Football clubs pay fortunes for star names, motor racing drivers earn millions and those involved in such sports as basketball, tennis, cricket, golf and other such sports are not on the breadline; they are keeping their head above water.

However, the richest of all play none of those sports. They play table tennis!

Warren Buffett and Bill Gates; the most expensive partnership in the world!

On Sunday 5^th May 2013, they helped Killerspin’s Ariel Hsing prepare for the forthcoming World Championships to be staged in the French capital city of Paris from Monday 13^th to Monday 20^th May.

Helped, more moral support than technical wizardry but not bad people to have on your side!

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Company held its Annual Meeting in Omaha, where he discussed the future of the company but did not forget to play their favourite sport.

He played doubles with Bill Gates, both pairs declaring their support for Ariel Hsing.  

Warren Buffett, now 82 years old is widely considered to be the most successful investor of the 20th century. He was ranked as the world's wealthiest person in 2008

Meanwhile, William Henry "Bill" Gates III, 58 years old, is the current chairman of Microsoft, the world’s largest personal computer software company.

He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009, excluding 2008, when he was ranked third. In 2011 he was the wealthiest American and the second wealthiest person globally.

Now, Men’s Doubles pairings for the World Championships: Killerpin's Mark Hazinski and Khoa Nhuyen, Timothy Wang and Zhang Yahao.

They are allowed three pairs in the event; any room for one more, a late entry?

Just one problem, the Mixed Doubles; Khoa Nguyen is scheduled to partner Ariel Hsing in the Mixed Doubles event.

He might just have to step aside. 

Olympic and World Champion Chen Qi at one of the Killerspin event in Chicago 

Choose your doubles partner; surely Killerspin's Chinese star, Chen Qi, would be very high on the list, especially if you are right handed.

At the forthcoming World Championships, to be staged in Paris from Monday 13th May to Monday 20th May 2013, the fortunate player is Fang Bo, the winner of a clean sweep of titles in 2009 at the Volkswagen World Junior Championships and the victor, earlier this year, in the Men’s Singles event on the ITTF World Tour in Austria.

The combination of the powerful right handed Fang Bo, very much Ma Long Mark II, a safe backhand and a crunching forehand, in harness with Chen Qi, is an intriguing partnership.

In the words of Gao Jun, one of the best female doubles players of the past two decades and more, you need an architect and a killer.

If ever there was a partnership that fielded an architect and a killer, it is the pairing of Chen Qi with Fang Bo.

Unquestionably Fang Bo is the killer, Chen Qi is the supreme architect; if talent can be defined; Chen Qi oozes talent.

Coaches will tell you need good hands to play table tennis, Chen Qi has magical hands, deft touches that gain angles, exquisite placement and the ability to attack quickly whether over the table or away from the table.

Chen Qi has the full artillery.

At the Beijing Olympic Games he was the reserve for the Chinese Men’s Team of Ma Lin, Wang Liqin and Wang Hoa; no doubt the thinking being that if any member of the trio was incapacitated, he could play doubles with any member of the outfit.

Especially he could partner Ma Lin; so it is somewhat surprising that in Paris, he does not partner Ma Lin.

It was with Ma Lin that he won Olympic gold in Athens in 2004 and the World Championships in 2007 in Zagreb; whilst in 2009 in Yokohama he won with Wang Hao.

In Paris, Ma Lin partners Hao Shuai whilst the one further Chinese Men’s Doubles combination is Wang Liqin and Zhou Yu; noticeably all three partnerships involve a left and right handed player.

Most certainly in Paris, the partnership of Chen Qi and Fang Bo starts as one of the favourites and if at the end of the tournament, Chen Qi stands alongside Fang Bo on the top step of the medal podium, he will etch his name as one of only three players who have won the Men’s Doubles title at a World Championships with three different partners.

Furthermore, if Chen Qi can succeed, it could be argued that his achievement will be the greatest of all, the other two are from an era when the World Championships, included team and individual events, and were played on an annual basis.

The notable names are Victor Barna who represented Hungary and later England, Ivan Andreadis who competed under the colours of Czechosklovakia.

