The 44th World Table Tennis Championships Through The Eye Of The Video Camera

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The 44th World Championships Through The Eye Of The Video Camera

BY GARY RUDERMAN, Owner-Producer, Reflex Sports

PART 3 of 4

Individual competition

The Men's Individual Competition proves to be more unpredictable than any we have witnessed...with upset after upset. Andrei Filimon, a qualifier from Romania, bests Andrzej Grubba of Poland in the round of 128, for perhaps Grubba's earliest departure from such a major event. In the round of 64, Thomas Von Scheele of Sweden generates another upset by outplaying Jorg Rosskopf in five games.

On another court we recorded Persson going down to lanky Wang Liqin, a new star from the seemingly unlimited depth of Chinese players waiting for their chance to compete. A shake-hands European-style looper, Wang's style is perfectly matched against Persson, and the result is a level of brilliant long-distance spinning play that leaves the audience gasping. Persson is in top form as well, displaying some of his famous "backhand-swat" kills. One point in particular, involving about a dozen long range exchanges, is perhaps the highlight point of the tournament or even of the decade! It brings to mind "the point" between Waldner and Boehm that was featured in our original Wonderful and Wacky World of Table Tennis highlight video. At first we considered Wang's victory an upset, which it was by seeding, but certainly not by talent or technical capabiIity...as demonstrated by Wang's later upset victory over Carl Prean (himself an upset victor over Yoo Nam Kyu), and Wang's superb play against Samsonov.

In the round of 64 we witness and record perhaps the most stunning upset of the tournament as Olympic Gold Medalist,third seeded Liu Guoliang, is beaten convincingly by a qualifier, Aleksandar Karakasevic of Yugoslavia. We were drawn to this match by the screaming of fans standing at an outside court watching the drama unfold. Our camera reveals that Karakasevic is in a "zone," hitting off-the -bounce winner after winner from impossible angles to impossible angles. A look of fear and desperation is etched into Liu's face as he watches the fifth game slip away from him for an incredible loss at 21-13! Karakasevic looks unbeatable at that moment, but this illusion is broken in the next round as left-handed He Zhi Wen of Spain took him in three with the "old" Chinese style.

The same round of 32 sees Peter Karlsson go down to Werner Schlager of Austria, and recent world number one, J.M. Saive prove himself again vulnerable to choppers as Hiroshi Shibutani prevails at 12 in the fifth. Another minor upset sees Patrick Chila lose in a left-handed matchup against the emotional Milan Grman of Slovakia. We believe Grman is the clear winner of our "high-jump at victory" competition, first shown on our Wonderful and Wacky video, and further demonstrated after his earlier victory over Filimon (before Filimon could bask too long in the glory of having beaten Grubba).

Moving away from the upsets, we start to record the march to the Final of Vladimir Samsonov,as he starts to put together a string of victories over the best that Japan and China have to offer. Fresh from his first round destruction of Japan #3 Iwasaki (6,6,9!), he faces Ma Lin of China. This match renews our belief that the youthful Samsonov is the heir-apparent to Waldner's claim to being the player with the smoothest and most effortless appearing style of play. Ma Lin is helpless (-16,-9, -16) as he watches his hardest kills blocked without Samsonov appearing to move, and in some cases Ma's most vicious loops are blasted back past him before he can even blink. Meanwhile, on another court, Korea's hope for a medal, in the form of Kim Taek Soo, has the misfortune to meet another Chinese newcomer waiting to make his move. Yan Sen is a left-handed attackerwith a style reminiscent of that displayed by Hugo Hoyama in the Atlanta Olympics. Yan would serve, and though the return might be just inches from the net, he would pounce on the ball and kill at will with the speed and instinct of a cobra. Never have we seen a player as quick and with kills as unreturnable. Kim, however, no slouch himself, uses his athleticism and sheer power to stay in the match at 2-2. In the fifth game, at 15-15 Yan serves and kills four straight. Kim recovers for one point, but to no avail as Yan Sen wins at 21-17. The large contingent of Chinese fans in the audience has much to cheer about, and cheer they did.

