Daniel Habesohn created a reaction to be remembered, not just in the Bercy Arena, Paris, but around the world on the internet. How? Well he performed an amazing shot behind his back, against the Chinese and at the World Table Tennis Championships no less! Well I thought it would be a great idea to ask the question we all wanted to know, what was the moment like? I put the question to the man himself, did he plan the shot? How did it feel to pull it off? How did Ma Lin and Hao Shuai react?
Daniel Habesohn hits shot of the WTTC 2013
Image courtesy of ITTF
'I also want to know the thoughts of Ma Lin! :) I started moving across for my forehand and then it was already too late for me to have a chance to play a backhand, so I had chosen the behind the back shot because it was my only chance to hit the ball. And I did! :) So it was kind of a reflex. Sure it felt good because I saw the ball is on the table. Not just that, I hit it really good and the ball was fast and very long to the line so it was difficult for Hao Shuai to get the ball. The reaction of the spectators was great!' - Daniel Habesohn, Austria.
And of course here is the video of the amazing shot below!
I am lucky enough to be able to present to you some statistics collated by a good friend of mine Matt Solt a.k.a TTGuru. Matt works endlessly over the tournament to database the result of every match so he can organise these statistics, it is not easy work!
LONGEST and SHORTEST MATCH
The match with the highest total points was in the Men's Singles Round of 64:
Cho Eon Rae (KOR) beat Taku Takakiwa (JAP) 10-12, 13-11, 19-21, 6-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8. (156 points).
The matches with the lowest total points were in the Women's Singles Group Stage:
Most Common Game Score: 11-7 (916 occurances, 13.79% of all games) Highest Games Score: 21-19 (Cho vs. Takakiwa 3rd game & Zhu vs. Jiang 6th game) Number of Donuts (11-0): 16
Number of Walkovers: 88 Number of Disqualifications: 1 Number of Injury WDs: 1
Adrian Crisan has fallen short of his goals at this year's WTTC where he hoped to reach the last 32 and take on Zhang Jike. Instead he was beaten by a determined Omar Assar, the Egyptian star who trains full time at the Falkenberg club in Sweden. See my highlights of the match below, a full 7 set duel!
Success for Simon Gauzy but it almost wasn't good news for Adrien Mattenet, the face which has been promoted on behalf of the host for the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships - France. As he entered his match against Italy's Niagol Stoyanov he certainly didn't seem all there to begin with. The passion and energy which captivated the crowd at the World Cup in Paris in 2011 just wasn't apparent as Stoyanov took the early lead.
Mattenet fights for the Win
Errors were high on both sides and although Mattenet came back to take the next 2 sets by comfortable margins, he still didn't appear to have the fight in him just yet, the fluency of strokes which had helped him beat the world's best on occasion weren't flowing so greatly. For that reason Stoyanov led out on the offensive, easily winning the next 2 sets.
Frustration set in as Mattenet fell under the pressure of an expecting crowd who had all come to see their number 1 player perform in his first match. Right now Mattenet was looking like losing was a very real possibility. Trailing 3-2 is not a great place to be in your first match but it sparked exactly the fighting spirit that Mattenet needed. Positive body language came back, confident strokes, there was a shift in momentum as Mattenet came surging back into the game. Niagol Stoyanov had nowhere to hide.
The shift of power in this match was exceptional, each set was won with comfort including the last 2 which shifted in favour of Mattenet. As his passion rose and he psyched himself up, the points started falling in his favour, the important shots started going on and as he lifted himself up, the crowd of enthusiastic supporters swept him off his feet and carried him through to victory.
Gauzy wins over Seo Hyun Deok
Simon Gauzy's match was a battle of creativity, fantastic shots and great rallies. Gauzy asserted himself 4-1 over Korea's Seo Hyun Deok, arguably one of the world's better players previously being top 30 in the ITTF World Rankings. This is a great win and shows the progress of Gauzy who last month won the French National Championships. His fluent attacking style on both wings and ability close and far from the table will be a great asset to him in this event, proven so already.
Again the Bercy Arena fired up for their host player, the excitement was electrifying. Taking the first 2 sets it was just a short disruption, one set falling the way of Seo before Gauzy finished the job. The last 2 sets were incredibly close and could have gone either way, but Gauzy executed with a high level of commitment and risks paid off to award him the match.
I was fortunate enough to acquire some Tenzone Ultra from Adidas Table Tennis New Zealand, after having tried the P5, P7, Tenzone and Tenzone SF, I was eager to see what the so-labelled 'Top Secret' rubber was like.
Adidas Top Secret - Tenzone Ultra
Essentially the Tenzone Ultra is a firmer version of Tenzone regular. Not being a huge fan of harder rubber varieties it was difficult for me to review. If I had to make a comparison I would say it lies somewhere between a Tenergy 05 and a Hurricane III rubber. It definitely has a set-list of strengths and weaknesses.
The Tenzone Ultra is a third ball rubber I felt, it's great for making a snappy and fast paced third ball opening attack and can be used to hit some thundering attacking balls. It has a very crisp sound to it, much like a flat ball shot. It is not as fast as the Tenzone and Tenzone SF in the sense that those rubbers give a lot of rubber and sponge reactiveness. The Tenzone Ultra doesn't have the same spring in it as the other two rubbers.
I found Tenzone Ultra was very good for service and backspin play. A good firm long push was very spinny and it was also great for short play. Blocking was adequate though being used to a soft rubber I did find it a bit difficult at times as it didn't have the spring that I am used to.
I think really the strength of Tenzone Ultra lies in good service and receive and a strong 3rd ball attack. It is a nice rubber to use and I think a lot of players with an attacking game would appreciate it, especially those used to firmer rubber varieties.
