By Bill McLaughlin - Cub Reporter, Table Tennis Dayton
Uncasville, CONNECTICUT - The stunning Mohegan Sun Casino was the site for the Mohegan Sun Killerspin Extreme Table Tennis Championship on May 29th and displayed a cavalcade of international table tennis star power while raising the bar on exhibition table tennis in the United States
A veritable "who's who" of table tennis flew in from all points on the globe including current 2005 Men's Singles Champion and Runner-ups, Wang Liqin and Ma Lin, and Chinese teammate and current #15 World ranked, Liu Guozheng, 2003 Men's Single's Runner-up Joo Se Hyuk, former Swedish World Champions Jan-Ove Waldner and Jörgen Persson, Olympic Doubles Champion Zoran Primorac, and Japanese defensive wizard, Koji Matsushita. Bowing out for mysterious reasons were Chinese star team members Wang Hao, Kong Linghui and Chen Qi. Killerspin "crew members" Alexander Karakasevic, Johnny Huang, Ilija Lupulesku and Andrei Filimon rounded out the field.
On the women's side, former Chinese #1 World Singles Wang Nan, current #13 World ranked, Mihaela Steff and of course, the one ... the only ... Biba! She's not highly ranked, nor has she won a major tournament, but she's a babe with momentum. Another new killer(spin) babe, Elie, made her grand entrance as well.
Journey to the Far Side of "Sun"
Wanting to insure that I saw Waldner before he retired into oblivion, I ended up "winning" two tickets to the tournament courtesy of MyTableTennis.NET. I rejoiced, then promptly debated the wisdom of now needing to embark upon a 1700 mile round-trip road trip. At the proverbial "last minute", I hopped into my Subaru.
After making the drive from Dayton, Ohio to (where in the hell is) Uncasville, Connecticut, I was greeted by the dramatic grandeur that is the Mohegan Sun Casino. Stunning architecture framed beautifully by large slabs of rock as you make a gradual turn up it's long driveway. A true "Kodak moment" except I wasn't prepared with my Kodak ... er, Sony as it lay snoozing in it's case.
Inside the casino lay a huge sprawl of shops, restaurants and of course, gaming facilities. The lowest minimum bet for Blackjack appeared to be $15 and there was no "Texas Hold'em" so I didn't break out my wallet - fortunate for me, no doubt.
The table tennis event tickets stated a 12:00pm start time and the doors opened briefly at 12:08, and as the small cluster of early arrivers strode in, we were intercepted and whisked right back out, as 13 minutes later, a PA announcent apologized and blamed "TV setup" for the delay. At 12:30, the doors finally opened for good and the now larger contingency of attendees made their way into the arena.
Though in the first row, my "premium" seat was off in the corner, making viewing of the far table problematic and even the closer table less than optimal as the view was along the plane of the table itself. I inquired about moving to a further location, but the Killerspin associate was reluctant to allow it.
As some of the players came to the two tables for pre-match rallying, I saw a grey-capped guy snapping flash pictures. Arugh? The tickets clearly said "no cameras" and mine was still comatose in it's case. Others joined the fray and I thought "to hell with this", and snapped my first picture of Wang Liqin.
The latest Men's Singles World Champion, Wang Liqin and Killerspin's Robert Blackwell.
A large contingency of Killerspin associates were patrolling the area and even CEO Robert Blackwell was inquiring logistics of player entrance with other "crew members", Barney Reed and Arturo Shiu. The ESPN technicians were also numerous and doing pre-tape checks. The third triad were the involved Mohegan Sun employees. With the three groups sporting their respective attire, they looked like gangs out of the movie, "The Warriors".
With the viewing public still finding their seats or milling about, I was snapping pictures like a madman. In particular of Waldner and Persson and soon joined by Primorac and Matsushita.
The two "MCs": Michael Aesner and Head Referee Ed Hogshead were providing information to the audience, including basic table tennis rules, and the plea to "make noise". Hogshead in particular was especially solicitous for crowd noise for optimal broadcast ambience. The majority of the 5000 plus spectators appeared to be Chinese, with many of them having made the short jaunt from New York to see their table tennis heroes.
Ron "Bolo" Joseph, yet another Killerspin crew member, was interviewed. Amusingly, he was acknowledged to be a "World Class" table tennis player. Considering his USATT rating is in the 2100 range, we can readily place that description firmly into the realm of hyperbole. In addition to his ping-pong "prowess", Bolo is a body-builder, so he looks like something out of a comic book, which might go over quite well were the audience primarily Japanese (Google "Bob Sapp"). After the MC twice labeled Barney Reed as "handsome" - to which Reed smartly shrugged - it appears that Killerspin is attempting to counter-balance the Biba phenomenon with some beefcake for the ladies. Reed had recently been on "Conan O'Brien", a fact which did not escape the crowing interviewer but which did escape the interest of much of the crowd. Reed challenged Biba to a match to be held later in the day and was awaiting her answer. Considering he's a 2500+ player and she's 2300 - and a "girl" to boot - you'd think there wouldn't be much to the challenge from his end, though it's an obvious ploy to bring Biba to a table and in front of the ESPN cameras.