Victor Barna won with Hungarian compatriot Miklos Szabados on no less than six occasions (1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1935), with colleague Sandor Glancz in 1933 and England’s Richard Bergmann in 1939; prior to 1939 Richard Bergmann had represented Austria.

Currently, Chen Qi stands alongside four further players who have won the Men’s Doubles title at a World Championships with two different partners.

They are Jimmy McClure from the United States plus the Chinese trio of Li Zhenshi, Kong Linghui and Wang Hao.

Jimmy McClure won with Bob Blattner in 1936 and 1937 and with Sol Schiff in 1938; whilst Li Zhenshi succeeded with Liang Geliang in 1977 and Cai Zhenhua in 1981.

Meanwhile, Kong Linghui won with Wang Hao in 2005 and with Liu Guoliang in 1997 and 1999; whilst, of course, Wang Hao succeded with Chen Qi in 2009.

In the art of doubles, Chen Qi is the maestro but when it comes to singles, he is no mean competitor and it somewhat of a mystery why he has not a greater collection of Men’s Singles titles.

If the question was posed at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, as to who would be in the Chinese Men’s Team for the 2012 London Olympic Games; Chen Qi would have received the vote alongside Ma Long and Wang Hao.

The name of Zhang Jike was not on the lips of the pundits, although he had played in a few ITTF World Tour tournaments, the future Olympic and World champion, made his debut for the Chinese Men’s Team at the World Team Cup in Linz in October 2009. The rest as they say is history.

Later in 2011 Chen Qi, with the might of China present, won the Men’s Singles title at the English Open in Sheffield, such is the quality of the man; such is the intense competition to gain a place in the Chinese Men’s Team.

In Paris, Chen Qi will be making his seventh appearance in a World Championships; on the past six occasions he has always departed with a medal. In 2006 in Bremen and 2008 in Guangzhou he was a member of the gold medal winning Chinese outfit when the Team Championships were held.

However, most pertinently on the four occasions he has competed, when the individual events have been staged, he has always won a Men’s Doubles medal.

In addition to his wins in 2007 in Zagreb and 2009 in Yokohama, with Ma Lin he was a bronze medallist on debut in Shanghai in 2005 and a silver medallist in Rotterdam in 2011.

Now in 2013 can he maintain the sequence and can he etch his name amongst the greatest of yesterday?

It’s more than possible, Paris and history awaits.

Full article at CBS Blogs

BRONZEVILLE — Junior Brandon Wilson is a lieutenant colonel at Chicago Military Academy.

He's also a captain now — of the new table tennis squad at his school.

"It is such an honor to be a captain of this team," Wilson said during a Tuesday news conference to kick off Unplug 'N Play, a program sponsored by table tennis manufacturer Killerspin in tandem with Chicago Public Schools.

"This does give you something to do rather than be out on the streets and do crazy stuff," Wilson said.

At the event, Wilson and other students played ping pong against each other, and against Killerspin CEO Robert Blackwell Jr. and professional BiBa Golic.....

Full article at DNAInfo.com Blogs

Unplug 'N Play "will create activity, exercise and stimulation for thousands of...students."

Killerspin's president, Robert Blackwell, Jr., sees his sport as "a safe and fun social alternative. If kids and their parents would take just 15 minutes a day for some sort of activity together -- whether it be table tennis or something else -- the connections within the family can be so much stronger.".....

Full article at Chicago Sun-Times Blogs

Ariel Hsing at the 2012 US Open in Las Vegas

On the morning of Monday 30^th July 2012, the talk of the town was Ariel Hsing, on the previous evening, 16 years old at the time, she had given China’s Li Xiaoxia a torrid time in their third round meeting in the Women’s Singles event at the London Olympic Games.

In fact, the Killerspin player, came as near as anyone to beating the eventual gold medallist. 

No other player extracted more than one game from the champion elect; Ariel Hsing extracted two and at one stage stood level at two games all.

It was a relieved Li Xiaoxia who departed the arena; it was a relieved group of Chinese coaches, officials and supporters who also departed the ExCeL Exhibition Centre on that English summer evening.

