BS Table Tennis News

ARCHIVE

WTTC 99 Videos at BS Table Tennis

19 August, 1999

BS Table Tennis Video Store now has the Official World Championships videos available for ordering. Five tapes are available, each tape covering the top action from different parts of the tournament. The tapes will be available for shipping by the end of September but if you order now, your credit card charges will not be put through until your tapes are ready to ship. If you order now, you will be amongst the first to have the official WTTC video. Click here and place your order today.

40 mm ball rule

17 August, 1999

The ITTF committee has rejected the plan to increase the diameter to the table tennis ball from 38mm to 40mm. Eighty-four of the ITTF executive board voted in favour, 30 voted against, and so the 75% majority that was needed was not reached. In fact only 2 more votes in favour were needed. Many manufacturers were totally against the change in the size of the ball since there were already some other manufacturers who had already the technology to develop the new balls. ITTF proposed the change in order to make the ball more visible for TV Audiences and to make the game more attractive by decreasing the spin and speed of the ball during a rally.

World Championships Results

12 August, 1999

The following is a list of the winners of each event in the 1999 World Championships that took place in Eindhoven, Netherlands:

Men's SinglesG. LIU (CHN)

Women's Singles N. WANG (CHN)

Men's Doubles L. KONG (CHN) G. LIU (CHN)

Women's Doubles N. WANG (CHN) J. LI (CHN)

Mixed Doubles L. MA (CHN) Y. ZHANG (CHN)

You can buy the videos of this tournament from the video store. The full results can be found at the official website.

BS Table Tennis moves to a new server

15 July 1999

As you have noticed you no longer have to close the pop-up banners as soon as you visit a page in BS Table Tennis. The website has been moved from Geocities to a new hosting service designed for commercial websites rather than personal websites. This allows us to provide you with loads of new services such as an online store dedicated to table tennis videos which is to start very soon. All subscribers are to note that the official address of BS Table Tennis is no longer http://www.megaspin.net/~bstt but http://bstt.cjb.net If you have a homepage linking to BS Table Tennis please update the link.

World Team Table Tennis Championships

1 June 1999

The Executive Committee of the ITTF has selected MALAYSIA as the site of the 2000 World Team Table Tennis Championships to be held for seven days within the period of 12 to 20 February 2000. Three associations - Sweden, France and Malaysia - applied to host the Team World Table Tennis Championships. The Executive Committee examined the three applications and was impressed by the high quality of the bids. The Malaysian Table Tennis Association has been granted the right to host the event in Kuala Lumpur within the same facilities as the 1998 Commonwealth games. The exact date and schedule of the event will be decided by 30 May 1999.

Source: ITTF

WTTC in Eindhoven

6 May, 99

To replace the cancelled World Championships originally scheduled in April/May in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, the Executive Committee of the ITTF has decided to entrust the organisation of the 1999 World Championships (Individual Events) to the Netherlands Table Tennis Association in Eindhoven, 2-8 August 1999. The ITTF inspection team visited Eindhoven and was satisfied with the level of readiness and the proposed organisational plan for successful Championships even though the preparation time is very short. The Netherlands Table Tennis Association organised the European Table Tennis Championships in 1998 and has a lot of experience in the organisation of major events.

Source : ITTF

ITTF Pro Tour Results

30 March , 1999

The following is a list of the winners of each event in the three last ITTF Pro Tour competitions:

Qatar Open

Men's SinglesZoran Primorac (Cro) Women's Singles Jing Tian-Zorner (Ger) Men's Doubles Chang Yuan-Su/Chiang Peng Lung (Tpe) Women's Doubles Csilla Bartorfi/Kriztina Toth (Hun)

Croatian Open

Men's Singles Vladimir Samsonov (Blr) Women's Singles Tamara Boros (Cro) Men's Doubles J.P. Gatien/Patrick Chila (Fra) Women's Doubles Olga Nemes/Elke Schall (Ger)

English Open

Men's Singles Ma Wenge (Chn) Women's Singles Schoepp Jie (Ger) Men's Doubles Danny Heister/Trinko Keen (Ned) Women's Doubles Ryu Jie Hye/Lee Eun Sil (Kor)

World Championships Postponed

25 March 1999

The current situation in Yugoslavia forced ITTF to postpone this year's World Championships to another date at another place. The WTTC take place every two years and this year's event was going to be organised by the Yugoslav Table Tennis Association in Belgrade from the 26 April to 9 May. ITTF still has to announce the name of the country that will host the event as well as the exact date. Visit ITTF's Website for the latest updates.

ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals

10 January 1999

WANG LIQIN and WANG NAN were crowned Pro Tour singles Champions at the end of the Pro Tour Grand Finals dominated by Chinese players. Jan-Ove Waldner was the only non-Chinese in the semifinals but he lost to Guoliang after a dramatic fourth set. Waldner was winning 19-16 and had to serve but Guoliang won all the remaining five points to meet Liqin in the final. He was then defeated 3-1. Wang Nan won the singles final against Lin Ling as well as the women's doubles final together with Li Ju. They defeated Cheng Hongxia and Wang Hui in another all-Chinese final. Wang Liqin and Yan Sen defeated Ma Lin and Qin Zhilan in the Men's Doubles Final. For the full results you may visit the Official Web Site.

Yugoslav, Swedish Opens

8 December, 98

Here are the final results of the Yugoslav and Swedish Open Tournaments played in November. Yugoslav Open Belgrade, 19-22 November Men's Singles Joergen Persson (Swe) Men's Doubles Ma Lin/Qin Zhijian (Chn) Women's Singles Lin Ling (Chn) Women's Doubles Sun Jin/Lin Ling (Chn) Swedish Open Sunsvall, 25-29 November Men's Singles Damien Eloi (Fra) Men's Doubles Ma Lin/Qin Zhijian (Chn) Women's Singles Qianhong Gotsch (Ger) Women's Doubles Sun Jin/Lin Ling (Chn)

Lebanon and Italian Opens

4 November, 98

Two ITTF Pro Tour events have been held recently in Beirut, Lebanon and in Italy from 22 to 25 October and from 28 October to 1 November respectively. In both of the tournaments the Chinese have dominated by winning almost all events. The only event not won by the Chinese was the Men's Doubles event in Italy which was won by the French couple consisting of Jean-Philip Gatien and Patrick Chila. The winners of all the events are as follows: Lebanon Open Men's Singles Wang Liqin (CHN) Men's Doubles Ma Lin/Qin Zhijian (CHN) Women's Singles Yang Ying (CHN) Women's Doubles Yang Ying/Wu Na (CHN) Italian Open Men's Singles Liu Guoliang (CHN) Men's Doubles Gatien J.P./Chila Patrick (FRA) Women's Singles Zhang Yining (CHN)

Women's Doubles Wu Na/Yang Ying (CHN)

7th European Masters Cup

10 October, 98

Here are the results of the European Master's Cup held last month in Greuthalle Aalen, Germany: Quarter Finals: Zoran Primorac vs Kalinikos Keanga 3-1 (15,-13,17,15) Peter Karlsson vs Jean Michel Saive 0-3 (14,18,12) Jan-Ove Waldner vs Jörg Roßkopf 2-3 (16,17,-19,-12,16) Jean-Philippe Gatien vs Vladimir Samsonov 1-3 (-19,17,9,19) Semi-finals: Zoran Primorac vs Jean Michel Saive 1-3 (-17, 19, 15, 15) Jörg Roßkopf vs Vladimir Samsonov 0-3 (15,8,8) Final: Vladimir Samsonov vs Jean Michel Saive 3-0 (17,15,9) Winner : VLADIMIR SAMSONOV

China Grand Prix

6 September, 98

As was expected Chinese players repeated last week's success this time at home by winning once again all four main events. The tournament, which took four days to finish, ended today (6th September) in Ji'nan, China. Olympic gold medallist Lui Guoliang won the Men's Sinlges event by defeating Ma Lin in the final. Wang Nan won the women's singles event for the second consecutive time by defeating her China team mate Sun Jin. The doubles events were also dominated by Chinese. In the Men's Doubles event the four semi-finalist teams were all made up of Chinese players but the Ma Lin/Qin Zhijian couple won the event. Wu Na and Yang Ying won the women's doubles event. The next ITTF Pro Tour major event will take place in Lebanon at the end of October 1998. During the rest of this month three other events will be taking place. There are the European Master's Cup, the Women's World Cup and the Asian Championships.

