OOAK Table Tennis Forum

After our successful interview of Joo Saehyuk, Pipsy and I thought that it would be exciting if the OOAK Forum could interview some other members of the South Korean national table tennis team. The two players we discussed were Seo Hyowon and Kang Dongsoo, the number one female and number two male defensive players in South Korea, respectively. Haggisv has been very supportive of my interviewing either Seo Hyowon
viewtopic.php?p=114630 or Kang Dongsoo
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=22063&start=45 for the OOAK Forum, if I was able to make the connection.

My family and I are visiting Seoul, Korea this summer, working at Seoul National University. I had asked for information from the forum on table tennis clubs near Seoul National University. Der_Echte provided very helpful information, suggesting that I go to the Shin Jae Kook Table Tennis Club. This is a great club, with lots of outstanding table tennis players. I have been attending this club about 3 times per week, and enjoying it immensely.

Incredibly, it just so happens that the sister of Seo Hyowon, and excellent table tennis player herself, is a coach at the Shin Jae Kook Table Tennis Club! Last night, at the table tennis club, I raised the possibility of interviewing Seo Hyowon. She telephoned her sister and within a few minutes we received the exciting response that Seo Hyowon has indeed agreed to be interviewed by the OOAK Forum.

For those of you not aware, this past April, Seo Hyowon reached a high point so far in her table tennis career by winning the 2013 Korea Open. Along the way to winning her first ITTF World Tour competition, she beat some of the top women in the world, such as Feng Tian Wei (ranked fourth in the world) in the third round 4 games to 1, and then in an incredibly exciting duel she defeated Kasumi Ishikawa (ranked ninth in the world) in the finals winning 4-3 (11-9 in the seventh game). Within two months of winning the Korean Open, Seo Hyowon's world ranking climbed from number 32 to number 16.

Seo Hyowon uses a special-made Butterfly Joo Sehyuk blade with Tenergy 64 2.1mm on her forehand and TSP Curl P1R 1.4-1.7mm on her backhand. She has an incredibly solid forehand and backhand defense, an amazing high toss service that gives most of her opponents lots of difficulty, along with a very powerful forehand topspin, that she uses both near and far from the table.

One important point that I need to mention is that we need a volunteer to translate our questions from English into Korean for Seo Hyowon, and then to translate her answers from Korean back into English. (My wife, who translated Joo Saehyuk answers from Korean to English, is just way too busy with work these days to do the translating.) It would be wonderful if someone from the OOAK Forum could volunteer.

I'll start things off with the following questions.

1. What do you attribute to your recent success such as winning the Korean Open and reaching the round of 16 at the world championships?
2. What aspect of your game will you have to improve to enable you to beat the top woman from China?
3. How many hours per day to you practice table tennis, and also how many hours do you do additional exercises,
running, and weight lifting.
4. What are your long term table tennis goals?
5. How did you feel after defeating Kasumi Ishikawa to win the Korean Open?
6. In the last point of the Korean Open, you did a very different serve that Ishikawa missed. Can you tell us something about that serve. Do you reserve that serve for special occassions?
7. Why did you choose to become a defensive player? Did watching the success of Joo Saehyuk play a role?
8. How important in spin variation versus control, i.e., simply chopping the ball back safely, for your defense?
9. Why did you choose to use Butterfly Tenergy 64 and TSP Curl P1R for your set up? Why is this set up so popular amongst Korean defenders? Is it because of spin variation, offense far from the table, and reasonably good control from the Tenergy 64 and spin variation with the Curl P1R?

_________________
Butterfly Joo Se Hyuk
Butterfly Tenergy 80-FX 1.9mm
TSP Curl P1R 1.4-1.7mm
--------------
Returned to table tennis September 2011
Canada National Team Member, 1973-1975
--------------
1972-1987
Brickell Balsa/Birch 3-ply Blade
Yasaka Mark V 1.5mm
Joola Toni Hold AntiTopspin 2.5mm

1. Why are you so damn cute?
2. What have you learned from the older and now retired female defenders Kim Kyung Ah and Park Mi Young? What flaws in their game did you see and did you cover those in your own game?
3. Where can you still make progress (technical, tactical)?
4. What's so special about your Joo Se Hyuk blade in comparison with those you can buy in the shop?
5. Why do a lot of defenders go for the combo Tenergy-P1-R?
6. Do you believe a female defender can beceom world champion? What about a male defender?

I'm sorry, but I don't know a word in the Korean language, even if my life would depend on it. So I can't help you there...