It was a performance that suddenly brought Ariel Hsing to greater attention than previously possessed. It endorsed the fact that she had a strong claim to be considered the First Lady of the United States; perhaps not in the White House but certainly in the home of table tennis. 

In Guangzhou, at the forthcoming World Team Classic to be staged from Thursday 28^th to Sunday 31^st March, Ariel Hsing is the First Lady of the United States; she leads the American Team, lining up alongside 23 year old Judy Hugh and 16 year old Erica Wu.

They are the ninth seeded team in the competition and their goal is to reach the quarter-finals; to upset the seeding in the first stage of the tournament.

A total of 12 teams with three teams drawn into each group, the teams finishing in first and second places in each group advance to the last eight; whatever the draw, the United States will be the lowest seeded team in each group.

However, the efforts of Ariel Hsing at the London Olympic Games, suggests the last eight goal is very much within the sights of the Americans.

Undoubtedly the memorable match was her contest against Li Xiaoxia; it rather overshadowed two earlier fine performances in London’s ExCeL Exhibition Centre.

In her opening contest she beat the more experienced Mexican, Yadira Silva in four straight games before dispatching the most experienced of all, Luxembourg’s Ni Xialian.

Accepted in London, Ni Xialian was past her best being 49 years of age but her close-to-the-table pen-hold grip style of play is conducive to longevity and it is style that Ariel Hsing was no doubt facing for the very first time in her career.

Furthermore, the big stage was nothing new for Ni Xialian. She had played in both the Sydney and Beijing Olympic Games and had World titles to her credit; world titles 12 years before Ariel Hsing was born!

Ariel Hsing was born in 1995, at the World Championships staged in Tokyo in 1983, Ni Xialian won the Mixed Doubles title with Guo Yuehua and alongside Cao Yanhua, Geng Lijuan and Tong Ling, secured Women’s Team gold.

One has to return to the era not of Ariel Hsing’s parents or grandparents but to her great grandparents to find a time when American women were challenging those who possessed World titles.

In the years immediately prior to the Second World War and immediately after, the United States was at the forefront.

Ruth Aarons was crowned Women’s Singles World champion in Prague in 1936 and the following year in Baden; also in 1936 they were the silver medallists in the Women’s Team event and gold medallists in 1937. The war years halted international sport but when hostilities were over the success continued, in 1947 in Paris, it was bronze in the Women’s Team competition; in 1949 in Sweden it was gold.

Now over 65 years later the sights are different but there is an exciting generation of players emerging from the United States and surely Ariel Hsing underlined a point in London last July; if you can still be there in the latter stages of a game, whoever your opponent, you have a chance.

It may sound an obvious comment but it is especially relevant against the stars of China. They are superb players, outstanding, they are the best but even the best can feel the pressure.

Against Ariel Hsing in London’s ExCeL Exhibition Centre, Li Xiaoxia felt the pressure, to her credit she coped but that has not always been the situation; as Li Xiaoxia fought against Ariel Hsing my mind went back the to 2004, the Galatsi Stadium at the Athens Olympic Games.

On that occasion, Niu Jianfeng suffered, soon after so did the reigning Olympic champion; in the second round of the Women’s Singles event, Niu Jianfeng recovered from a three games to one deficit to beat Germany’s Elke Schall, before losing in the third round in four straight games in opposition to DPR Korea’s Kim Hyang Mi.

One round later, in the quarter-finals, Wang Nan, the Sydney 2000 champion, was beaten by Li Jiawei. Also, who will ever forget the Men’s Singles final when the occasion proved too great for Wang Hao.

Playing the Chinese stars, if they gain an early lead, confidence grows as with all players but they have an added advantage; their technical level is so high they go from strength to strength in rapid fire time.

No doubt that high technical level helps a great deal when it’s close but when the pressure mounts, even the super human are human.

In Guangzhou, the task for the United States is to apply the pressure. 

They have a young team, a team that is learning and learning quickly, a team that is capable, capable of causing an upset, Ariel Hsing, the first lady has set the example.

Ariel Hsing at the 2012 US Open in Las Vegas

In late September 2012, Killerspin’s Ariel Hsing won the Women’s Intercontinental Cup in the Chinese city of Huangshi; 16 years old at the time, she became both the youngest player to secure the title and the first from the United States.

