Timo Boll

by Wikipedia Contributors April 14, 2013

Boll in 2010. Timo Boll (born March 8, 1981) is a German professional table tennis player who currently plays with Borussia Dsseldorf (de) and is the German No.1 of the German Table Tennis National League.[3] He is No.5 in the World Rankings as of October, 2012.[1]

Childhood
Boll was born in Erbach im Odenwald, Hesse. At the age of four, Boll was playing table tennis and at that time was coached by his father. In 1987 he became a member of the TSV Hchst and played there at association level. At the age of eight years he was discovered by Helmut Hampel, a Hessian trainer who promoted him. In 1990, he started to train at the training centre Pfungstadt and four years later changed to FTG Frankfurt (de) with which he took part in the second division, at which time other associations became attentive of him. TTV Gnnern (de) hired him in 1995. Timo Boll was put in position five on the team but, nevertheless, lost only one match in the whole season and thus contributed to the rise of the team in the table tennis national league.

Career
National league and international junior results
At age 14, Timo Boll took together with Frank Klitzsch the title of the youngest player of the national league. Timo Boll celebrated his first international results during the student European championships in Den Haag 1995, where he won three gold medals. After a second place finish in his first junior European Championship 1996, he won during the following two years the title in the singles, in the doubles and with the team. He finished school with a secondary school level I certificate.

International results
In 2002, Timo Boll enlisted the ranks of the world top-10 players with his Europe-Top-12Tournament victory against Vladimir Samsonov. He reached final of the European Table Tennis Championships in Zagreb in the singles, and in doubles with Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth (de) the gold medal. The German team was defeated in the finale by a score of 23, by the Swedish team. With his victory in the Chinese world cup in Jinan (he beat the world champion Wang Liqin and the Olympic champion Kong Linghui clearly), Timo Boll finished the year at first position in the world rankings in January, 2003. During the European-Championship 2003, Vladimir Samsonov led the Belorussian team to the final victory against the German. He was too strong for Timo Boll. After his elimination in the singles world championship in the second round, he lost the rank of the world's number one table tennis player.

Injury and comeback

Back problems troubled Boll during the first half of 2004. These problems handicapped his preparation for the 2004 Summer Olympics, in which he was outclassed in the quarterfinal by Jan-Ove Waldner. After a period marked by public criticism, Timo Boll registered tournament victories in Poland, Austria and Germany. He also reached the semifinal of the Pro Tour in Peking, where he was edged out 34 in games by Ma Lin. Early in the 2005 season, Boll's back problems struck again; nevertheless, he won the silver medal in doubles with Christian S at the World Championship. After correcting a referee's wrong decision in favour of his opponent in the singles round of sixteen (in which he was defeated), he received the Fair Play Award from the ITTF. The year ended well as he won the Champions League with TTV RE-BAU Gnnern (de), and the world cup tournament in Lige in Belgium, in which he defeated all three Chinese first-class players. In 2007, he won the European Championship in singles, doubles, and in the team competition.

Draft to Borussia Dsseldorf

In December 2006, Timo Boll signed a 3 year contract with Borussia Dusseldorf (de). Apart from the financial weakness of his old team and various other considerations, Timo Boll moved for the good training possibilities, in view of the upcoming Olympic Games 2008 and because of the possibility to be able to train there with his doubles partner Christian S. During the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing he participated again with the German national team. After victories over Croatia, Canada, Singapore and Japan in preliminary rounds and the semi-final, the team lost 03 against the host Chinese team.[4] As the first-seeded player in 2008, Boll defended his three European Champion titles from the year before.

Technique
Timo Boll is a left-handed player whose best weapon is his forehand topspin drive but is also noted for his extremely quick backhand loop. His blade is the "Timo Boll ALC" with Tenergy 05 rubbers on both sides. His present doubles partner is Christian S.

Contract
On July 1, 2007, his three-year contract began with Borussia Dusseldorf.

Private
Timo Boll married his longtime girlfriend, Rodelia Jacobi, on December 31, 2002.

