Ping Pong

[knightedsoldier5000]

Anybody ever seen a black ping pong player?

Saw a tournament on tv recently and enjoyed it. Wonder if there is any correlation?

 

[keithvanhorn]

Anybody ever seen a black ping pong player?

Saw a tournament on tv recently and enjoyed it. Wonder if there is any correlation?

The correlation is that this sport is not seen as profitable as basketball so they only see it as a sport for Boys and Girls type environment.

 

[Giles Daldanus]

It is easily my second favourite sport (after soccer). I started playing table tennis in my early teens (though I was not that interested in the relevant statistics and did not follow international tournaments at the time). There was a period in the late 2000s when I did not practice the sport regularly, but recently my passion for ping pong has been reawakened. Even though I am currently at the amateur level and am no longer a kid, I am motivated to improve as much as possible.


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I am in agreement with the table tennis experts that it is difficult to argue against the East Asian dominance in the sport. However, Sweden, Germany, England, Yugoslavia as well as quite a few other European countries have excellent traditions and continue to produce quality players. Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Vladimir Samsonov will still be the ones to watch at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.


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Here is one of my favourite videos:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgXcUeJ9_gA
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Jan-Owe Waldner is a fantastic white ambassador for the sport, he arguably managed to perfect table tennis into an art. I admire his finesse (almost unrivalled in the table tennis universe) and ability to figure out the opponents’ intentions even in clutch situations.
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[GWTJ]

I'm a big table tennis fan. Jan-Ove Waldner is a god. In Sweden, Waldner and Federer are like North America's Larry Bird and Wayne Gretzky.

Table Tennis has an amazing following around the world. At the European Championships fans are literally hanging from the rafters in the arenas.

There are black players. I know Jamaica takes their TT seriously and has produced some world class players.

 

[Giles Daldanus]

I'm a big table tennis fan. Jan-Ove Waldner is a god. In Sweden, Waldner and Federer are like North America's Larry Bird and Wayne Gretzky.

Table Tennis has an amazing following around the world. At the European Championships fans are literally hanging from the rafters in the arenas.

There are black players. I know Jamaica takes their TT seriously and has produced some world class players.

@GWTJ, well put! Yes, I think that Nigeria also have good traditions in this sport, but they are far behind the European powerhouses. I guess that the lack of suitable table tennis facilities in Africa is a huge issue. One interesting black table tennis player is Gareth Herbert from the United Kingdom. He generated some attention in the early 2000s due to his notoriously tricky serve that allowed him to remain competitive against stronger and better-rounded opponents. Based on what I have seen of him, he seems like a down to earth guy.


I hope that someone from Europe will turn out to be a surprise package in Rio. Even though Timo Boll is unfortunately not very consistent, I have not written him off as of yet…Paul Drinkhall might also be able to pull something out of the bag. I look forward to the HD video streaming of the table tennis matches.