There will be no defence of the crown in 2013; the Starts Women’s World Cup, to be staged in the Japanese city of Kobe from Saturday 21^st to Monday 23^rd September 2013, has a new formula.

However, Ariel Hsing will have the opportunity to defend her ITTF-North American Cup Women’s title and if successful book her place in Kobe; her name will appear on the invitation list for the prestigious tournament.

The event is to be staged on Saturday 20^th and Sunday 21^st April 2013 at the Westchester Table Tennis Center in the state of New York. The club is managed by Robert Roberts, former Barbadian international and owned by Will Shortz.

Robert Roberts will be the Tournament Director for the ITTF-North American Cup with Will Shortz being the Press Officer.

Winners of both the Men’s and Women’s events qualify for the respective World Cup tournaments; the Men’s World Cup will be staged in Verviers, Belgium from Friday 25^th to Sunday 27^th September 2013.

However, for Ariel Hsing that is the future and there is a hurdle to overcome but it is hurdle she has overcome successfully in the past. She succeeded in both 2011 and 2012 when the tournament was staged the Canadian city of Mississauga in Southern Ontario.

A total of 12 players will be invited for each of the Men’s and Women’s Singles events, with play taking place in two stages.

In the first stage, players will be drawn into four groups with three players in each group.

All players will progress to the second stage; the players who finish in first place in each of the four groups proceed directly to the quarter-finals, the players finishing in second and third places in each group compete in round one  where a second placed player opposes a third placed player.

The second stage will be organised on a progressive knock-out basis.

Bermuda, Canada, Greenland and the United States of America form the ITTF-North American Table Tennis Union and are the countries eligible to compete in the ITTF North America Cup.

Currently the players to be invited by World ranking are: Canada’s Pierre-Luc Hinse and Pierre-Luc Theriault, in addition to Timothy Wang and Danny Seemiller from the United States for the Men’s Singles event.

In the Women’s Singles event it is Gao Jun and Ariel Hsing from the United States, Zhang Mo and Chris Xu from Canada. 

Additional to the players’ eligible by World ranking, each of the four member national associations is eligible to nominate two players; should all places not be taken or cancellations occur, the next highest listed player or players on the World rankings will be invited.

Maxim Blog

"We all know who the pingpong player on our team is, and that's (Matt) Kuchar," said Steve Stricker, who is making his third consecutive Ryder Cup appearance.

Word from the team is that Mr. Kuchar, who humbly acknowledges that he's best player on the team, has the edge on Phil Mickelson at the table and beat him in five straight points before Mr. Mickelson apparently quit.

Mr. Mickelson "says that's not a full match, so he's waiting until Sunday," reports Mr. Watson, who also confirmed that both players arrived with their own paddles in cases...

Full article at The Crain's Chicago Business

Full article at Orthodox Union Blogs

He was 73 year old.

Deciding who was the greatest table tennis player ever is an intriguing endeavour. It is the same if trying to determine the name of the greatest ever Chinese sporting personality or even the most-shrewd diplomat who changed the course of history.

It is very much in the latter that he played a major role in enhancing understanding between the east and west, it is his legacy.

Zhuang Zedong saw people as people, sportsmen as sportsmen, table tennis players as table tennis players; they belonged to the same family and he saw sport as a means of promoting harmony and understanding.

In many ways his gestures were a forerunner of the ideals promoted by Killerspin; create competition in the table tennis arena by inviting the Americans to play in China, create understanding and friendship outside.

Equally, show the American people, the athleticism of table tennis; his method was to stage matches between the United States and China; Killerspin’s was to organise the likes of the Chicago International Table Tennis Festival.

Different events, same concept and the same ideals; sport and understanding combine to equal friendship. 

Zhuang Zedong was of a generation that had been taught capitalism, promoted in the west, was totally alien to communist beliefs propagated in China; basically such ideals were the enemy of his country’s thinking.

However at the 1971 World Championships, Zhang Zedong presented a gift of a painting of the Huangshang Mountains to Glen Cowan, a member of the American team who for whatever reason had found himself on the Chinese bus returning from the venue.