Awards

1997 Table Tennis Junior Player of the Year 1998 German Table Tennis player of the Year 2005 Bambi Sport 2005 German Sportsmen of the Year 3rd position 2006 Sportsmen of the Year in Hessen 2007 Fair-Play-Award of Minister (Secretary) of the Interior Home Secretary 2007 German Sportsmen of the Year 2nd position 2008 Sportsmen of the Year in Hessen 2010 Sportsmen of the Year in Hessen 2010 German Sportsmen of the Year 2nd position

Titles

World Cup 2002 and 2005 Single European Champion 2002, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012 Team European Champion 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 Europe Top-12 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2010[5] European Super Cup 2007, 2008 and 2009 ITTF Pro Tour (18) and Grand Finals (1): Brasil 2001, Austria 2002, Japan 2003, Poland, Germany and Austria 2004, Japan, Sweden and Grand Finals 2005, China, Germany and Poland 2006, Austria, Germany and Poland 2008, Qatar, Germany, and Poland 2009, Japan 2010. Double: European Championship 2002 (together with Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth (de)), 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 (together with Christian S), Japan Open 2005, Pro Tour Grand Final 2005, 2009 (together with Christian S)

Double: 2nd position World Championship 2005, 3rd position European Championship 2005 together with Christian S Team: 2nd position Olympic Games 2008; 3rd position Olympic Games 2012; 2nd position European Championship 2000, 2002, 2003, 2nd position World Championship 2004, 2010; 3rd position World Championship 2006. German Championship: 9-times Single-Winner (1998, 20012007,2009), 3-times Double-Winner (1999 together with Lars Hielscher (de), 2005 and 2007 together with Christian S Champions League: Winner 2005 and 2006 with TTV RE-BAU Gnnern (de) 3rd position Qatar and Kuwait Open Single 2007 3rd position World Championship Single 2003, 2006 As the first German number one of the world table tennis rankings (January 2003)

Zhang Jike

by Wikipedia Contributors April 14, 2013

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Zhang. Zhang Jike (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Zhng Jk; born February 16, 1988) is a Chinese table tennis player.[2][3] Zhang Jike is the reigning World and Olympic champion in singles. When he won the Olympic gold medal in singles,[4] he became the fourth male player in the history of table tennis to achieve a career grand slam. The others are Jan-Ove Waldner (in 1992), Liu Guoliang (in 1999) and Kong Linghui (in 2000).[5] Zhang, however, is the only one of the four who have been the reigning champion in all three competitions simultaneously. As he won consecutively first in WTTC 2011, then World Cup 2011, and then London Olympics 2012, he won the grand slam in only 445 days after his first major title, being the fastest player ever to do so.

Equipment and playing style

Zhang Jike is a Butterfly sponsored athlete. He uses a Butterfly Viscaria FL for his blade, a Butterfly Tenergy 64 on his backhand (red), and National DHS Neo blue sponge Hurricane 3 chinese rubber on his forehand (black).

Although there is a Butterfly blade named after him, the Zhang Jike, he has yet to use it in competition. Zhang Jike is a two-winged shakehand attacker, and it is rare for him to be in defense. He is an offensive player and always wears knee weights to improve his footwork in competitions so that it does not get wobbly. Zhang Jike is known for jumping after third ball attacks onwards so that he can see the ball from a far distance and counterattack it with slow loops and counterloops.

Career records
Singles (as of December 6, 2011)[3]

Olympic Games: winner (2012). World Championships: winner (2011) Men's World Cup: winner (2011); runner-up (2010). Pro Tour winner (3): China Open, Suzhou (2010); German Open (2011); korean Open (2012), Slovenian Open (2012), Kuwait Open (2013). Runner-up (3): Qatar Open (2010); China Open, Suzhou (2011); Austrian Open (2011). Pro Tour Grand Finals appearances: 2. Record: runner-up (2011); SF (2009). Asian Championships: Runner-up (2): 2009; 2012. Asian Cup: winner (2010)

Men's Doubles

World Championships: semi-final (2009, 11). Pro Tour winner (6): Kuwait Open 2010; Slovenian, English, UAE, German, China (Suzhou) Open 2011. Runner-up (7): Kuwait, Qatar Open 2008; China (Suzhou) Open 2009; German Open 2010; Qatar, China (Shenzen), Austrian Open 2011. Pro Tour Grand Finals: winner (2011). Asian Games: winner (2010).

Mixed Doubles

World Championships: runner-up (2009). Asian Games: QF (2010). Asian Championships: runner-up (2009).