Australian Open

30 August, 98

After a two-month summer break ITTF continued its 1998 Pro Tour in Melbourne, Australia. The Chinese showed their superiority in the sport by winning all events. The Men's Singles was won by Kong Lingui after defeating Korea's Kim Taek Soo in the final. Kong also managed to win the doubles event together with Olympic champion Liu Guoliang. In the Women's category Yang Ying defeated Wang Chen in the singles event final after winning the doubles event final in another all-Asian match. She coupled with Wu Na as they defeated Han Kwang Sun and Suk Eun Mi of Korea. The next ITTF Pro Tour event takes place in China in the first week of September as the Chinese players are expected to repeat their success.

Mega Spin Improves

7 August, 98

Mega Spin, the newsletter of BS Table Tennis is now inviting its subscribers to write articles which are published monthly in the 'Feature' section. In Issue 12, International Umpire Delano Lai Fatt wrote an interesting article about the changes in the ITTF Rules that will become effective as from September 1. Most of the article discusses the rule that states "Players may not receive advice between the end of the practice period and the start of a match".

1998 US Open

9 July, 98

This year's US Open, which was held in Texas, came to an end on the 5th of July with two European players winning the singles events. Belgium's Jean Michel Saive defeated France's Christophe Legout in a 5-game match to win the men's singles event. The women's singles event was also won by a European player. This time it was Xia Lian Ni of Luxembourg who defeated Germany's Jing Tian-Zorner in a 3-0 match. The women's doubles event was won for the first time by Japan's Keiko Okazaki and Ayo Umemura while in the men's category Saive is champion again this time he shared his win with USA's Hua Cheng Ying.

The New Table Tennis Bookstore

20 June, 98

Table tennis fans can now appreciate better why BS Table Tennis is the leading web site in its category. You might know that searching for table tennis books is be a difficult task. The problem is all over now. BS Table Tennis has listed sixty of the best selling table tennis books which you can order without leaving your PC. A table tennis video tape and audio cassette and can also be found in the list. Amazon.com is responsible for all the ordering and delivery. The company is known for selling over 3 million books titles at very low prices. All ordering is done on a secure server so you don't have to worry about submitting your credit card number over the Internet. To start searching for books you've always looked for visit the BS Table Tennis Bookstore.

Improved Rules Page

11 June, 98

The most popular section of this site has been modified according to the feedback submitted during the past few months. Many complained that the rules could not be printed out due to the black background. Now a new layout has been given to the rules to imporve readability and make it easier for everybody to have his or her own rules printed on paper. This time not only have the rules of the game been published but also rules for international competitions and rules specifically made for the Olympic games and World Championships. You can either choose to print a section at a time or print all the rules at once. The rules section can be accessed by clicking here.

Malaysian Open

7 June, 98

This year's Malaysian Open took place between the 4th and 7th of June at Kota Kinabalu. Ma Lin, ranked 25th in the world, won the Men's singles event after defeating his China team mate Kong Lingui in a close final. However, Kong won the doubles event with Liu Guoliang as his partner. Ma Lin and Jean-Micheal Saive only managed to reach the quarter finals. In the women's event Zhang Yining won an all Chinese final against Whang Hui. Yining is only ranked number 84 in the world compared to Hui who is ranked 13. She continued to show her dominance when she won the women's doubles event with Wang Chen.

Mega Spin reaches its 1000th subscriber

last updated on 5 June, 98

Mega Spin, the free newsletter of BS Table Tennis is getting more and more popular with table tennis fans from all around the Internet. Last month the number of subscribers reached 1000 and more table tennis fans are joining each day. If you still have not subscribed you can do so from its section. BS Table Tennis has stopped publishing Mega Spin since last March but will start sending the issues again as from 12th June. All those who wish to advertise on Mega Spin may contact Bernard Schembri by email or via the contact page.