Zhuang Zedong ignored the pressure from his team mates not to befriend Americans; the act led to a thaw in relations between the United States and China.

An American delegation was immediately invited to the People’s Republic of China, the initiative was applauded by Chairman Mao Zedong; “Ping Pong Dimplomacy” was born.

"Although the US government is unfriendly to China, the American people are friends of the Chinese, I give you this to mark the friendship from Chinese people to the American people”, are reportedly the words of Zhuang Zedong when giving the present to Glenn Cowan.

The event caught the attention of the Chinese leader Mao Zedong, who swiftly offered an invitation to the Americans. 

"Zhuang Zedong not only knows good ping pong, he knows good diplomacy too," were Mao's Zedong’s understood remarks.

In 1972, Richard Nixon, the President of the United States, visited China.

The effect of Zhuang Zedong’s actions were everlasting and quite remarkable; even more remarkable was the levels he achieved in sport, especially when infant days are considered.

Born in Beijing on Sunday 25^th August 1940, he suffered from ill health when young; in fact he had to use crutches to aid walking.

He followed the principles of the martial art, Wu Shiu, gradually the young boy’s body became stronger and guided by his father, a physician and a sportsman; he was encouraged to play basketball and football.

However, Zhuang Zedong had other ideas; he chose table tennis.

At the age of 13, he joined the Youth Sports School at the Children’s Cultural Centre in Beijing; at the time a recently opened venue with 100 table tennis tables.

In 1957 he made his debut for the Chinese National Team in a contest against Hungary; he made an immediate impact. He beat Elemer Gyetvai, at the time one of Europe’s leading players.

Later, in 1959, reached the Men’s Singles final at the Hungarian Open, losing in a five games to the host nation’s Zoltan Berczik; soon after at the Scandinavian Open he dominated proceedings, departing with three gold medals.

In 1961 he added to his trophy collection by winning the Men’s Singles title at the Chinese National Championships.

He beat Li Furong in the final.

The win meant selection for the Chinese National Team at the 1961 World Championships staged in his home city of Beijing, the first time China had ever staged the event.

He won the Men’s Singles title and retained the crown in 1963 in Prague and in 1965 in Ljubljana; on each occasion beating Li Furong in the final.

Sadly for Zhuang Zedong, owing to the Cultural Revolution, China did not participate in the 1967 World Championships in Stockholm.

It is one of the great unanswered questions of sport, in the modern era when the World Championships are held on a biennial basis, could he have become the only player to have won the Men’s Singles title on four consecutive occasions?

Overall, he played in four World Championships; in 1971 when political problems had subsided somewhat, he competed in Nagoya but was not the force of a decade earlier.

However, in all four World Championships, he was a member of the gold medal winning Chinese Men’s Team and in 1965 had won the Men’s Doubles crown with Xu Xinsheng. Four World Championships, eight titles, it is a record to stand the test of time.

Twice married Zhuang Zedong was later jailed after Mao Zedong’s death; after the fall of the Gang of Four in 1976 he was released and progressed to coach table tennis in the provinces.

In the history books of the world, for more than one reason, Zhuang Zedong has a special place.

Undoubtedly, in the past 50 years the most successful nation in the world in the sport of table tennis has been China.

Accepted in the early 1990s European men ascended to the heights but overall no country can match the achievements of China in modern times, an aura of invincibly surrounds that country’s name when table tennis is mentioned.

Was it not Zhuang Zedong, in particular, who started that sensation by winning in Beijing in 1961?

Prior to Zhuang Zedong, the country had only ever spawned one World champion. Rong Guotan had won in Dortmund two years earlier in 1959.

In 1961 at the World Championships in Beijing, Rong Guotan was sensationally beaten by the 16 year old Brazilian Ubiraci Rodrigues de Costa, better known as “Biriba”. Zhuang Zedong restored Chinese pride by winning the Men’s Singles title and by retaining the title at the next two World Championships.

The aura of invincibility had emerged. It remains to this day. 

A special player, a special man, a true legend. a man who understood the deep value of sport; the contribution to table tennis immense; he is sadly missed.