I'll help out with the Korea when you decide on a final list of cut and pasted questions. I can either post the Korean below the English on this thread, or I can get it emailed to me and can email B&TT to fwd to Miss Seo.

What a nice deal that her sister coaches at SJK TTC!

Here is our pic if no one saw us at SJK TTC before...

Birding & TT is absolutely STOKED to do this interview and he was equally excited to have the nice chance to have an impromptu phone conversation with her out of the blue after a TT session.



More power to you B & TT !!!

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

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

1. Does she have a boyfriend?
2. What does she think of the ittf's rules regarding the aspect ratio of long pimples, the 40 mm ball etc...Do these rules work against defenders (nice to hear her opinion)
3. Would she try D.tecs OX or any OX LP?
4. Would she consider training in China to get use to their attacking techniques?
5. What kind of car does she drive?
6. Does she like KPOP?
7. Does she like PSY?
8. Is she interested in becoming an actress?
9. What do the Korean players say before the start of each point - it sounds like "POW!"
10. Who is her best friend on the Korean Team?
11. What role have her parents played in her career?
12. What does her name mean in English?
13. What is her favourite kind of food, Korean and Western?
14. What is her favourite hobby?

_________________
A big bag full of blades and long pimples, donuts and coffee!

Der_Echte,

Thanks so much for agreeing to do the translations. This is a huge help for everyone involved. I think that it is an excellent idea to post both the questions and answers in English and Korean, as you suggest, that way a lot of Koreans will be able to read the interview too. The tentative plan suggested by Seo Hyowon's sister is for me to email the questions (translated into Korean) to Seo Hyowon, She would then email her answers in Korean back to me, followed by translation from Korean back into English. However, we should do this in whatever way is best for you.

Yes, I was very excited about the Joo Saehyuk interview, and equally thrilled again about the opportunity of being involved in interviewing Seo Hyowon. Probably the main motivating factor in these interviews goes back to October 2011. I hadn't played table tennis for almost 25 years after completely rupturing my left achilles tendon in 1987. In October 2011, I returned to table tennis. My return to table tennis was wonderful, and I couldn't believe that I had retained my defensive skills after all those years. However, my comeback was very brief, as I completely ruptured my right achilles tendon after only 3 or 4 practice sessions. The following three months of immobility, being in a large boot with crutches was quite depressing. I not only had to go through plenty of pain, and putting my family in lots of inconvenience, but I thought that my table tennis comeback was over. During my lengthy recovery, I spent many hours watching six table tennis players on youtube, Joo Saehyuk, Evgueni Chtchetinine, Wu Yang, Kim Kyungah, Park Miyoung, and Seo Hyowon. In my competitive days in the 1970s, I played classical defense, i.e., a style similar to Chtchetinine, Wu, Kim, and Park. I had never before seen modern defense in the style of Joo and Seo. It was really thrilling to watch them, and so during my period of recovery, I would often think that if I was ever able to play table tennis again, I would play modern defense in the style of Joo and Seo. At that time, I never would have imagined that I would someday be involved in interviewing both table tennis players. It is of course wonderful now to be playing table tennis again, and at least try to play like Seo and Joo.

Steven

_________________
Butterfly Joo Se Hyuk
Butterfly Tenergy 80-FX 1.9mm
TSP Curl P1R 1.4-1.7mm
--------------
Returned to table tennis September 2011
Canada National Team Member, 1973-1975
--------------
1972-1987
Brickell Balsa/Birch 3-ply Blade
Yasaka Mark V 1.5mm
Joola Toni Hold AntiTopspin 2.5mm

Great you managed to connect with Seo Hyowon during your stay Korea, Steven! And some good questions have been collected. I'll try to add some when I find the time - I'm abroad.

_________________
Exclusive OOAK-Interview with Joo Saehyuk | Masato Shiono | Panagiotis Gionis

Pipsy, I knew SJK replaced KFFTC member Joel as a coach when he had to make an extended absence, but I never knew it was Seo H W's sister!

It was a complete coincidence, but in TT, our world is very small, even on an international level. Such things have happened before. Heck, when KFTTC ace Joel was training at a women's high school, the guy coach there hooked him up with Ryu Seung min and on one visit to see Joel, we were eating a cafeteria meal and Ryu Seung Min himself called Joel on his phone in the middle of the meal to tell jeol he was flying out of Korea for his honeymoon travel! Heck, just playing amature TT in Uijeongbu I meat often Jung Young Sik's father a lot and I met Lee Sang Soo's father at a visit to tak9.com HQ.

