Zhang Jike With a New Backhand Rubber

I don't know how many of you have already realised that, but the 2013 World Champion Zhang Jike has changed his backhand rubber. As Sun Tzu on TableTennisDaily shows, the rubber Zhang has been using since the WTTC is Tenergy 05-fx, could you notice ?

I had no idea that happened, it seemed like he played his usual table tennis to me. But as we can see, he did not. The Butterfly Tenergy 05 in general, being a hard rubber it best known for it's adaption to a close play. In which case, is perfect for the Chinese player. He always tended to play his backhand close to the table.

He rarely ends up playing a counter topspin with it, mostly flips, simple topspins or stuff like that. He also likes pushing the ball a little bit sometimes wich is perfect with the rubber. What had he been using before the change, you're asking ? I have no idea, tried to find it out on the web, but came up with nothing. If you know or found it, please write in the comments to let us know.

Anyway, his forehand rubber is the Chinese Hurricane 3. Never heard of it actually and never tested it, so I'm not going to say anything about that, not to spread false informations or stuff. And that's actually everything i have for you at the moment, stay well and expect more infos coming soon !

Bercy WTTC Arena in Paris Ready and Looking Gorgeous !

So, I went through my facebook updates in which i've seen amazing pictures of the Bercy Arena in Paris, used for the already started WTTC 2013 ! The tables look amazing, with lights at the bottom of the bat for the first time, and a very modern look overall. The arena isn't worse, with a lot of lights and a lot of cool, innovative things in there ! I just wanted to share with you four pictures showing the basic look. I know I haven't posted anything like this before, but expect a lot of updates, comments and just news from the tournament as soon as the best players are being shown !

ITTF Reveals the Brand New Table for the Upcoming WTTC 2013 in Paris !

For those who "like" the ITTF Facebook page, it's nothing new. But there are people who may not follow them there, and for those here's a picture of the brand new table created for the World Championships held in Paris. I haven't really seen any other pictures rather than this one, but the table here seems a little purple, doesn't it ? Would be amazing If it really was purple though, finally something new. Apart from that, we can see an amazing design on the side of it, showing an Eiffel Tower made out of table tennis rackets, being very colorful too. Can't wait to see this table in action during the big event in Paris, starting this Monday ! 

Timo Boll and Dimitrij Ovtcharov to give up World Team Classic 2013

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The World Team Classic 2013 is going to be a big tournament as always, taking place in the nation of table tennis, China. I know a lot of people would love to see a european team taking the title there or just being in the final, but as both german team's leaders has decided not to play there, the chances of that drastically decreased.

Germany has been a serious rival for all the asian teams lately, taking the final a couple of times and beating the best players from that continent. But without these two players, they cannot do much, having Bastian Steger, Patrick Baum and Patrick Franziska representing the country instead. Now, these players are good, they've won different tournaments all over the world, but it's clearly not enough to beat teams like China, Japan or Korea.

The first one, China, will be filled with Zhang Jike, Ma Long, Xu Xin, Ma Lin and Wang Liqin, as you can see all the best players. In short terms, as there's no other country in the world except for Germany, which would have a chance to defeat China or any asian team in this year's edition, I think this is gonna be more like Asian Team Championships rather than the well known World Team Classic.