In the very exciting back and forth semi-finals at 2 games all, she trailed 2-5 in the pivotal fifth game, when her coach and international star Biba Golic called a very timely time out.She seemed to calm Estee and got her focus back, as she then won the game 11-7 and match 3-2. However in the finals she lost 3-1 to Benjamin Lam of CA. In the under 1600 rating event she advanced to the round of 16, when she had a “Shabbos over Sports” moment, as the next match was to take place friday night.Instead of playing, she had to withdraw from the event as tournament officials would not reschedule it for after shabbos.....

Full article at The Jewish Star Blogs

Whatever your views, there will be moments that stand out in the memory; one of those special moments was enacted in the late evening of Sunday 29^th July in the ExCeL Exhibition Centre, a building so long that there is a railway station at each end! You can walk but why not let the train take the strain?

Strain, that was the contortion seen on the face of China’s Li Xiaoxia on that memorable Sunday evening, as she faced Ariel Hsing from the United States; it was her first match of the tournament and clearly she was nervous. The OIympic Games in the eyes of the Chinese populace stands above all other episodes of life; it is the pinnacle.

Conversely, it was the third match in the Women’s Singles event for Ariel Hsing, she had reached her goal, she was under no pressure. In her opening contest she had proved too fast for Mexico’s Cuban born Yadira Silva; in her second duel she had proved patient in her play against the vastly experienced 49 year old Ni Xialian of Luxembourg.

Right handed, pen-hold grip, long pimples on one side of the racket, reversed rubber on the other; it was not a style which Ariel Hsing had ever previously confronted. Nevertheless, Ariel Hsing adjusted, she recorded a six games win.

Next in line came Li Xiaoxia, surely Ariel Hsing would be overwhelmed; in the first game that was the situation but in the second game she responded, levelled matters and after losing the third game, levelled again in the fourth.

Alas, for the United States there was to be no sensation, Li Xiaoxia won the next two games and secured a six games victory but it was the most severe test she experienced in the whole tournament. No other player extracted more than one game from the champion elect.

The superb technique of Li Xiaoxia stood firm; a quality which is evident in all leading Chinese players. They are very complete, able to confront any style with equal dexterity.

Perhaps there are still some gaps to the filled in the armoury of Ariel Hsing.

Eight weeks after her exertions in London, Ariel Hsing won the Intercontinental Cup at the Volkswagen Women’s World Cup in Hangzhou beating New Zealand’s Li Chunli, Brazil’s Caroline Kumahara and Nigeria’s Offiong Edem.

All are players with different styles; Li Chunli is the fast attacking pen-holder employing short pimpled rubber, Caroline Kumahara is similar to Ariel Hsing, a fast attacking player. Offiong Edem is true to Nigerian traditions, a powerful top spin exponent.

Against all three, Ariel Hsing adapted and duly progressed to the main event where she extended Li Jiao of the Netherlands to six games before finding China’s Liu Shiwen too complete and Viktoria Pavlovich of Belarus too difficult. She was beaten by both in four straight games.

In opposition to Li Jiao, a left handed pen-holder, Ariel Hsing looked comfortable as she did against Liu Shiwen; against Viktoria Pavlovich she looked distinctly uncomfortable and without doubt against defensive players she is unsure.

It is the one piece in the jigsaw that is required to complete the full picture; the ability to play against backspin artistes, to beat defensive players is then next step.

Outgoing, Ariel Hsing with her bright smile is a massive asset to table tennis; like Ding Ning she has an outgoing personality but she has a big advantage over the delightful Ding Ning. She speaks English and in table tennis we desperately need the best players to speak the accepted international language.

The task for Ariel Hsing is to be able to combat defensive players; when that happens the complete player lives in the United States of America, a very complete player in every respect.

Born Igor Kozuta in the city of Khabarovsk in Russia, only 19 years old, he absorbs facts and figures on table tennis like a sponge; he was one of the competitors in the Mike Dempsey Memorial Tournament staged in San Diego from Thursday 29th November to Saturday 1st December 2012.

It was his first official Para Table Tennis tournament and he was classified to compete in Class 6; he was present thanks to the support afforded by Killerspin, a fact he was quick to acknowledge and greatly appreciated.

