Featured picture – Budapestpulse.com
The World Desk Tennis Championships is without doubt one of the 3 most vital competitions in Desk Tennis, alongside the Desk Tennis World Cup and the Olympic Games.
This prestigious occasion gathers one of the best gamers on the planet, who compete for his or her nations in each groups and particular person occasions.
We’re going to share the principles of the match, delve into its historical past, and speak in regards to the present World Desk Tennis Champions.
How the WTTC works
The World Desk Tennis Championships is an ITTF-regulated match that’s hosted annually normally in April or Might.
This match has two totally different codecs, a person format and a staff format ( also called the World Crew Desk Tennis Championships).
The 2 codecs are performed alternately, certainly one of them is performed every year. Particular person tournaments are held in odd-numbered years and staff tournaments are held in even-numbered years.
The person format has 5 occasions, which embrace males’s singles, ladies’s singles, males’s doubles, ladies’s doubles, and combined doubles.
The staff format, then again, has 2 occasions, males’s staff, and ladies’s staff.
The historical past of the World Desk Tennis Championships
The World Desk Tennis Championships had been launched in 1926, and so they had been performed annually. Up till 1957, all 7 occasions had been performed yearly (the 5 particular person occasions and the two staff occasions).
In 1957 the principles had been modified. From that 12 months till 1999, the World Desk Tennis Championships had been performed as soon as each two years.
Till 1999, all 7 occasions had been performed in the identical competitors, 5 particular person and a pair of staff occasions.
In 1999, the format modified and solely the person competitions had been performed. After 1999, the ITTF began the format we see immediately with the 2 forms of championships.
Now the match is performed yearly, alternating because the World Desk Tennis Championships with the World Crew Desk Tennis Championships.
1926-1936 Hungarian Domination
On the boys’s singles aspect, from 1926 to 1935, Hungary gained 8 of the 9 WTTC occasions performed. Throughout this era, the legendary participant Viktor Barna gained a document 5 particular person occasions. It’s a document that also stands immediately.
There was just one version, in 1929, that Hungarian gamers did not win. That 12 months the champion was the English participant Fred Perry, winner of 8 Grand Slams.
Sure, you learn that proper, Grand Slams. Perry was much more profitable in Tennis than in Desk Tennis, regardless that he was the primary particular person to interrupt the Hungarian domination. Think about Roger Federer coming and successful the WTTC immediately!
Perry gained the World Desk Tennis Championships when he was solely 16 years outdated earlier than he switched to deal with his tennis profession.
On the ladies’s aspect, it’s an identical story. Of the 8 ladies’s singles occasions contested, Mária Mednyánszky gained 5 and did so consecutively. The following two had been gained by Anna Sipos, additionally Hungarian, and the subsequent two by Czechoslovakian Marie Kettnerová.
1936-1956 The remainder of Europe rises
On this interval, the 2 strongest nations had been, on the boys’s aspect, Czechoslovakia and England, and on the ladies’s aspect, Romania and Hungary.
Essentially the most profitable man of this era was undoubtedly Richard Bergmann, who gained 4 males’s occasions, the primary one representing Austria till he switched and gained 3 extra championships representing England.
On the ladies’s aspect, Romanian participant Angelica Rozeanu gained a document 6 particular person occasions. Nobody else has since been in a position to match this determine, neither males nor ladies. She is, to today, probably the most profitable participant in historical past so far as World Desk Tennis Championships are involved.
Her fashion of play was a chic defensive sport with an unbelievable preventing spirit. She performed with unbelievable chops from each side, and will additionally assault with nice energy and spin. See for yourselves!
1956-1989 The awakening of the Asian Giants
In these 33 years, Europe went from being the strongest area to successful solely 2 titles between women and men mixed. Each Japan and China turned a lot stronger and began successful time and time once more.
The one Europeans to win a staff competitors in all these years was the Swedish males’s staff in 1973, composed, amongst others, of Kjell Johansson and Stellan Bengtsson.