The 1998 European Championships

4 April, 98

This month Netherlands hosted the 1998 European Championships. Vladimir Samsonov dominated once more by winning both the singles event and the doubles. Ni Xia Lian of Luxembourg won the women's singles event. The German couple Struse / Shall won the women's doubles. In the Men's Team event the Swede's only managed to finish third. France finished in first place followed by Poland. As it was expected, Germany won the Women's Team event. Hungary and Romania finished second and third respectively. You can visit the events' official web site to get the full results.

Qatar and Croatian Opens

15 March, 98

The last two ITTF Pro Tour Events took place in Qatar and in Croatia. The Qatar Open was held during the last week of Febuary and the Croatian Open was held this weekend. The table below shows the winners of the events: Qatar Open Men's Singles - Zoran Primorac (CRO) Women's Singles - Li Ju (CHN) Men's Doubles - Yan Sen/Wang Liqin (CHN) Women's Doubles - Li Ju/Wang Nan (CHN) Croatian Open Men's Singles - Vladimir Samsonov (BLR) Women's Singles - Jing Tian-Zoerner (GER) Men's Doubles - Werner Schlager/Karl Jindrak (AUT) Women's Doubles - Csilla Batorfi/Krisztina Toth (HUN) The next ITTF Pro Tour Event will be held in Malasia in the first week of June.

New World Ranking Rules

21 February, 98

This year the International Table Tennis Federation has slightly altered the world ranking system mainly to encourage player to take part in International competitions. Players will now not only be given points for every match won but also on how they place in competitions. There shall be a reduction in the points lost by the losing player in competitive match. Players will now loose half the points won by the winner. Players will no longer loose points if they are inactive for a long period of time. ITTF hopes that these alterations will make the World Rankings more dynamic and will reflect the players' progress more quickly. Meanwhile ITTF has published its first world rankings for 1998. You could view these rankings using the two links below:

Men's World Rankings Women's World Rankings

European Top 12

13 February, 98

The 1998 European Top 12 tournament was held in Halmstad, Sweden between 30th Janaury and 1st Febuary. In the Men's event Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus placed first after defeating Peter Karlsson in the final. Jean-Michel Saive of Belgium and Jan-Ove Waldner of Sweden placed 3rd and 4th respectively. Luxembourg's Ni Xia Lian continued to prove that she is the best european player in this category after defeating Germany's champion Nicole Struse in the final. The winners both of the men's and women's events were awarded with a sum of money. The full results are available on the web at the The European Top 12 Web Site.

New Features for BS Table Tennis

11 January, 98

A frequently asked questions page has been added to BS Table Tennis. Visitors that have problems about rules can check if their problem is listed on the page before wasting their time in writing an email. The page, which is accessible from the rules page, answers more than 95% of the questions submitted to BS Table Tennis. Users can still submit their question using a new form in the contact page which has been redesigned completely. From the same page visitors can use the same form to send comments, suggestions, queries, personal messages or ask something about Mega Spin. The background has also been arranged to load faster.

Final World Rankings

3 January, 98

The most significant change in the new world rankings was a result of Vladimir Samsonov's domination in the ITTF Pro Tour Finals held last month in Hong Kong. Samsonov jumped into 1st place 29 points ahead of Lingui Kong of China in second place. In the women's category, the point advantage that Deng Yaping gained throughout last year made it impossible for Li Ju to reach her in first place despite the fact that Li Ju won the ITTF Pro Tour. Here are the top five players of both categories: Men's Category 1. Vladmir Samsonov...1767 pts 2. Kong Lingui........1738 pts 3. Zoran Primorac.....1722 pts 4. Jan-Ove Waldner....1712 pts 5. Liu Guoliang.......1693 pts Women's Category 1. Deng Yaping........2017 pts 2. Li Ju..............1811 pts 3. Wang Nan...........1771 pts 4. Wang Chen..........1687 pts 5. Chen Jing..........1683 pts For further details you can visit The Official Rankings Page.