Prior to the tournament he took part in the four day Training Camp led by Sweden’s Stellan Bengtsson, the winner of the Men’s Singles title at the 1971 World Championships in Nagoya. He revelled in every split second.

Igor Botkin suffers from Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency which affects the pelvis and femur; during pregnancy his mother was taking medicine; he has no femur and stands 140 centimetres tall (4 feet 7 inches).

Most of his life in Russia he spent in orphanages, travelling by train from Vladivostok to Moscow; it took three weeks!

Eventually he arrived in Nizhny Lomov, where he attended an orphanage before, organised by the Texas based group Guardian Angels, he moved to Rockford in Illinois in the United States. He was 13 years old at the time; soon after he transferred to Greenville in South Carolina, where he underwent surgery; his left leg was amputated at the ankle to help him walk better, he has a prosthesis.

Later he moved to Anderson in California where he was adopted. There were some difficulties and with his visa expiring, a return to Russia was imminent. However, a family in Chicago came to his help and with his new foster parents he has been able to stay in the United States.

It was in Chicago that he came in contact with Killerspin; it is a meeting that has changed the life of a young man who first discovered table tennis in a Russian orphanage in Nizhny Lomov when seven years old. He found a table tennis ball on the floor, it was cracked; he picked up a book and started to hit the ball with the book.

Now just over 11 years later he speaks fluent English, with a rich American accent; you would never know he hails from the far east of Russia. It took him some five or six months to learn English and in addition to his native Russian he can also speak Ukrainian and some Chinese.

Some Chinese; he can speak well enough to be able to have had a conversation with one of the World’s great players of the modern era; at the Killerspin Tournament in Chicago in September 2012, he was able to hold a conversation with Wang Liqin.

It was for Igor Botkin a special moment; it was made possible thanks to the support of his sponsor, a special sponsor; Killerspin take a bow.

Prior to his win in the Mediterranean coastal city, his best ever Tour performance had been a Men’s Singles semi-final defeat at the hands of Japan’s Kazuhiro Chan in August 2012 in Chile. Winning in Almeria meant he became the first ever Brazilian, the first ever South American and the first ever Latin American to achieve the feat.

In fact he is only the second player from the whole of the Pan American continent to reserve the top step of the medal podium in a Men’s Singles event at an ITTF World Tour tournament and there has been a wait of over 15 years since it last happened.

At the Polish Open in Gdansk in 1997, Canada’s Johnny Huang won the Men’s Singles title beating Kim Taek Soo in the final.

Accepted, the ITTF 2013 World Tour Spanish Open was a Challenge Series tournament; the first step on the three tier ladder with Major Series and then Super Series being the next in ascending order. The super powers were not present but a title is a title; for Cazuo Matsumoto and for Brazil it is a boost. It is a motivating factor, win an international title and a potential sponsor may just prick his ears.

Furthermore, Cazuo Matsumoto survived some very nervous moments to secure gold; in the final he recorded a five games victory over Frenchman, Christophe Legout but at the quarter-final stage against Portugal’s André Silva and in the penultimate round in opposition to Spain’s Marc Duran, he had to recover from the precipice of defeat.

In fact in both the Men’s and Women’s Singles events, there was a plethora of close matches, in a Challenge Series tournament that provided three major openings.

It gave junior players the chance to pit their skills against more experienced adversaries, it gave some a chance to resurrect careers having spent recent years as first reserves for the national team and it gave some a chance for glory, a chance to win a few dollars.

Now, in the United States of America and in Latin America there is a growing number of impressive young players; in the latter notably from Brazil and Puerto Rico.

Is not the Challenge Series the ideal opportunity for those players to pit their skills; experience the ambiance of international competition and face players of different styles?

Possibly it is one reason why Cazuo Matsumoto won in Almeria; he is totally different prom the players of the modern era. In fact, he is a throw-back in time; left handed, pen-hold grip, using one side of the racket only, it is not a technique propounded by modern day coaches. How many young Americans have ever confronted that style of play?

Yet I look at the calendar of the International Table Tennis Federation for 2013; all I see in the whole of Pan America are two Challenge Series tournaments; one in the United States in July, one in Brazil in August.

