News & views

The perils of coaching, losing a league title and Chinese obsessions – reflections on table tennis in 2015

by

Without doubt, this has been my busiest table tennis year. I’ve coached more hours than ever before, played in two different leagues and written 40 articles for my website. I even found time for a trip to Vienna to learn from one of the world’s top coaches. With so much going on, I thought I’d share some of things I’ve been up to, including a farcical coaching accident, losing a league title and becoming slightly obsessed with Chinese table tennis players. Keep reading

Anton Kallberg – future world champion?

by

There is plenty of excitement at the moment about 18-year-old Swedish player Anton Kallberg. He has had a rapid rise up the international rankings in the past year and once again confirmed his potential with an impressive run of results at the 2015 Swedish Open. I have to confess, I’m excited too. It’s very early days, of course. There have been plenty of 18-year-olds who have shown potential, but never made an impression on the world’s top 50, let alone the world’s top 5. But I think Kallberg is different and has the potential to reach the very top. Read my blog post to find out why… Keep reading

Table tennis needs Grand Slams

by

One of the things I find frustrating about table tennis is its lack of media exposure. In the UK, the only time that table tennis gets any decent national media exposure is during the Olympics. But once the Olympics are over, table tennis disappears and is forgotten about for another four years. What we need is for table tennis to be in the media spotlight more often. One way to do this would be to introduce Grand Slam tournaments, similar to tennis. Keep reading

The sport where young and old battle for glory

by

Over the past three months we have seen some extraordinary performances by both young and not-so-young players in the world of table tennis. In February 2015, 11-year-old Tomokazu Harimoto got to the final of the Safir Open in Sweden, beating two of the world’s top 100 players on the way. Even more recently, 14-year-old Mima … Keep reading

Pitchford and Drinkhall rivalry great for English table tennis

by

What sporting drama! At the recent 2015 English Table Tennis Championships, Liam Pitchford staged a remarkable comeback to claim his third consecutive men’s singles title. Pitchford was trailing top seed Paul Drinkhall 3-0 and defeat was looking inevitable. But he dug deep, saved two Champinship points in 5th set, before finally securing 4-3 victory. This was … Keep reading

New table tennis blog

by

Welcome to my new table tennis blog! The purpose of this blog is to share my table tennis knowledge with you. I’ve been playing for many years and coaching other players since 2008. I’ve learnt a lot about table tennis during this time – how to stand, how to move, how to train, how to … Keep reading