OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Im playing A grade in Auckland City and...........
while this grade is may be a bit hard for me lol, we have won our last two rounds 3-2 (with me picking up a singles each round)
The first week me a 52yo unfit Table tennis player and my super talented (NZ born Chinese) 12yo National Jnr Champ lol
We played against Number 42 in NZ (and former NZ Coach) and he is a traditional penhold Chinese player who seems to attack every serve, fantastic counter hitter, good serves and some old craftness lol, I play good in the first 3 games but he had all the luck as well (8 nets in two games alone) and completly outplayed me for a 4-0 result and my partner then played the NZ number 47 who is a ex Polish player lefty who has a fantastic good allround game with a good cross court backhand shot
My Team-mate played well against him and fought hard for a 4-2 loss then I played him and although I got him with a few serves at first his skill level and fighting abilities gave him a 4-0 win
in Doubles we played better for a 4-3 loss , so we lost 5-0 so Im thinking geeez this is going to be hard lol

week two we were up against a former Number 4 in England lady witha nice alround game, and a Albanian player (Number 121 in NZ )1 place below Greggy who can lob or play an attack game
I played the lady first and I played ok to get to 3-3 and eventually lost 4-3 , I know I can play a better game next time but it was great fun especially to see her return my smashes so quickly that I had to keep wacking lol
My partner played the Albainian player as just won really at 4-3 , but I was proud of my young team-mate
he the played the English lady and played well to be 2-2 but got better and better to win 4-2
So then I played the Albanian and went up 1-0 he won the next 2 then I come back to win the next two in close games , then I found a serve he wasn't returning well and blasted my way to victory lol
again in the doubles we lost 4-3 but won over all to win 3-2

week three we got to play two Korean traditional 1 sided players (but 1 was now twiddling a bit and had faint long for some serves and blocks)
I played the more traditional player first and although I lost easily two years ago this time I attacked or kept him cornered on his backhand and was getting good effect with my hard forehand pushes or soft backhand pushes to make him miss and I won 4-1 and played very well
My partner then played thier other player (who got the faint) he a a lovely block , topspin game but even thogh my partner was down 2-0 he fought back and won 4-2
He then played the first Korean and won 4-0
we were better at doubles and again lost 4-3 won again won 3-2 overall

This week we play a brother and sister (NZ born Chinese) young team , the boy is the 2010 NZ mens open winner and current National under 15 and 18 Champ and a Oceania under 15 champ? as well and ranked about 25 in NZ and his sister is the best in her age group in NZ
so wish me luck

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Blade Ulmo Duality| FH Tibhar mx-p Black, Dawei 388D-1 red OX
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Good Luck

Sounds interesting.

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It is interesting for me too , I can play interclub at two other venues but its not the same strength as here also there is survival at stake here where the two bottom teams go down a grade so it is super competative (and the two highest B grade team come up) So apart from the top and bottom grades A and G every other grade has two teams going up and two going down and two staying

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Blade Ulmo Duality| FH Tibhar mx-p Black, Dawei 388D-1 red OX
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This is the summer league and the top players around Auckland don't play , so even though A grade is the top at the moment for the other 3 Seasons we have a premier grade which would consist of many of the top players in NZ

ie nearly all have played for the National team or other high honors

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Blade Ulmo Duality| FH Tibhar mx-p Black, Dawei 388D-1 red OX
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And 1 more theme of my current grade see who can guess C-O-O lol

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Blade Ulmo Duality| FH Tibhar mx-p Black, Dawei 388D-1 red OX
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Winning your own serves only accounts for 50% of the points played. What were you doing on his serve that meant you took some points of his serve as well as winning your own? It would be great to read more about how you adapted your game during a match to all the different styles you play and you seem to be coming up against a wide variety. Must be an intersting challenge. How often have you played against these styles before and how much "knowledge amunition" of how to play against these styles did you take into these matches. How much tactically do you help your team mate out during these matches? Is there much support given, talking between you or do you just each play your games as "individuals" who play in a team format?

Thanks for the posts - always interesting to read how other people approach and play in competition.

In service return I will always change if Im loosing ie If they did a long chop serve to my backhand and I choped back with my pimples and they looped to win or at least control the rally, then I would either try and attack thier serve with pimples, aim more to thier backhand , put less spin on (hoping for a long return), I don't take it on my forehand too much, but Ill try and have 2=3 backup options
My young teammate has played more of these oposition players before and we will have a little chat when I play, but I let him start and suggest options between games, this is a two man team format and its important we support each other
For instance he was two all against the former No 4 English lady and he said in the break that she drops her hand below the table while serving , so when I got a chance I let her know and my team-mate did win the next two games whether it was related or not... who knows lol

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Blade Ulmo Duality| FH Tibhar mx-p Black, Dawei 388D-1 red OX
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Thanks for the reply. Interesting you try and take the majority of serves with your backhand. With a spinny powerful rubber like the Rakza I'd have expected you to be quite aggressive off your forehand too. What percentage of shots would you say you try and use your pimples with and what percentage the Rakza? Which side do you try and win / force errors so you win the point with - forehand or backhand? Does it vary depending on the quality of player you're playing in this competition?

