@vanreyes Truls always wins when these two face each other. Anton got close in the European Championships but Truls took it. In Swedish championship final Anton had no chance at all.
It could change but likely Truls takes it. And then Lin Shidong makes it to the final right? He is likely world nr 1 right now and has been for a while. WCQ will drop a lot when his ranking points from the wins expire.
Lin Yun-Ju performance has been declining lately. If that wasn't the case, I will pick him against Lin Shidong.
Who's the #3 table tennis player in Sweden right now? Kristian Karlsson?
Mattias Falck is 3rd. But it really depends on which day they have. Kristian Karlsson was qualified to the olympics via Mixed Double so he was qualified before Anton Källberg.
Both Kristian and Mattias are getting a bit old and we don't have that many players in the age 18-22 on high level. We do have a huge boom among the kids so hopefully we can start to follow some players in the Youth competitions that can team up with Truls and Anton in a few years - and later on play against players from the Philippines in WTT! 🙂
The world is excited to see the next generation of Swedish national table tennis players. What's amazing about your country is that even with a very small sample size of active players, you guys are able to produce the best table tennis players.
Truls is still very young and I don't think he has reached peak yet. With Germany currently in the decline, it's reassuring to see another European countries (France & Sweden) challenge Chinese dominance.
The world is excited to see the next generation of Swedish national table tennis players. What's amazing about your country is that even with a very small sample size of active players, you guys are able to produce the best table tennis players.
Truls is still very young and I don't think he has reached peak yet. With Germany currently in the decline, it's reassuring to see another European countries (France & Sweden) challenge Chinese dominance.
Hopefully Sweden can continue to improve on womens side, we have a few one there up and coming.
Denmark is also looking good, Anders Lind and Jonathan Groth have already picked up the axe from Micheal Maze and there are a couple young danes coming up. Distance between Sweden and Denmark is really close (there is a bridge between Swednes 3rd largest city and the capital of Denmark) so young players can compete and learn from each other.
Germany is still the power house of European table tennis with the Bundesleague. Swedish Pingisligan is also good and now with the Truls fewer post Olympics the Swedish company STIGA sponsoring Truls will invest more in sponsorships also on club level. I believe STIGA will go public (listed on stock market) and that will likely also mean a bit better financial situation for some players given the current situation.
I just hope we will be able to continue to follow WTT free on Youtube. With the current fewer it might be bought out?
I think and hope the sport will continue to grow. I loved to see Hanna Gouda the young Egyptian sponsored by Red Bull(!) cry after a win in Montpellier. We need more of those characters and fewer short haired Chinese women. I mean they are the best, they deserve everything they have but for the sport we need more profiles such as Adriana Diaz, Hanna Gouda and so on.
Sorry for ranting again..
Lin Shidong vs Anton.. who could see that one coming. And Antons only chance to get to the final is to win tomorrow. I think he has 1705 points now with the final spot - he needs 1750.. cruel.
A clear victory for Lin. Anton took a set and had chances to disturb Lin but not much more than that.
Anton played intentionally lots of Backhand duels vs Truls since he knew he would have the upper hand there. Lin has the shortest backhand movement in the world and can strike superfast backhands. Anton tried to come up with variations but Lin found countermeasures.
Incredibly performance lateley from such a young player. He looks so mature and has a 'I don't care' aura that must be terrifying to be up against.
A clear victory for Lin. Anton took a set and had chances to disturb Lin but not much more than that.
Anton played intentionally lots of Backhand duels vs Truls since he knew he would have the upper hand there. Lin has the shortest backhand movement in the world and can strike superfast backhands. Anton tried to come up with variations but Lin found countermeasures.
Incredibly performance lateley from such a young player. He looks so mature and has a 'I don't care' aura that must be terrifying to be up against.
What's crazy about Lin Shidong's backhand is that even when they do a slow-motion replay of his backhand powershots, it still looks incredibly fast.
He's inches closer to Wang Chuqin in the ITTF rankings. If Lin Shidong wins WTT Finals Fukuoka 2024 which is 2 weeks from now, he's going to be World #1 at only 19 years old. 😱
The world is excited to see the next generation of Swedish national table tennis players. What's amazing about your country is that even with a very small sample size of active players, you guys are able to produce the best table tennis players.
Truls is still very young and I don't think he has reached peak yet. With Germany currently in the decline, it's reassuring to see another European countries (France & Sweden) challenge Chinese dominance.
Hopefully Sweden can continue to improve on womens side, we have a few one there up and coming.
Denmark is also looking good, Anders Lind and Jonathan Groth have already picked up the axe from Micheal Maze and there are a couple young danes coming up. Distance between Sweden and Denmark is really close (there is a bridge between Swednes 3rd largest city and the capital of Denmark) so young players can compete and learn from each other.
Germany is still the power house of European table tennis with the Bundesleague. Swedish Pingisligan is also good and now with the Truls fewer post Olympics the Swedish company STIGA sponsoring Truls will invest more in sponsorships also on club level. I believe STIGA will go public (listed on stock market) and that will likely also mean a bit better financial situation for some players given the current situation.
I just hope we will be able to continue to follow WTT free on Youtube. With the current fewer it might be bought out?
I think and hope the sport will continue to grow. I loved to see Hanna Gouda the young Egyptian sponsored by Red Bull(!) cry after a win in Montpellier. We need more of those characters and fewer short haired Chinese women. I mean they are the best, they deserve everything they have but for the sport we need more profiles such as Adriana Diaz, Hanna Gouda and so on.
Sorry for ranting again..
Lin Shidong vs Anton.. who could see that one coming. And Antons only chance to get to the final is to win tomorrow. I think he has 1705 points now with the final spot - he needs 1750.. cruel.
WTT has been recently uploading full WTT matches on YouTube which is I think good for the sports. However, live matches for WTT Champions and Grand Smash(the upper rounds) can only be watched via a paid service. But I understand ITTF also needs to make money.
The thing with Germany is that their top 3 players (Dima, Duda, Fraziska) are already in their 30s. I dont follow their youngsters but I hope somebody will follow their foosteps.
