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 4 of 4

The Quarter-finals

Kong Linghui meets his countryman, Ma Wenge, in a match that belies the difference in their respective world rankings. These players obviously know each other's games. This match is a textbook exhibition of serve, serve return and follow as practiced by two of the best in the world. Mark this match on your VCR, and use it as the ultimate "how to" video. In this case, the defending world champion dominates in the fifth game to take it at 12, and with it the match.

The next quarter-final is between Samsonov and yet another Chinese opponent, Ding Song, who waltzed his way through the early rounds and disposed of Grman in three in the round of 16. Ding first made his mark in Tianjin in '95, baffling European after European with his chopping skills followed by his overpowering loopkill. Only Kong, overwhelming against choppers, managed to beat him in Tianjin. Samsonov proves himself equally at home against Ding's game, not giving Ding any pace with which to counter, and putting away any return within reach. On one exchange, Samsonov loops the ball so softly, yet with so much spin, that Ding actually chops it into the bottom of the table. You have to see this to believe it! Samsonov prevails easily at 13, 9, 10.

The last of the quarter-finals pits Waldner against the much improved Gatien. Waldner starts out smoking..and improves from there! Gatien is flashier...but Waldner just does the right thing every time. Never has a player been so in control of each point...each game...each match...moving Gatien around at will. Waldner wins the first at 7! In the second game Gatien comes back, fighting for every point, so it takes a little longer for Waldner to put him down 22-20. In the third game, Waldner takes over completely again and puts the match away 21-14.

The first match of the Semi-Finals, between Waldner and Yan Sen, starts out as another story altogether. Yan serves first, and when Waldner returns short, Yan tees off so quickly on the ball that it seems he never moved..but the ball is gone..and again on the second serve...and the third..and Waldner finds himself down 0-5..and before he can adjust, 3-11! Has Waldner finally met his Waterloo? Yan's quick smash doesn't give Waldner the chance to play his smart control game. This game so far is reminiscent of his losses in Tianjin to Liu Guoliang and in Atlanta to Johnny Huang. But Waldner..just in time...finds an answer. He returns deep to Yan's forehand, and with more time to respond, Waldner anticipates the crosscourt smash and blocks it easily. He then gets into his kind of countering game. He puts his best serves into play, and Yan drops a few into the net. On Waldner's next serve, Yan tries even harder, but, unbelievably, his return goes under the net! You'll see that serve when you study this match on tape, and you will probably see it again in our next sequel to our Wonderful and Wacky highlight tape. Before Yan has a chance to recover, the score has changed from 11-3 in his favor to 15-17 favor of Waldner...then 17-21. It gets worse after that as Waldner continues his strategy to dominate in the second and third games at 14 and 12.

The other semi-final match is quite another story. We are down to the last Chinese player in the Men's division, defending World Champion Kong Linghui, facing Vladimir Samsonov, the man responsible for destroying many of Linghui's teammates' hopes. The audience, and our camera, are anxiously awaiting this match that will test the mettle of this rising star from Belarus. Samsonov receives service, and drops the ball so short that Kong has difficulty opening, and Samsonov pulls ahead 3-2, then 6-3. These are two "heavyweights" feeling each other out. They are well matched, and take turns in demonstrating the best that table tennis has to offer. Samsonov utilizes his patented high-toss serve to great effect until Kong finds an answer for a while, but then Samsonov, with no apparent effort, takes control to go ahead 20-15. Kong cranks up a killer loop down the backhand, only to see it blocked back down the forehand for an ace return..and the game. The second game is a match of skill, as they trade long forehand loops, with Samsonov winning most exchanges...then they test each other on the short game...with a series of close-to-the-net-drop shots..with Samsonov again coming out ahead. Some more brilliant long rallies provide the audience with table tennis as it was meant to be...and they respond with a wave to end all waves...going around the arena no less than three times. Kong takes the third game at 17 by throwing caution to the wind, cranking up his best shots without hesitation, but at the end, Kong, the perfect technician, is bested in four by the even better Samsonov...in a match to remember!

In Men's doubles, Kong Linghui and Liu Guoliang best Waldner and Persson in five games, to take the gold, while Deng Yaping takes the Women's title for the last time, as she announces her retirement from competition.

Now, much to everyone's surprise, we have a Men's Final with two Europeans, Waldner and Samsonov.No one who has seen their superb play in this tournament, however, doubts that they truly belong in this deciding match. Despite Waldner's brilliance, those with the urge to bet were picking Samsonov to drive Waldner from the table and win. Waldner, however, starts off on a tear, and it seems that nothing can stop him. Samsonov uses his best serves and Waldner effortlessly kills them. Before anyone realizes it, the score is 15-7 favor of Waldner. Samsonov tries to match Waldner's intensity, but to no avail. At 20-12 Samsonov steps into his best forehand loop, only to see it casually blocked cross court for a clear winner and the game. The intensity, if possible, goes up another notch in game two. Samsonov moves out ahead 4-1 with a series of serves and kills with a capital K. Waldner now exhibits an all-out offensive game as he fights to take back control at 17-17. He moves ahead on Samsonov's serve, putting away the best that is thrown his way. At 20-17 Samsonov tries his most difficult high-toss serve, and follows with a slice flick to the backhand. Waldner steps around his forehand and blaaasts away...and in a blink of the eye it is 21-17. In the third Samsonov tries even harder, but to no avail. He returns Waldner's serves well enough, but Waldner does some magic, and it is 12-8. We haven't seen Waldner this determined since Barcelona, but this time he is showing even more aggressiveness in addition to his great versatility. Samsonov plays well enough to beat any normal mortal...but Waldner is playing at a level never before seen in World Championship competition. Samsonov digs deeper...but his best shots come blasting past him as Waldner smells victory...and then with a final awesome kill to make it 21-13, Waldner falls to the floor in tears as he realizes that he is again World Champion! The Swedish team punctuates the achievement by doing their Waldner high toss to send their star as high as his spirits at that moment!

As we sit in our studio editing our footage, and reliving some of these moments, we find ourselves thankful for the opportunity to share with you the excitement of this great Championship event. We are thrilled with the quality of the footage produced by our new digital cameras and editing system, and are anxious to get your feedback after you see the videos. To summarize our impressions of the 44th World Table Tennis Championships, the story seems to be the success of the French team to take the silver medal and the continued dominance of the deep Chinese team in team competition, the unusually large number of early upsets in Men's Singles competition that made spectators of Persson, Karlsson, Grubba, J.M. Saive, Rosskopf and Guoliang, the emergence of new stars in Yan Sen and Wang Liqin and of potential stars in Kalinkos Kreanga and Aleksandar Karakasevic...and most importantly, the realization of the potential of Vladimir Samsonov and the re-emergence of the most dominant player in recent memory, Jan-Ove Waldner. In checking through our footage we suddenly realized that in the Individual Competition, Waldner, playing against the best the world had to offer, did not lose a single game!!

This tournament also conclusively answered the question as to whether the game has become too fast for audience appreciation. There are those who suggest in various table tennis journals that a larger ball should be introduced to slow the game down. The reality is that the players have become even faster and the game has become more exciting to watch as a result. The 44th WTTC had more longer and exciting rallies than we can ever recall, so we trust you will enjoy the championships with the assistance of your easy chair and VCR and that the great stars will inspire you to enjoy even more the game we all love.

Individual Competition

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