One of the early stories of this tournament was the play of Kalinikos Kreanga of Greece. In team competition he registers wins against Fetzner, Samsonov, and Yang Min, among others. A superb spinner, he sports one of the most feared backhands in the game. In the round of 32 he is matched against Ma Wenge, the perennial powerhouse competing for China. And what a match it is! Ma 21-19 in the first, Kreanga 21-19 in the second. At 2-1 in the third, the umpire calls a point for Wenge saying Kreanga moved the table. Wenge puts the next serve into the net to protest the unfairness. The crowd applauds the gesture. This is followed by a brilliant highlight point, then another as these two evenly matched players show the crowd what two talented spinners can do. 19-19, 21-21, 22-22, as Kreanga not only meets every attempt by Ma to dominate, but also moves ahead to win at 24-22. More of the same in the fourth game as these two fierce competitors refuse to give an inch. Again we are tied at 19, 21, 22, 23...Ma's face shows his thoughts..."What do I have to do to beat this guy?"...but beat him he does at 25-23! In the fifth game, Ma Wenge's experience prevails over Kreanga's flair. Ma moves ahead into the round of 16.

In the round of 16, Yan Sen goes against Johnny Huang of Canada, '96 Olympic winner over Waldner. Yan's speed and his ability to block Huang's pips-out smashes produce a five game victory. The audience is now fully aware that this deadly killer is going to be awfully hard to beat. In another round of 16 matchup, Kong Linghui dispatches Werner Schlager in four, to move into the quarter-finals.

In the other end of Kong's draw, Samsonovmeets yet another Chinese player, the surprising Wang Liqin. These are two tall, powerful and gifted players--Samsonov has proven himself to become world #4, Wang has arrived unheralded to sweep through early rounds. Their complementing European spinning styles produce great table tennis for the spectators, with long back-from-the-table rallies that result in highlight point after highlight point. Samsonov prevails in the first at 16, but Wang returns with a vengeance to overpower him at 21-10. The third game is a see-saw battle until 9-9 when Wang opens up even more with his heavy artillery...moving ahead 18-11. Samsonov digs in and starts returning service with slow topspin instead of short backspin...blocks the opening shot and takes control of each point. Down 15-18, 16, 17, 18! What a comeback! Now 20-20, 21-21, 22-22. Samsonov pulls ahead to 23-22 when Wang opens up first with a loop to the backhand, driving Samsonov back to the barrier, one backhand lob, two, three, four...and trying even harder, Wang loops off the table to put Samsonov ahead 2-1. In the fourth, Wang becomes a can't miss machine! He moves ahead again to 18-12. Can Samsonov meet Wang's intensity? 13, 14, 15...is he actually doing it again? Now 17-19, 18-19. At this time another highlight point for the record books..no less than ten Wang loops to the backhand...with corresponding soft sidespin returns from Samsonov...until Wang again misses, and after that miss, Samsonov wins the 21st and match point with a flourish. Another great comeback! Samsonov returned from the dead twice to win the match of the tournament...but that's our opinion...you can decide for yourself when you see the videos.

Before we have time to recover from that great match, we find ourselves recording another battle of left-handers, this time two of the best in the world...Jean-Philippe Gatien, former world champion from France, and Wang Tao, World and Olympic doubles champion. Both are best at off-the-bounce counter looping. Gatien moves ahead 14-11 in the first game, beating Wang to the punch time after time. It is amazing to see 25 points played without a single trademark forehand counter from Wang. Gatien is just too fast, and has added a strong backhand loop to his arsenal...so the first game goes to him 21-19. Wang makes a little run in the second, but Gatien retaliates by killing everything before Wang has a chance, and takes the next two games at 17, and with them the match.

Waldner, having disposed of Lupulesku in the round of 32, meets Primorac in the round of 16. This is usually a tough battle to the wire, but Waldner seems to be playing at a level beyond belief..the result being a sweep of the match, and into the quarter-finals.

Yan Sen against He Zhi Wen is a left-handed battle between Yan's modern style and He's traditional short-pips penhold game. This first of the quarter-final matches is tightly contested, but although Yan loses the second at 19, his speed prevails in four.

Let the games begin

The Quarter Finals

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