June 14, 2016

Tip of the Week
The Difference Between a Drop Shot and a Short Push.

Will Shortz – 50 States, 1348 Consecutive Days!
On Sunday, Will Shortz did something we're pretty sure no one else has ever done before – he's now played table tennis in all 50 U.S. states! The final state was Hawaii, where Will played at the Aloha club. But it wasn't just 50 states – it also marked his 1,348 consecutive days playing table tennis! (That's every day for about 3.7 years.)

He's not through. Over the next three days during his Hawaii adventure he'll be playing in the Kona TTC, the North Kohala TTC, and the Waimea TTC. Accompanying him on this journey is Westchester TTC coach Robert Roberts.

There are pictures at the Aloha TTC Facebook page, including a nice one of Will with a cake commemorating both the 50 states and 1,348 streak. (Here's the non-Facebook version.)

What, you don't know who Will Shortz is? Yes, you, the one staring at the page in befuddlement? Shame on you, you illiterate klutz! He's the puzzle editor for the New York Times as well as the owner of the Westchester Table Tennis Center. Oh, and he can probably beat you – he's rated 1842, using the Seemiller grip.

Now I've been around this sport a long time – over 40 years now – and while I've been to all 50 states, I've only played table tennis in 40 of them. Alas, I've never played in any of the six New England states, which kills my stats. The ten states I haven't played in are Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, West Virginia, Minnesota, Hawaii, and Alaska. (I keep thinking I might have played tournaments or something long ago in MA, MN, or WV, but can't remember any.)

So . . . how many states have you played table tennis in? And what's the most consecutive days you've played table tennis? (I played every day in 1978, when I was 18, and probably hit 500 days in a row or so.)

Butterfly MDTTC June Open
By Director Larry Hodges; Saturday, June 11, 2016
An even 70 players from ten – yes, 10! – states participated in the tournament. How often does a 2-star tournament get players from MD, VA, PA, NJ, NC, IL, IN, MO, NM, and DC? (I'm counting DC as a state here.) There were seven events: Open Singles, Over 50, Under 15, and Under 2350, 2000, 1700, and 1350. Here are the complete results, care of Omnipong, with a summary below. (Click on names to see photos.)

While Wang Qingliang chopped and power looped his way to winning the Open and $550, it was Raghu Nadmichettu who caused the most havoc, upsetting #1 seed Lyu You (2474) in the semifinals to make it to the final against Wang. But Raghu wasn't through – immediately after the Open final he won the Under 2350 final over Toby Kutler, and so came out $450 richer than that morning. USA Cadet Boys' Team Member Derek Nie (2413) won the first game in the semifinals against sometimes-coach and practice partner Wang, but after losing the second 14-12, it was all Wang.

Local junior chopping star Eric Li won Under 2000 over Yunhua Gong, while local junior lobbing star Daniel Sofer (age 11) won Under 1700 over Tamim Rajendram in a five-game battle. Under 1350 was another junior over a senior final, with Ainish Dassarma defeating Chris Buckley.

Hall of Famer Dave Sakai survived a five-game battle with Carl Bradley of Indiana in the Over 50 semifinals, and almost came back to win the final against Lixin Lang, coming back from down 0-2 before losing 13-11 in the fifth in a battle of bang-bang countering where neither player ever missed. Joon Chung made it to the semifinals against Lixin.

In the Under 15 final, it was all-out looping Adrian Yang over hyper-steady Hanfei Hu. Making it to the semifinals were Stanley Hsu and Lance Wei – the latter winning the first against Hanfei in deuce before going down in four.

Open Singles – Final: Wang Qingliang d. Raghu Nadmichettu, 7,6,-6,7,8; SF: Wang d. Derek Nie, -9,12,7,4,5; Nadmichettu d. Lyu You, -6,10,7,-7,-9,7,9; QF: Lyu d. Louis Levene, 4,7,4; Nadmichettu d. Stefano Ratti, -5,4,12,8; Nie d. Toby Kutler, 4,15,9; Wang d. Jessica Lin, 7,3,5.
Under 2350 – Final: Raghu Nadmichettu d. Toby Kutler, 6,-9,9,9; SF: Nadmichettu d. Eric Li, 8,6,1; Kutler d. Ronald Chen, 9,9,-9,9.
Under 2000 – Final: Eric Li d. Yunhua Gong, -2,9,6,7; SF: Li d. George Nie, 7,-5,5,9; Gong d. Xinsheng Michael Huang, 9,5,7.
Under 1700 – Final: Daniel Sofer d. Tamim Rajendram, 9,-8,6,-9,4; SF: Sofer d. Benjamin Parness, 5,8,8; Rajendram d. Ranjan Bhambroo, 8,9,10.
Under 1350 – Final: Ainish Dassarma d. Chris Buckley, 7,6,7; SF: Dassarma d. Jeff Howes, 5,10,-6,-2,10; Buckley d. Hanfei Hu, -8,2,10,7.
Over 50 – Final: Lixin Lang d. Dave Sakai, 9,7,-9,-9,11; SF: Lang d. Joon Chung, 9,7,6; Sakai d. Carl Bradley, 2,-9,5,-7,3.
Under 15 – Final: Adrian Yang d. Hanfei Hu, 7,-9,9,8; SF: Yang d. Stanley Hsu, 10,7,9; Hu d. Lance Wei, -10,8,6,5.

2200 vs 2600
Here's the article by Samson Dubina.

The Backhand Push
Here's the video (3:14) from PingSkills – not sure if I've linked to this in the past.

Table Tennis Edge Update
Here's the new video (73 sec) as they show you how to return serves.

Sharon Alguetti Multiball Training with Coach Lily Yip
Here's the video (3:15). Sharon, 15, is #1 on USA Cadet Team with a 2558 rating.

International Table Tennis
It's been four days since my last blog, so there are some new articles on these sites. You can great international coverage at TableTennista (which especially covers the elite players well) and at the ITTF home page (which does great regional coverage). Butterfly also has a great news page.

History of U.S. Table Tennis, Volume 17 (1989-1990)
Here's chapter 13! Or order your own print copies at TimBogganTableTennis.com.

The Ping Pong Man/Ambassador
Here's the video (3:15) featuring table tennis showman Scott Preiss.

"In a minute, senior, we're playing ping-pong"
Here's the Doonsbury strip from last Wednesday (but originally from 1986).

Golf and Table Tennis Trick Shot
Here's the video (43 sec, including slo-mo replay)!

Crazy Comeback Shot
Here's the video (42 sec, including slo-mo replay)!

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