The ITTF Pro Tour Finals

21 December, 97

The final day - 21st December Today the 1997 ITTF Pro Tour came to an end today with four finals. Vladimir Samsonov won the Men's Singles event with a 3-1 victory over Wang Liqin. Li Ju was the only player to win two events. She won the women's singles event by defeating Wang Nan in a 3-1 match. Wang and Li were the winning couple of the women's doubles final as they won their final against Park Hae Jung and Kim Moo Kyu. In the men's doubles event Samsanov and Rosskopf lost to Kong Linghui and Liu Guoliang of China. The Winners Men's Singles - Vladimir Samsonov Women's Singles - Li Ju Men's Doubles - K. Linghui/L. Guoliang Women's Doubles - Li Ju/Wang Nan Day 3 - 20th December Today was the semi-finals' day. Wang Liqin once again defeated a European favourite this time by beating Belgium's Jean-Michel Saive with a straight 3-0. In the other semi-final of the men's singles Samsonov beat Croatia's Zoran Primorac 3-1. In the women's singles Chinese players dominated as they beat their Korean opponents. Li Ju defeated Park Hae Jung while Wang Nan defeated Ryu Ji Hye. In the men's doubles event the Chinese couple Kong Linghui and Liu Guoliang defeated France's Patrick Chila and Christophe Legout. In the other semi-final, Rosskopf and Samsonov defeated Wang Liqin and Yan Sen of China. This put Samsonov into two finals. In the women's doubles event the singles finalists, Li Ju and Wang Nan, defeated the other Chinese couple consisting of Cheng Hongxia and Wang Hui 3-0. Two Korean couple played against each other in the other semi-final. Park Hae Jung and Kim Moo Kyu defeated Ryu Ji Hye and Lee Eun Sil 3-0. Day 2 - 19th December The surprise of the day is definitely Jan-Ove Waldner's elimination by Wang Liqin of China. Liqin, ranked 19 in the world, managed to beat Waldner in a tight 3-2 match. He will face Jean Michel Saive of Belgium in the semi-finals tommorrow. Here are all the quarter final results: Wang Liqin - Jan-Ove Waldner.....3-2 Jean Michel Saive - Kong Lingui..3-2 Zoran Primorac - Kim Taek Soo....3-0 Vladmir Samsonov - Liu Guoliang..3-0 In the women's event Ni Xia Lian, the only non-Asian player, was defeated by Li Ju of China. Here are all the results: Li Ju - Ni Xia Lian..............3-1 Park Hae Jung - Tong Fei Ming....3-1 Sun Jin - Ryu Ji Hye.............3-1 Wang Hui - Wang Nan..............3-0 Day 1 - 18th December European favourites Vladimir Samsonov and Jan-Ove Waldner today defeated two promising Chinese players in the first round of the ITTF Pro Tour being held in Hong Kong. Samsonov won his game against Ma Lin 3-2 although he had lost 3-0 against the same player in the quarter final of this year's China Open held in September. On the other hand Waldner defeated Yan Sen 3-1. The Swedish player was worried as he was given a hard game by the Chinese in the World Championships last May in Manchester. Samsonov will have another difficult game in round two as he plays against Olympic Gold Medalist Liu Gouliang of China. Other second round matches are Kong Lingui vs Jean-Michel Saive, Wang Liqin vs Waldner and Kim Taek Soo vs Zoran Primorac. In the women's event seven of the eight competitors playing in the second round are Asian players. The only non-Asian player is Ni Xia Lina from Luxembourg. She will face Li Ju after defeating Cheng Honxia in the first round. Links: You can browse through all the results for both singles and doubles events using the following links:

The Men's Singles Event The Women's Singles Event The Men's Doubles' Event The Women's Doubles' Event

The 1997 French Open

7 December, 97

This year's last ITTF Pro Tour Event came to an end this evening in Lyon. Christophe Legout won the Men's Singles event in front of his home spectators beating Heister Danny of Holland in the final. The Women's Events, both Singles and Doubles, were once again dominated by China. Cheng Hongxia won the Singles Event defeating Anne-Sophie Gourin of France in the final. Together with her partner Wang Hui, Cheng also managed to win the Doubles Event. The Men's Doubles was won by Blaszczyk Lucjan and Krzeszewski Tomasz of Poland. This is the second consecutive time that the couple won an ITTF Pro Tour Doubles Event. The full results are available at the 1997 French Open Official Web Site.

