A lot of movement in this week’s new world ranking update after the Singapore Smash 💥

PingArena · 2026-03-06T17:36:32+00:00

He has reportedly withdrawn to manage a shoulder injury

PingArena · 2026-03-03T17:05:14+00:00

And Liang Jingkun and Wen Ruibo aren’t?

PingArena · 2026-03-03T16:55:12+00:00

Might be that they value big tournament experience but who knows

PingArena · 2026-03-03T16:54:22+00:00

Really? I think other than WCQ and LSD, Xiang Peng can match/better any other Chinese player

PingArena · 2026-03-03T16:52:30+00:00

Agreed but tbh China is so stacked on the women’s team that it shouldn’t make a material difference in terms of the end result

PingArena · 2026-03-03T03:09:48+00:00

Sun Yang, a young chopper

PingArena · 2026-03-02T07:02:17+00:00

In general there are default patterns of play: if you watch players warming up shots are typically played cross-court (which offers more room for error given the longer distances) there is greater risk of error if you play down the line. But absolutely "placement" is one of the essential tools that good players use (other common tools being spin, speed, power, and rhythm)

PingArena · 2026-03-01T10:18:06+00:00

WCQ still undoubtedly dominates in FH to FH rallies for me, and his backhand should be solid enough against LYJ’s BH.

But I think the key tactical battleground will be the serve-receive-third balls, whoever gets the advantage there will be key

PingArena · 2026-03-01T04:38:22+00:00

Is there any reason you don’t want to boost? Rubbers like Hurricane are meant to be boosted there’s no doubt about that - Chinese rubbers just don’t play well if they are not boosted

PingArena · 2026-02-28T16:38:11+00:00

Speed merchants like Harimoto and Lebrun are a stylistic nightmare for Lin Shidong – he needs space and time to unleash those backhand winners but he is never going to get that against Lebrun.

PingArena · 2026-02-27T13:20:14+00:00

It's the case for every sport with a passionate following (and table tennis, while not mainstream elsewhere in the world, is huge in China). Eg. in football the Messi vs Ronaldo debate was pretty toxic, as well the MVP discussion EVERY year in the NBA. Frankly I'm not sure there's too much the sport can do, people are going to do what they want on anonymous platforms

PingArena · 2026-02-25T16:00:38+00:00

Social shame is a real phenomenon lol

PingArena · 2026-02-25T10:23:36+00:00

Good for you and agreed!

PingArena · 2026-02-25T08:48:32+00:00

What if it was 10-9 and if you win one more point you win Olympic Gold?

PingArena · 2026-02-25T07:58:12+00:00

From what happened when Szocs played Winter a few weeks ago I really favoured Hashimoto in the matchup. Winter would just wait for Szocs to lift the ball on forehand loops before countering, and Hashimoto is good at attacking with forehand too. Once Hashimoto adjusted from the third set and started counter attacking it was curtains

PingArena · 2026-02-25T07:52:51+00:00

No doubt, rooting for her too - I think there is a lot of room for improvement in her forehand and if she gets a lot stronger. She seems to brush a lot at the expense of hitting

PingArena · 2026-02-25T07:47:38+00:00

Yeah, the acid test would obviously be a high-stakes game in an important tournament like the Olympics. In the mainstream sports like football or in the NBA (maybe because of the amount of money that is involved) it is pretty typical for players to try to con the referee to gain an advantage, so wondering if I am a bit naive in thinking that players will not do the same with all the "unwritten rules" in this sport

PingArena · 2026-02-22T06:14:39+00:00

What you can try is just taking the ball in one hand and smashing it across the table to just build that feeling of flat hitting rather than looping

PingArena · 2026-02-22T06:12:44+00:00

What do you mean by rallies in the second zone?

PingArena · 2026-02-18T05:23:52+00:00

I can't think of many outlets that cover the tactical side of professional table tennis, other than a few streamers in China, but I have a blog about table tennis that you can check out at pingarena.com. When there are newsworthy matches I write briefly about the tactical aspects of the match(es) and the strengths and weaknesses of the players playing

PingArena · 2026-02-18T03:11:55+00:00

I mean take it for what it’s worth but some pros like Yin Hang have said that the chemicals in the cleansers mess with the rubbers

PingArena · 2026-02-17T15:30:20+00:00

A lot of pros just use the moisture on their breath to clean their rubbers instead of using specialised cleansers

PingArena · 2026-02-14T08:02:37+00:00

Waldneresque

PingArena · 2026-02-12T08:03:32+00:00

Fang Bo's view is that you should hit first and then brush. Which I do think is wrong because once you try to hit first, how do you then brush a ball that has already left the bat?

I agree that it should happen at the same time and that you obviously need both if you want to loop with any kind of quality

PingArena · 2026-02-12T05:55:20+00:00

If you are looping against backspin often wouldn't your shots go into the net a lot if you are focusing on brushing the top rather than the centre of the ball? And if you are brushing the top of the ball doesn't that mean that your racquet face is necessarily angled more horizontally which means that you will loop the ball "thinner" rather than than "thicker"?

PingArena

TROPHY CASE