Belgium vs England vs Australia
Have started playing more regularly at the English guy's room recently and thought I should keep track of progress and maybe even give a place for the boys to reply. Hopefully there will be no hard feelings for making such things public.
The room is air conditioned which is great and costs me 80 baht return on a motorbike taxi all up.
The king of the table is easy to see with the Belgium guy clearly in front after last session of play. His serves are not tricky to return. They need to be attacked full powered if longer because if they are opened on with medium power he is ready to counter loop a winner. His strength is his open. If you push long he will attack hard and he will not miss even if you can block back his attacks a few times in a row. Often short returns of his short serves yield better results.
The Englishman is a very polite fellow, who is the most enthusiastic about the sport. Reminding me of myself about 10 years ago. I know he will beat all of us eventually as a result. He currently has a strong blocking game and plays a strong counter driving game. His weakness now is a lack of an opening attack and backspin serve. If he trains putting more spin on his serves and keeping them short and looping pushes he will become dangerous.
Currently our International ladder playing at Arunotai is:
1. Belgium
2. Australia
3. England
The owner of the court in my opinion is precisely that and must be respected, that being the Englishman. The court is a living room and foot stomping and shouting is understandably unacceptable when living in a building.
The other players I played at Fairtex are not included here but I would say: The German from Rayong would be just under me, The Thai policeman would be just under the Belgium guy probably player 2, and the Thai coach in the last position.
I enjoy playing all levels as variety gives you various opportunities to practise various things. But of course I enjoy playing the Belgium guy the most as it is not winning that I enjoy the most, I enjoy the level, intensity and challenge.
Playing the Belgium guy last time, I lost usually by a few points, which were clearly made up of my own unforced errors. He rarely missed, I missed too many of my own set up opportunites. So I just need more play to get consistancy. Currently I am trying to stop myself from blocking.
Stay tuned for more updates after next round of play.
Comments
England plays well
I should correct my earlier notes: the Englishman was indeed opening with heavy topspin loops on both wings - which were sometimes counter punched successfully and other times blocked off into the air off the end of the table.
enjoying the ping-pong
Hi John, thanks for the encouraging comments on my table tennis facility and also on my game. As a relative newcomer to this exciting sport, can I say what a thrill it is to have a chance to play with accomplished players such as Stefan, Vincent and of course yourself. You have all made an effort to help me with my game of which I am grateful. In your blog you say that table tennis should be fun, and you are trying to get me away from my counter-attacking game and into a more offensive style.
I think I won two games [out of about fifty] today and that is good enough for me. Even though I know you had throttled back. I beat the BOZI!
Thanks, Edward.
just being honest
Yes you did beat me, and a win is a win. The throttle was probably back but also I probably beat myself as I am well known to do. I mean, sometimes we play in a way not to win but to just go for particular shots and they may just not be landing for some reason.
My game is often on fire or miss miss miss.
cheers look forward to the next update with video.