yes you would think lol, many tend to serve wide and long to my backhand so Im a little forced to take it on my backhand , my winners will tend to come from my forehand drive or flat hit.
Also I just changed to Stiga Calibra Spin after the first round and I do like both rubbers, the Spin seems more effective for my game (it may be that its new) Im not the fastest player so piviting on service return dosn't happen too much, but I do attack more with my pips than before. At a lower level my serves will count for more easier points but at this level I have to just play better in all aspects, We don't want to go to B grade so we just try harder lol

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Blade Ulmo Duality| FH Tibhar mx-p Black, Dawei 388D-1 red OX
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Week 4
Well last night we were sorpossed to be playing the Young 2010 Men's open Champion and current NZ u18 and u15 champion a truely great player ranked around the 25 mark in NZ , but unfortunatly he was away so his replacement was a mid aged Chinese shakehand player with a great backhand topspin , nice side spin forehand loop, good counter hitter, udaptable and always relaxed.
thiee other player is a young girl the current under 15 Champ (I think) and is currently the best player for her age in NZ she has some nasty serves, good pivit to either loop a backhand or forehand quickly with good power for such a small person

I played first against thier fill in and was leading early only to be run down at 12-10 the next game I was also going good and won 11-9 , he won the next 3 games (all close) but with me trying to attack too much and not adapting to his change of game of adding more topspin from either side.

After that game my newly self appointed 12 year old coach gives me a big lecture on what I did wrong and how I should be useing my head and not my muscles to win these types of games, he told me how I was blocking incorrectly and how I should know what every ones of my serves does and be ready to take advatage of popups more quickly and to vary my game more and to know when to spin/ push/counter or smack. Im first of thinking sh/t im just a social player having fun lol , but he could see my easy mistakes and is trying to help. (its a bit of a role reversal here don't you think lol) the first time I played my partner was when he was 9 years old and he had just knocked out the No1 seed in his grade and I beat him just in the semi's, but he hadn't relised I had Anti and was looping long) I talked to him after the game and have been helping him ever since.
Now he's laying into me about using my skills/ brains and telling me to know more about my pimples and to get fitter

Anyhow he played the girl next and although they have played often my partner seemed just that tiny bit better to win all the games by close margins, my partners backhand drive/swipe has to been seen to be believed just so fast ===///

He then played the mid aged Chinese fill in (who is ranked around the top 80 in NZ) my partner is around 160 (but is zooming up in places as hes still only 12) and Im around 175 and the only NZ born adult in my grade (there some others but they havn't played yet) lol so we are up against stronger players (on paper at least) every week.

My partner played well for the first 4 games and ended up 2 -2 , but was a little tentative and just lost the next and then fell away in his last game, I told him to keep fighting next time lol

I played the top girl, I managed to win the first game then lost the next game then I won the next two games by her missing my chops , then she won the next when I tried attacking more, My partner said to me Im not going to win by attacking I have to just chop and chop and chop lol and I managed to win 15-13 in the 6th to win 4-2 (I did get some good dead ball long pips serves and sidespin topspin serves in as well) to help me in my cause .

In the doubles we finally started communicating and worked as a team more
In my last two serves my parnter calls a no spin pimple chop from me and the ball poped up for him to bang away then he calls a no spin long and the girl netted the return for us to win 11-9 in the 7th to win 4-3 for our first win of the round

So we got another 3-2 win . This should ensure we stay in this grade with a round to go hopefully

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Blade Ulmo Duality| FH Tibhar mx-p Black, Dawei 388D-1 red OX
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How long before your "coach" decides to leave you behind?

well he still hasn't beaten me lol

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Blade Ulmo Duality| FH Tibhar mx-p Black, Dawei 388D-1 red OX
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I have been looking for a replacement for me, but with our team winning 3 out of 4 games and thus serviving relegation to the B grade in this round it hasn't been as bad as I first thought.
The three teams below us have either won one or no games so we can only finnish third or better

Also update update, I forgot to say after round 1 , I not only changed my forehand rubber to Stiga LT Spin Max but I changed my backhand to red Globe Ma wong11 .6 sponge, Im unsure if Im player better because of that but Im finding that I have good control with the Ma Wong11 as far as chopping and blocking, I just need to add more offensive shots to add the surprise factor, I tend to only roll it on receiveing in doubles where I can attack some serves but not so much in the singles
The Stiga spin is living up to its name and although I don't loop enough I find it easy to do so with the added benifit of adding backspin on my forehand side which has helped me win my games in the last three weeks anyway

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Blade Ulmo Duality| FH Tibhar mx-p Black, Dawei 388D-1 red OX
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So you have left Pogo behind. Any reason in particular?

How would you compare the Ma WongII to the Pogo to the Palio?

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The ma Wang seems to give me control chopping all the time, I havnt really dug it ib deep from along way back but I dob't think it would be too hard to do
the Palio Ck531A is good at chopping as well but I find I either beed sponge for chopping ir OX to stay at the table, I find I can do both with the Ma wang11, I did like Pogo and it still is the best for attacking serves and doing the straight bat long corner to corner serve lol, Pogo is good at most things but you can return some long unforced shots if you get your shot selection wrong, I think the Ma Wang is a little slower giving me that extra control

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Blade Ulmo Duality| FH Tibhar mx-p Black, Dawei 388D-1 red OX
NZ table tennis selector, ask a question
My Blog here..How table tennis objects are made
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