If the whole of Pan America is to move forward, international play is paramount; accepted South America is not blessed with the rail network of fast motorway links of Europe but surely for 2014 could more countries stage Challenge Series tournaments in the continent?

It would surely benefit a whole host of players; whether those in the tender years or those in the more mature age range.

Now it is time to plan for 2014.

Television cameras are here there and everywhere; once upon a time, in the dark ages, there was no instant replay, no wise pundit to analyse every move, no dissection of every breath or blink of the eyelid. Now you can watch sport in the cinema, the television screen, the laptop, the tablet, the telephone and no doubt soon the wristwatch or thumbnail will provide the same facility.

Surely the effect is that the life of a sporting personality should be shorter as time progresses? The pressures inflicted by the media are that much greater. Not only is performance in the sporting arena analysed to the greatest degree but intrusive journalists are always keen to unravel aspects of private life.

Equally, in general sport has become faster; sometimes that is difficult to measure but the records broken at London 2012 Olympic Games suggest that to be fact. The strains on the body are that much greater; for how long can the human body take such pummelling before it surrenders?

Presumably the scenario applies to table tennis; over the years the sport has become faster, more athletic, more physically demanding; yet the theory would seem not apply. Table tennis players are lasting longer! Men and women of character!

Consider the entry list for the Spanish Open which commences on Thursday 17^th January, a Euro-Africa Series tournament and the first on the ITTF 2013 World Tour.

The host nation’s He Zhiwen, the top seed, is 50 years old; whilst Belgium’s Jean-Michel Saive, the no.2 seed, is 43 years old. History could be made in Spain with the first ever veteran age group player winning an ITTF World Tour (formerly ITTF Pro Tour) Men’s Singles title, as the concept enters its 18^th year.

Also, you can add to the list, Christophe Legout of France, next August he celebrates his 40^th birthday; that means in 2013 he is eligible for veteran events! In Spain he is the sixth seed.

Fast forward one week to the Austrian Open, the first ITTF Major Series tournament of the year and three notable 40 year olds appear in the Men’s Singles seeding: the host country’s Chen Weixing and Werner Schlager plus Kalinikos Kreanga of Greece. Once promising juniors, they are now venerable veterans.

Furthermore, the phenomenon does not apply only to Europe; it also applies to China. In the past, 30 years of age has been very much the retirement milestone for male players from the world’s super power of table tennis.

Note the entry for the Austrian Open, Ma Lin is the fifth seed in the Men’s Singles event; Wang Liqin is three places below in eighth spot. Ma Lin is now 32 years of age, Wang Liqin is two years older; by European sporting standards that may not be considered old; by the rigours of Chinese sport, it is pensionable.

Equally for the women; now in their thirties Spain’s Shen Yanfei and Viktoria Pavlovich of Belarus are playing better than ever! They are improving faster than those a decade younger!

Sport may have moved forward in terms of pressure but as prize money grows, a quarter-final place can still be rewarded with a valuable cheque and as fitness levels grows, so does medical care.

Doctors, physiotherapists, sports psychologists and masseurs are now integral parts of sport, table tennis is no exception; thus despite the pressures of the media, the exertions on the body, top sporting stars may now enjoy longer careers at high level.

Care levels have improved; longer sporting career may well become the norm, table tennis player will last longer.

As CBS 2’s Vanessa Murdock reported, Estee, a sixth grader, is the biggest little thing in the world of table tennis.

“When you get good, it’s cool,” the 11-year-old said.

And “good” may be an understatement. She is ranked fourth in the nation in her age bracket...

Full article at CBS Blogs

“I advanced in my round robin and then we looked at my schedule and saw the next match would be during Friday night, which is our Sabbath, so of course I’m disappointed,” Estee told The Post...

Full article at NYPost Blogs

Full article at TeamUSA.org

If a global ranking list was produced of aficionados, very high on that list would be Igor Botkin; table tennis is his life...

Full article at ITTF.com

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But he seems to have found his true niche in, of all things, table tennis.

In 2002, Blackwell founded a company called Killerspin, based in Chicago...

Full article at Forbes Blogs

Full article at Forbes Blogs