1989-2000 Sweden strikes again
After 33 years of Asian domination, 1989 was a 12 months of glory for the Swedish staff. Jan Ove Waldner was the boys’s singles champion, and the Swedish staff beat their Chinese language counterparts within the staff occasion, after 3 years of dropping in opposition to them within the finals.
After this version, Sweden would additionally win the staff occasions of 1991, 1993, and 2000. Jorgen Persson gained the boys’s singles occasion in 1991 and Waldner would do the identical in 1997, so this was a golden period for Swedish Desk Tennis.
Additionally, on this interval, Jean-Philippe Gatien gained the boys’s singles occasion in 1993 changing into the one Frenchman to win the match.
On the ladies’s aspect, this era was absolute Chinese language domination. Of the 12 occasions that had been contested, 6 staff occasions, and 6 ladies’s singles, the Chinese language staff gained 10 occasions.
In these years, there was a large technological advance concerning Desk Tennis rubbers Watching it again, we begin to see a sport that’s very paying homage to immediately’s sport. From this era onwards, the game was all about velocity and spin.
2000-Current Day The Chinese language domination of Desk Tennis
After Sweden gained the final staff occasion within the 12 months 2000, China returned to its former glory, and to today, they dominate Desk Tennis. Take a look at our article on why the Chinese are so good at table tennis for extra info.
From 2000 till now, they’ve misplaced just one staff occasion between women and men mixed. That’s when Singapore gained the ladies’s staff occasion in 2010.
Within the particular person occasions, it’s the identical story. They’ve misplaced just one particular person occasion between women and men, which was the boys’s singles occasion in 2003. Austrian participant Werner Schlager was topped champion, beating the Korean, Joo Se Hyuk, within the remaining.
That is additionally the period of domination for the greatest player ever, Ma Long, who gained 3 particular person occasions and seven consecutive staff occasions.
Present World Desk Tennis Champions
Crew occasions
2018 was the final time the staff occasion was performed. It ought to have been performed in 2020, nevertheless it was suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Each males’s and ladies’s Chinese language groups are the present staff champions.
Males’s Crew
The Chinese language males’s staff beat the German staff 3-0, dropping just one single sport when Patrick Franziska acquired on the scoresheet in his loss to Xu Xin 3-1.
This was in all probability probably the most dominant the Chinese language Nationwide Crew has ever been, fielding the undisputed prime 3 gamers on the planet, Ma Lengthy, Fan Zhendong, and Xu Xin. In the entire match, China didn’t lose a single match.
Girls’s Crew
Within the case of the ladies’s staff occasion, it was a really particular match that transcended Desk Tennis. As we mentioned earlier than, the Chinese language staff additionally gained this occasion, however that was not what made this occasion particular.
Within the quarterfinals, there was a matchup that generated pleasure amongst Desk Tennis followers: North Korea in opposition to South Korea.
We had been all ready for the primary sport to start out. It was as much as Cha Hyo Sim and Jeon Jihee to play the primary match.
Nevertheless, as a substitute of the two gamers going out to play their match, all of the coaches and gamers from each groups got here out.
At that second, the match announcer learn an announcement that left us all speechless. Each groups determined to not play the sequence and get collectively as a unified staff to advance to the subsequent spherical.
Everybody applauded the choice, which was seen as an indication of respect and acceptance between the 2 nations.
Within the subsequent spherical, the Korean staff would play in opposition to Japan. Two South Koreans and one North Korean participant confronted off in opposition to the Japanese gamers, however they misplaced 3-0.
Within the remaining, the Japanese staff went down 3-1. Mima Ito gained the primary match of the sequence, nevertheless it wasn’t sufficient.
Particular person occasions
3 years later, in 2021, the World Desk Tennis Championships particular person format was performed in Houston, Texas.
This match was simply as thrilling because the earlier one.
There have been surprises such because the Swedish brothers Falck and Karlsson, the combined doubles between China and the US, and the rise of Truls Moregardh, the 19-year-old ranked #77 who reached the ultimate utilizing a hexagonal racket.