So, you never know what is going to happen in the TT world. It is smaller than you think. Shyt can happen completely out of the blue, but it usually doesn't happen by sitting on your tail. When you get around and are active, whatever you do, you tend to make your own luck.

As a low level Amature player of zero significance, 70% of serious amature players knew about me a full month before I ever got to Korea. Thanks to internet and a huge Korean TT forum run by Hedgehog (wish he would post here some moar!) Koreans got an advance notice, but it helps speaking Korean.

I have Seo H W as a FB friend but do not actively chat with her as she has a ton of FB friends and fans. I'll ask her and her sister to take a good attitude and humor when answering the questions. We all Westerners do not think like Koreans... Certainly I do NOT think like a Korean, even if I can understand them some. Yet in the 2010 era, Koreans have MANY more Western ways.

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

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

Another aspect to Korean table tennis that has surprised me is how well known are star table tennis players such as Joo Saehyuk and Ryu Seungmin, even though in Korea table tennis is much less popular than sports such as baseball and soccer/football. Most of my colleagues at Seoul National University know of Joo and Ryu, and even the style of table tennis that they play. For me, it is particular exciting to know that the best table tennis players are household names in Korea. That sure is very different from Canada, where I grew up, and from the USA, where I work.

Steven

_________________
Butterfly Joo Se Hyuk
Butterfly Tenergy 80-FX 1.9mm
TSP Curl P1R 1.4-1.7mm
--------------
Returned to table tennis September 2011
Canada National Team Member, 1973-1975
--------------
1972-1987
Brickell Balsa/Birch 3-ply Blade
Yasaka Mark V 1.5mm
Joola Toni Hold AntiTopspin 2.5mm

I have some more questions to add to the list. If others have additional, please don't hesitate to add them.

1. Do you use your chopping to set up your offense, and is your aim to primarily defend, and then to attack when the opportunity arises.
2. Tenergy 05 and Tenergy 64 are both popular amongst modern defenders. Why do some defenders pick Tenergy 05 and others choose Tenergy 64? Why do you use Tenergy 64?
3. On their backhand, Korean defenders use mostly long pips, and Chinese defensive players primarily use short pips. Why do you think that this is the case?
4. Why do you use the thickest TSP Curl P1R? Is this difficult for you to control?
5. Do you think that there will be a major change in equipment (blade and/or rubber) chosen by defensive players due to the new plastic ball?
6. At the recent Asian Table Tennis Championships in Busan, there were 0 male and 4 female defensive players. Do you think that something can be done to increase the number of defensive players?

Steven

_________________
Butterfly Joo Se Hyuk
Butterfly Tenergy 80-FX 1.9mm
TSP Curl P1R 1.4-1.7mm
--------------
Returned to table tennis September 2011
Canada National Team Member, 1973-1975
--------------
1972-1987
Brickell Balsa/Birch 3-ply Blade
Yasaka Mark V 1.5mm
Joola Toni Hold AntiTopspin 2.5mm

Spoken like a true academic, sir.

I find that in the case of Toronto, the ping-pong-nuts DO know their sport and are aware of the big-named stars. The fact that South Koreans are aware of Yoo and Ryu, imo, is the fact that they really value the concept of winning Olympic gold-medals, like other Asian countries do.

_________________
A big bag full of blades and long pimples, donuts and coffee!

I have received the final list of interview questions for Seo Hyo Won and have translated them. I have sent them off to Birding & TT to forward to Seo Hyo Won's sister to fwd to Hyo Seo Won...

That's kinda like calling three people and getting switched a few times to talk to someone's cousin to get to talk to the big cheese, but whatever works is fine by me. I could have just sent it directly to Seo Hyo Won on Facebook friend message, but Birding & TT already arranged this method, so... by that method it goes.

Whenever she sends out her answers, they filter their way to me, and whenever I am not fried from my military duties, I will translate them and post original questions, translated Korean, Korean answers from Seo Hyo Won, and the translation of her answers.

Hopefully I will not be in a playful mood and translate some wacky, crazy wild responses, you all would get the wrong idea hehe...

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

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

I damn approve Lorre's question #1!

I'll let her sister know that next time I make it to Shin Jae Kook TTC... however, if you saw here sister, you would be sayin' that about her...

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

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

Looks like I've been too late to post questions but the questions collected are good and pretty complete. I'm under the Tuscan sun right now (with decent wifi for my mobile) and I'm looking forward to Seo's answers. Thanks for all contributions and thank you Birding and DerEchte for the initiative and all the good work!

_________________
Exclusive OOAK-Interview with Joo Saehyuk | Masato Shiono | Panagiotis Gionis

Well said!

_________________
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