ultimately the match.
And of course Kim went out at the '95 Worlds after destroying Wang Tao 3-0 when his bat was judged to have a little bit too much speed glue... (glue or no glue, he totally outplayed Wang)
...and he lost in the '96 Olympics QF to Rosskopf, 26-24 in the decider.

Lots of thrills and spills, classic attack vs defence from a dozen years back:

Things really were a lot more spartan back then..

Great video though I wouldn’t call that forehand spartan!

No giant balls next to the umpire, no fancy towel bins, no digital displays on the back barriers... Even the shirts were a lot simpler back then. The rules said solid dark colors only, and a badge of limited size specified by the rules.

Another interesting video I just came across. Hobbyist bat vs. drugstore bat.



Just curious.. the "pro" guy.. is he normally a chopper, or was he playing a chop game due to the bat? Anyone know him? The difference I notice is that he wasn't able to get more than medium speed when he did try attacking. He did hit a few past Dan, but those were moderate pace pick-hits.

Iskandar

Past from the blast...

The great Gabor Gergely..

Things really were a lot more spartan back then..

Iskandar

Remember that World Champs was played in North Korea, where 'spartan' is luxury for the great majority of people

You might notice that halfway through the match most of the audience have left - that's because the PRK team have just lost the Women's team final (to China, natch) on the adjoining table. In that championship the locals rooted incessantly for the PRK and ignored everyone else, even when history was being made by Hungary in that game.