Wang Hao (table tennis)

by Wikipedia Contributors Dec. 21, 2012

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Wang. Wng Ho (Chinese: ; pinyin: Wng Ho; born December 15, 1983 in Changchun, Jilin) is a Chinese table tennis player.[3][4] He became the World Champion in Men's Singles in Yokohama, Japan in May 2009, defeating 3-time World Champion Wang Liqin 4-0.[5] Other notable accomplishments are the 3-time World Cup Champion in 2007, 2008 and 2010, Singles Silver medalist at the 2004 Summer Olympics, 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics Games.[6] In January 2010, Ma Long replaced him as the #1 rank on the official ITTF world rankings.[7] Previously he has been ranked #1 on the official ITTF world rankings for 27 consecutive months from October 2007 to December 2009.[1] In April 2011, he was again the top ranked male player in the world. He is also the most known table tennis player to execute the Reverse Penhold Backhand (RPB) remarkably.

Equipment
Wang Hao currently uses a DHS Hurricane Hao blade with a DHS Skyline III Blue Sponge (Black) and a DHS Tin Arc 3 (red) for his backhand.

Playing style
Wang uses a penhold grip. He is representative of a new wave of penhold players, having good attacking and defensive skills off both wings of the table. The greater freedom of the wrist involved in a penhold grip allows Wang Hao to generate large amounts of spin on the forehand side. As a result he is capable of high percentage attacking play well within the range of the table. His reverse-sided backhand, popularly known as Reverse Penhold Backhand (RPB), is a standout stroke because he does not need to step around the table to use his forehand, unlike most penhold players who need to step around to cover up a relatively weaker backhand. The use of the reverse-side of the racquet was originally pioneered by former champion Liu Guoliang, but was largely unknown before Wang's domination since it was considered to be unorthodox and was rarely used by players in the professional scene. Moreover, Wang Hao is the player who best executes it without fail. He makes the RPB seems as if it is a normal shakehand backhand. Compared to most pen-hold players on the professional circuit, Wang Hao uses the reverse-side for almost all shots on the backhand side, with the small exception of balls placed very slow and deep within the table during serves. This style of using the reverse-side exclusively for the backhand was considered to be improper, and when he first joined the national team most players did not think highly of him.[8] Regardless of Wang Hao's future performance, his rise to the top of the world table tennis rankings has convincingly demonstrated the viability of this new style, and his contribution to the table tennis community will forever cement his place in table tennis history.

Also, Wang Hao is the only person in the history of Table Tennis to have went through 3 Olympic games, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, and London 2012, and to have won three silver medals respectively.

Achievements

1996: joined Jilin Provincial Table Tennis Team 1998: joined National Team and turned pro 1999 World Club Championships: Champion, team Champion, team; runner-up, men's

1999 Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships: singles and men's doubles 2000 World Club Championship: 2001 Ninth National Games:

Runner-up, men's team

Champion, men's team Champion, men's singles; third, men's doubles

2002 ITTF Pro Tour, Netherlands: 2002 ITTF Pro Tour, Egypt:

Champion, men's singles;

third, men's doubles

2003 47th World Table Tennis Championships: 2003 ITTF Pro Tour, Croatia: 2003 ITTF Pro Tour, China:

Runner-up, men's doubles.

Champion, men's singles and mixed doubles Runner-up, men's singles and men's doubles Champion, men's doubles Champion, men's doubles Champion, men's team and men's singles; Champion, men's team

2003 ITTF Pro Tour, Denmark: 2003 ITTF Pro Tour, Sweden:

2003 Asian Table Tennis Championships: third, men's doubles

2004 47th World Team Table Tennis Championships: 2004 Olympics: 2004 World Cup: Silver medal, men's singles Third, men's singles

2004 ITTF Pro Tour, Greece:

Champion, men's singles;

runner-up, men's doubles runner-up, men's runner-up, men's

2004 ITTF Pro Tour, South Korea: singles 2004 ITTF Pro Tour, Changchun: singles

Champion, men's doubles; Champion, men's doubles;

2004 World Cup:

Champion, men's singles Champion, men's doubles

2005 48th World Table Tennis Championships: 2005 Asia Cup: Champion, men's singles

2005 Asian Table Tennis Championships: Champion, men's team 2005 Qatar Open: 2005 China Open: (Shenzhen) Champion, men's doubles Runner-up, men's doubles (Harbin); Runner-up, men's singles

2006 48th World Team Table Tennis Championships: 2006 World Cup: Runner-up, men's singles