4 of the 5 occasions had been gained by the Chinese language staff. The exception was the boys’s doubles occasion which was gained by their primary rival, Sweden.
Males’s Singles
Beginning with the boys’s singles occasion, the champion was Fan Zhendong who beat 19-year-old Swede Truls Moregardh within the remaining.
Moregardh’s path was greater than outstanding. The primary match that we are able to spotlight was a legendary comeback in opposition to the Korean participant Lim Jong-hoon.
Moregardh was dropping 2-0, tossed his racket to the opponent’s aspect, kicked the air in frustration, acquired a yellow card, and got here again from a 3-0 deficit when he began performing unorthodox receives and majestic chop blocks that confused his opponent and granted him the win.
After that, he beat the robust Nigerian participant Quadri Aruna 4-2, and Timo Boll in one other unbelievable match by 4-3. After this, he would go down within the remaining in opposition to the world no 1 Fan Zhendong, dropping 4-0.
Girls’s Singles
Within the ladies’s singles, the winner was the Chinese language participant Wang Manyu, getting her first WTTC title. Alongside the way in which, she beat 3 of her compatriots, Chen Xingtong 4-0, Chen Meng in a really tight match 4-3, and he or she would beat Solar Yingsha within the remaining 4-2, 17-15 within the sixth set.
Males’s Doubles
Within the males’s doubles occasion, we had in all probability the largest shock. The Swedish brothers Falck and Karlsson had been topped champions, leaving the two favourite {couples} on the way in which.
First, they defeated An Jae-Jyun and Cho Seung-Min 3-2, and instantly after they knocked out top-of-the-line doubles partnerships on the planet, Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin, additionally by 3-2.
After that, they had been drawn in opposition to the number one seeded pair, Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan, whom they comfortably defeated 3-0. Within the remaining, they confronted up in opposition to Koreans Lim Jong-Hoon and Jang Woo-jin, who they beat 3 to 1.
Girls’s Doubles
Within the ladies’s doubles, the winners had been each finalists of the ladies’s singles occasion, Solar Yingsha, and Wang Manyu. The pair defeated the Japanese pair Mima Ito and Hina Hayata 3-0.
The Chinese language gamers had a really troublesome highway within the match, as they needed to defeat No.6 seeded Petrissa Solja and Shan Xiaona 3-1, after which gained a really tight match in opposition to No.2 seeded Kasumi Ishikawa and Miu Hirano 3-2.
Within the semi-final, they beat the match’s breakout pair, Luxembourg gamers Ni Xia Lian and Sarah de Nutte, after which went on to beat Mima Ito and Hina Hayata 3-0 within the remaining.
Blended Doubles
Blended doubles was a extremely enjoyable occasion at this match, because it at all times is. The winners had been Wang Chuqin and Solar Yingsha.
Solar Yingsha was arguably one of the best participant of the entire match, as she took the silver medal within the ladies’s singles, and the gold medal in each doubles occasions during which she participated.
They gained the ultimate match in opposition to Tomokazu Harimoto and Hina Hayata of Japan 3-0.
The standout of this occasion, in my view, was the Chinese language and American groups becoming a member of forces. These groups introduced two combined doubles pairs, Lin Gaoyuan with Lily Zhang, and Kanak Jha with Wang Manyu.
Of those two combined duos, Lily Zhang and Lin Gaoyuan had been probably the most profitable, taking the bronze medal.
Alvaro’s been taking part in Desk Tennis since he was 15 and is now ranked throughout the prime 100 in his native Argentina. He likes to compete in provincial tournaments and is at all times searching for methods to enhance. Alvaro made his favorite recollections with a racket in hand, and he joined the RacketInsight staff to share his ardour with different gamers!
Blade: Butterfly Fan Zhendong ALC | Forehand: Butterfly Dignics 05 | Backhand: Butterfly Rozena
Playstyle: The Controller
