world-table-tennis

Classic and modern era table tennis - images of the greatest sport on earth. Table tennis is art, science, and sport, in that order. The header image is of Jan-Ove Waldner in his prime; the king.

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Jan-Ove Waldner mid-90’s - Donic advertisement

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Mikael Appelgren - Sweden

1983 World Championships

Appelgren borrowed the dynamic topspin style of the world champion Hungarians from the late 1970’s, and beautified it on top of its function and form.

He stood as a prototype for further stylistic advancements through the 90’s and beyond, in terms of the graceful topspin style that became the dominant style of play in the game.

One of my top 3 favorite players of all time most likely…

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Another clip from the same tournament as the last post, the 1992 European Championships…

This one is England vs Sweden in the teams event; Alan Cooke and Carl Prean on team England, and Jan-Ove Waldner and Mikael Appelgren on team Sweden.

Beautiful game this was and a great example of what the sport used to be 25+ years ago at the elite level. Legends.

Enjoy!

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Zoran Primorac vs Jörg Rosskopf, EC tabletennis SF 1992

Having just posted some pics of these two European masters, I thought I would post an actual match of when they were in their prime, going head to head. 

This match is the semi-finals of the 1992 European Championships, giving a taste of what the game used to look like at peak level

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Jörg Roßkopf - Germany

Jörg is the long time head coach of Team Germany’s national table tennis team, but was once a top 10 world class player himself. 1988 World Doubles Champion along with doubles partner Stefan “speedy” Fetzner…

He was one of my favorite players to watch back in the 90’s for entertainment value, but not to emulate. He had a phenomenal (really phenomenal) backhand loop/drive which was mesmerizing to watch. Watching Jörg utilize it repeatedly was the first time I realized in my young table tennis playing life that a backhand can itself be a point-ending and devastating weapon.

And why not try to emulate this master? Likely because I was just forming in my table tennis playing journey and Jörg played a really powerful game with optimal mechanics and timing on the ball. Just not ready for it… (could I ever be ready???). The allround game of the Swedes suited me more at the time… push, loop, block… a seemingly simple approach for a beginner.

World class.

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Zoran Primorac - Croatia

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Liu Gouliang - China

Liu was Olympic gold medalist in the 1996 Olympics and World Champion in 1999. Long time coach for the Chinese national team and head of the CNTTA for some time. Today, he’s an executive within the WTT organization.

Liu played the classic Chinese style of short pips rubber, attacking and blocking at the table, and was one of the first penholders to utilize a reverse penhold backhand. Extremely fast, effective, to the point; taking the initiative early whenever possible…

Blade of choice: Stiga Clipper, as seen in this photo. One of the best blades in the world, and holds its own today in a world where composite blade construction has gone mainstream. And, if I were to choose to play with something a little slower with more control than a carbon blade, this would be it.

A 7-ply wood with soft feel, excellent touch, capable of producing tons of spin with the soft limba outer ply, significant power generation when engaging the ayous inner core of the blade… as used by many champions.

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Jörgen Persson - Sweden

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Jan-Ove Waldner - Sweden

1992 Olympics

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Repost - I love this technique

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Mikael Appelgren - Sweden

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Jan-Ove Waldner fishing against Ma Lin in what appears to be an early 2000’s match. Might be interesting to note that both Ma Lin and Waldner were two of the best blockers the world has known; both quite precise and with a deft touch.

Overall they had different styles however, Ma Lin was squarely from the hard-hitting Chinese camp, and Waldner embodied the Euro allround game which had seemed to rule the world from say 1990-2005.

Subsequently the 40mm ball change, speed glue ban, and rise of Butterfly’s Tenergy rubber brought a slow ending to the European allround style, despite its beauty, form, and function.

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One more clip of Wang Chuqin, hitting a phenomenal backhand (read: out of this world) at the end of this clip. So creative and so much feeling…

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Here’s another training session for Wang Chuqin, in honor of his 2025 World Championships win.

For the uninitiated, this is what modern table tennis looks like at peak levels in 2025, and Wang Chuqin, as well as the rest of the Chinese national team are playing at top level and taking the game to new heights.

And, here’s to my not posting another picture of a Swedish player from 1985! 🤓 (for now)

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Wang Chuqin recently won the World Championships for 2025 and I thought it might be worth posting a video clip or two on some of his training sessions…

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