Champion, men's team

2006 ITTF Pro Tour, Slovenia: 2006 ITTF Pro Tour, Croatia: 2006 ITTF Pro Tour, Qatar: 2006 ITTF Pro Tour, Japan: 2006 Asian Games:

Champion, men's singles Champion, men's doubles Champion, men's doubles Champion, men's doubles; runner-up, men's singles

Champion, men's singles and team Runner-up, men's doubles; third, men's

2007 World Table Tennis Championships: singles 2007 World Cup:

Champion, men's team and men's singles Champion, men's singles Champion, men's doubles Champion, men's singles and men's doubles Champion, men's doubles; Champion, men's singles; runner-up, men's singles runner-up, men's doubles

2007 ITTF Pro Tour, Slovenia: 2007 ITTF Pro Tour, Croatia: 2007 ITTF Pro Tour, Shenzhen: 2007 ITTF Pro Tour, Nanjing: 2007 ITTF Pro Tour, Japan:

2007 Asian Table Tennis Championships: runner-up, men's doubles 2008 Olympics: 2008 Olympics: Champion, men's team

Champion, men's team and men's singles;

Silver medal, men's singles Champion, men's team

2008 World Team Table Tennis Championships:

2009 World Table Tennis Championships: with Chen Qi

Champion, men's singles and men's double Champion, men's team

2010 World Team Table Tennis Championships: 2010 World Cup: 2010 Asian Games: Champion, men's singles Silver Medal, men's singles

2011 World Table Tennis Championships: doubles 2012 Olympics: 2012 Olympics:

Runner-up, men's singles;

third, men's

Silver medal, men's singles Champion, men's Team.

Xu Xin

by Wikipedia Contributors April 14, 2013

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Xu (Chinese: ) . Xu Xin (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: X Xn; born January 8, 1990 in Jiangsu, China) is a Chinese table tennis player.[2]

Equipment/Playing Style
Xu Xin is a STIGA sponsored athlete. He uses a STIGA Rosewood NCT V as his blade, STIGA Calibra LT for his backhand (red) And DHS NEO Skyline 3 TG3 For his forehand (black). Xu Xin is one of the few representatives of the traditional Chinese penhold style among the current young generation of Chinese players. Most Chinese players (especially younger ones) are now shakehand players. However, Xu Xin utilizes the famous penhold grip, following in the footsteps of previous champions like Wang Hao and Ma Lin. Xu Xin's playing style is rare (left penhold grip) and with his long arms and posture, he is able to reach long balls with it. His long arms also develop him a graceful forehand loop by swinging his arm widely. He has also taken up the use of the Reverse Penhold Backhand (RPB), China's recent backhand development for penholders, allowing two winged attacking. He now rarely uses Traditional Penhold Backhand (TPB) by blocking the ball with the forehand side of the racket.

In January 2013, he reached the number one spot in the World Rankings thanks to the points obtained by winning the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in December 2012 (the greatest achievement of his career so far). He is currently ranked number two. (As of April 11, 2013.)

Career records
Singles (as of June 19, 2012)[3]

World Championships: round of 16 (2011). World Cup appearances: 1. Record: 4th (2012). World Tour winner (6): Kuwait Open 2010; Slovenian Open 2011, Qatar Open 2011; Qatar Open 2012; China Open 2012, Russian Open 2012 Runner-up (2): Belarus Open 2008; Korea Open 2012 World Tour Grand Finals appearances: 2. Record: winner (2012). Asian Championships: SF (2009, 12). Asian Cup: 2nd (2011); 3rd (2010); Champion (2012)

Men's Doubles

World Championships: winner (2011); runner-up (2009). World Tour winner (8): Slovenian, Danish, Qatar Open 2009; China Open 2010; English, Qatar Open 2011; Qatar Open 2012, Russian Open 2012. Runner-up (6): China (Suzhou) Open 2009; Qatar, Kuwait Open 2010; UAE Open 2011; Hungarian, Slovenian Open 2012. Asian Games: runner-up (2010). Asian Championships: winner (2009).

Mixed Doubles

World Championships: QF (2009). Asian Games: winner (2010). Asian Championships: winner (2012), SF (2009).

Team

World Championships: winner (2010, 12). World Team Cup: winner (2009, 10, 11). Asian Games: winner (2010). Asian Championships: winner (2009, 12).

