OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Zhuang Zedong, 3 time world champion, has passed away on this Chinese New Year day.

This is indeed sad news. When I started playing competitive table tennis in 1969, when is was 12, Zhuang Zedong was regarded as the dominant male player in the world. He won the 1961, 1963, and 1965 World Men's Singles titles, and I think many people felt that he would have had an excellent chance to win the men's singles titles in 1967 and perhaps 1969, if not for China not competing during the peak of the cultural revolution. In the 1971 world championships, as I recall, he was forced to default his match to a South Korean player, but he was passed his peak by then.

I was fortunate to have met Zhuang Zedong in 1972, when the Chinese team visited Montreal. It was both exciting and a very strange feeling to have met him, since I read two years earlier in the Miami Herald that Zhuang Zedong had died during the cultural revolution! During the Chinese tour of Canada, I got to see Zhuang Zedong play in both Montreal and Toronto. That was a very nice memory.

Steven

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

That's very sad...Zhuang was not just a great player, but was responsible for the small human action that helped open the door of diplomacy between the USA and China, when he presented Glenn Cowan with a scarf after Cowan mistakenly got on the Chinese Team bus at the '71 Worlds. As a result he rose to prominence in the Mao years (and later suffered incarceration and rebuke for it). He was also a great calligrapher and worked coaching with children in later years.
You are almost right, birding-in 1971 he was obliged to forfeit his singles match against Khau Bou, who was from Cambodia ('a puppet clique', as Chinese policy had it), due to Maoist policy.
Because of this, Zhuang was never actually defeated in a singles match at a world championships, an almost unique achievement (Ruth Aarons also was undefeated in singles, but she only contested two Worlds compared to Zhuang's four).

Sad news indeed. Perhaps we can all share some videos, pictures or other memories of him in this thread?

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Here is a write up from ITTF:
http://ittf.com/_front_Page/ittf_full_s ... ition_ID=&

Here is a link to some videos on Zhuang Zedong. The 1971 world team tournament was a classic.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... bQ6ZCDB8T2

Thanks shaolinTT!

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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

(as per "Two great champs" thread)

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https://youtu.be/WjMWYUJSiXg
I watched this video and although I cannot speak Mandarin, it has helped me a lot with grip and technique.

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DHS 651 2.2mm
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Illegal serves by both players. Just kidding. I guess it was legal then. Which year did the minimum 6 inch toss rule come into the rulebook ?

Good old days when serve was not also of great significance. Looks like players used the serve as just to put the ball in play then. Maybe that is how it should be, from a spectator viewpoint from longer rallies. Oh well

THE ROARING POWER OF J-PEN.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eB5y_-SOf4

Yes, J-pen always been a first preference by Europians, none C-pen.

Rudnova Zoya UdSSR
Magozch Judit Hungary
Kalinich Zoltan Serbia JSFR

J-pen gives you a roaring power in strokes a lot.