The 9th World Rankings

6 December, 97

The International Table Tennis Federation has published last week its new rankings for the month of November. Very few changes have been done comparing these rankings with the ones of previous months. The most obvious changes were done in the Men's Category. Kong Lingui of China is now 22 points clear of Vladmir Samsonov of Belarus. Samsonov, on the other hand, jumped into second place six points ahead of Jan-Ove Waldner of Sweden in third place. In the Women's Category there was no change in the position of the top five ranked players. Men's Category 1. Kong Lingui........1752 pts 2. Vladmir Samsonmov..1730 pts 3. Jan-Ove Waldner....1724 pts 4. Zoran Primorac.....1716 pts 5. Liu Guoliang.......1696 pts Women's Category 1. Deng Yaping........2017 pts 2. Li Ju..............1781 pts 3. Wang Nan...........1763 pts 4. Wang Chen..........1693 pts 5. Chen Jing..........1683 pts For the rest of the rankings visit The Official World Rankings Web Site.

The Swedish Open Championships

30 November, 97

Third World ranked Vladmir Samsonmov of Belarus dominated this years Swedish Open Championships by winning the Men's Singles Final against Yas Sen of China. Jan-Ove Waldner, one of the favourites, was defeated by Feng Zhe in front of his home crowd in Round 2. The Women's Event was once again dominated by China as Wang Hui won the singles' final against Chang Hongxia. The games were held in Kalmar from the 27th to the 30th of November. The next ITTF Pro Tour Event will be held in France next week. More results are available at The Swedish Open Web Site.

Austrian Open 1997

23 November, 97

World Cup winner Zoran Primorac won this year's Austria Open after beating Sweden's Peter Karlsson in the final this evening at Linz. Karlsson managed to eliminate Liu Guoliang of China and Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus in the semi-finals and in the quarter finals respectively. The Women's Event was won by Jing Tian-Zorner of Germany. She defeated China's Yunping Qiao in the final. The full results are available at the games' official web pages:

The Women's Singles Event The Men's Singles Event The Women's Doubles' Event The Men's Doubles' Event

Yugoslav Open Results

19 November, 97

In the Yugoslav Open olympic gold medalist Liu Guoliang won the Men's Singles Event Final after beating Wang Liqin in the final match last Sunday. The Women's Singles was also dominated by Asian countries as Niu Jianfang of China defeated Lee Kyong Sun of Korea in a tight match. Both doubles events were won by Chinese couples. The tournament was part of the ITTF Pro Tour and was held in Belgrade from the 13th to the 16th of this month. More detailed results are available at the Yugoslav Open Official Web Site.

MTTA's Divisions I and II Fixtures

14 November, 97

The Malta Table Tennis Association has just published the full fixtures for both 1st and 2nd Divisions on its web site. This is the first time that so much detail is given to Malta's National League which is due to start next Monday evening at the Royal Overseas League, Valletta. Games are played on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and the results will be published on MTTA's Website every time. More details are available at the Malta Table Tennis Association's Web Site.

The October World Rankings

4 November, 97

The International Table Tennis Association has published its 8th World Rankings for this year. Lingui has managed to reach Waldner as they now both share 1st place with 1752 points. Primorac also managed to jump to fourth place instead of the Olympic Gold Medalist, Liu Goiliang. The following are the top five ranked players: 1. Kong Lingui........1752 pts 2. Jan-Ove Waldner....1752 pts 3. Vladmir Samsonmov..1716 pts 4. Zoran Primorac.....1707 pts 5. Tao Wang...........1674 pts In the women's category there were very few changes. Deng Yaping's remained first while Chen Jing went down from fourth to fifth place. The top five positions are as follows: 1. Deng Yaping........2017 pts 2. Li Ju..............1782 pts 3. Wang Nan...........1763 pts 4. Wang Chen..........1686 pts 5. Chen Jing..........1683 pts The points are given according to the players' performances throughout various events held this year. More details are available at The Official World Rankings Web Site.

Return to latest news