London 2012 Olympics: winner (P-Card only)

Ma Long (table tennis)

by Wikipedia Contributors April 14, 2013

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Ma (Chinese: ) . Ma Long (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: M Lng; born October 20, 1988) is a male table tennis player.[1] He is now ranked number 1 as of March, 2013 in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).[3] Long was born in Anshan City, Liaoning Province, China. He has won a record 5 ITTF Pro Tour tournaments in a row. In this streak he has won 35 sets in a row.

Equipment/Playing Style
Ma Long currently uses a custom made DHS Hurricane Long 2 blade with a Long 2 lens on a Hurricane Hao 656 handle, a DHS NEO Hurricane 3 National version (blue sponge, black topsheet) and Butterfly Tenergy 05 (red) for his backhand as of January 2013. Since Ma Long uses offensive blades (previously using the Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit), Ma Long is a two winged attacker. It is rare for him to focus on defensive style whereas his far from the table strategies are unpredictably strong. Ma Long's serves are the traditional Pendulum backspin serves with also the usage of reverse pendulum. Ma Long's playing style is more of a third ball kill, as he tries to land a finish as soon as possible. His footwork is incorporated with his fast forehand topspin movements, with a special type of backhand loop. They say he has a very similar style to Wang Liqin, a fellow Chinese player. Despite being #1 player in the world for much of 2010-2012 stretch he was not chosen to represent China at the 2012 Olympics due to his temporary dip in ratings around June 2011 when the players were selected by ITTF World ratings list. As a result he has not been given an opportunity to win an Olympic medal in singles at the time when he was widely accepted as one of the three best (and possibly the best) table tennis players in the world. His record against his fellow teammates is exemplary and shows him beating both Zhang Jike and Wang Hao most of the time during that stretch. He was however (after his defeats at the World Championships in 2009 and 2011 - both times at the hands of Wang Hao) considered by Chinese National Team coach Liu Guoliang less mentally tough than his two teammates. He was finally given an opportunity to win a major international title at the World Cup in 2012 when the then current title holder Zhang Jike withdrew. He won the title (after losing in that competition in 2008 and 2009) defeating Timo Boll in the final.

Career records

Singles (as of March 4, 2012)[4]

World Championships: SF (2009, 11). World Cup appearances: 3. Record: 1st (2012), 3rd (2008, 09). ITTF World Tour winner (13): Kuwait, German Open 2007; Korea, Singapore Open 2008; Danish, Kuwait, China (Suzhou), English Open 2009; German Open 2010; China (Suzhou), Austrian, Swedish Open 2011; Hungarian Open 2012. Runner-up (7): German Open 2005; Japan, Swedish Open 2007; UAE, China (Shenzen) Open 2011; Slovenian Open 2012, China Open 2012. ITTF World Tour Grand Finals appearances: 5. Record: winner (2008, 2009, 2011); SF (2007). Asian Games: winner (2010). Asian Championships: winner (2009, 12); runner-up (2007). Asian Cup: winner (2008, 09, 11). World Junior Championships: winner (2004).

Men's Doubles

World Championships: winner (2011); runner-up (2009). Pro Tour winner (11): China (Harbin) Open 2005; Slovenian Open 2006; Swedish Open 2007; Danish, Qatar, English Open 2009; Kuwait, German Open 2010; China (Shenzen), Austrian Open 2011; Slovenian Open 2012. Runner-up (7): China (Shenzhen) Open 2005; Singapore Open 2006; China (Shenzhen) Open 2007; Qatar, Korea Open 2008; Kuwait Open 2009; China (Suzhou) Open 2011. Pro Tour Grand Finals appearances: 3. Record: winner (2006); runner-up (2011); SF (2007). Asian Games: SF (2006). Asian Championships: winner (2007, 09); SF (2012).

Mixed Doubles

Asian Games: QF (2006). Asian Championships: winner (2009); SF (2005).

Team

World Championships: 1st (2006, 08, 10, 12). World Team Cup: 1st (2009, 10, 11). Asian Games: 1st (2006, 10).

Asian Championships: 1st (2005, 07, 09, 12). Olympic Games: 1st (2012)

Other

Winning Streak: He went unbeaten for 40 single matches by December 2011.[5] Did not a drop a set in two tournaments: the Swedish Open 2011 and WTTTC 2012. Because of the number of ITTF Pro Tour events he has won, he is nicknamed to be the "ITTF Pro Tour King."

He was world number 1.