Biba isn't the only table tennis hottie in the Killerspin stable. The latest model - pun intended - is Elie, a tall, lithe brunette who reminded me at first glance of Barbara Feldon of "Get Smart" fame. Rowr.
The last pre-event ritual was the traditional firing Killerspin ping pong balls into the crowd and the bemusement of watching people fight and claw over the freebies.
Amidst smoke, strobe lights and a blaring techno beat , the players were led into and around the arena, much to the giddy, murmuring awe of the spectators. I myself nearly swooned upon seeing the mighty Swedes and screamed like a teenybopper at a Backstreet Boys concert. OK, I made that part up. No, really.
LeAnn Rimes made a digital appearance and sung a deliberate (meaning lengthy) version of the "The Star-Spangled Banner". While the US anthem played, perhaps the Chinese players were serendipitously referencing a line from "Rocky IV": "we will bury you." Two weeks earlier, they already had - at the World Championships. While the sung dragged on, the ESPN cameras probed the crowd, and the first - but not last - appearance of "The Big Hair Guy" was made. More on him later.
The Matches Commence
The players lineup by teams prior to the match festivities.
Court A featured Jörgen Persson vs. Zoran Primorac while B held Biba and Elie. Despite the presence of the two nubile wood nymphs of US table tennis, the Persson-Primorac match proved to be visually enticing - and this from a confirmed heterosexual. Elie should occasional excellent setup and attack skills but she was overcome by the steadier Biba. Persson dominated Primorac though both players showed fine form and showed off their diverse set of skills. Primorac is quite the ham for the crowd, though the best was yet to come from him in that regard. Amusingly, the PA guy declared the winners of the two matches as "Jörgen Persson aaaAAANNDD BIIIIIBBBBBAAAAAAA!!" Keep marketing her boys.
The second set of matches had Andrei Filimon, he of the "50 one-armed pushes" and the "world's strongest looper" - whatever that means - against his Killerspin teammate "Lupi" Lupulesku, and Matsushita - he of the most bulging calves, vs. "Mr. Feeling" Karakasevic. Filimon and Lupulesku showed off their off-the-table attack style with some excellent rallys from both wings, and beautiful ball-placement deep into corners, and wide on both sides. Karaskasevic displayed his strong backhands which penetrated the excellent defensive prowess of Matsushita. Victories to Lupulesku and Karakasevic.
A few points: I was sitting up about 20 rows for a good angle on both tables and felt a noticeable breeze. The players didn't seem to mind, but I found some of them smiling after particular points, implying an "exhibition" focus once again, though not detrimentally so as the matches were very high-level and entertaining to this point. With the Matsushita-Karakasevic match concluded, and up 10-7 in the deciding game, Lupi surpringly loses 12-10 forcing a fifth game. Surprising as I had expected the match to conclude not just due to Lupi's advantageous point position, but further to keep the event scheduling "on track". To me this showed that though there wasn't a laser-focus of a World Championship or even a Pro Tour event, the players still wanted to win.
The third set of matches featured A Big Gun: Ma "Tiger" Lin versus the player who upset him in the 2003 World Championships, South Korea's Joo Se Hyuk and one of China's all-time great women's players Wang Nan versus Romania's Mihaela Steff.
According to an associate of the aforementioned "Big Hair Guy", Ma and Joo simply do not like each other, mainly due to the results of the 2003 match. As such, and between points, Big Hair and friends would occasionally chant out in cadence, "Joo-Se-Hyuk! Joo-Se-Hyuk! Joo-Se-Hyuk!", apparently to back-up their favored player. Ma Lin showed excellent ball-dropping skills against Joo's relentless off-table chops, while Joo would also turn around and zing a forehand winner against quick hands Ma. Meanwhile Mihaela Steff was performing very well with a strong looping game against the heavy favorite Wang Nan.
As the men's match progressed, the "Joo-Se-Hyuk!" chants were slowly but surely finding a response from elsewhere in the largely Chinese crowd, with at first, relatively weak "Ma Lin!" yells, to the point where the audience dynamic played a huge part in the ambience of this phase in the tournament. Indeed, I joined in by yelling "Joo Se Hyuk!!" prior to points which prompted even more responses of "MA LIN!". Finally, the Chinese audience even organized their "patented" "MA LIN!" (response: "CHIIINOOO!") often found in the Chinese arenas during the World Championships. These vocalizations, along with hand claps and foot stomps brought a heightened and earnest "International"-type of atmosphere to what had been a previously well-responded but polite crowd participation.
With the crowd cheering, stomping and chanting after nearely every point of a well-fought affair, Ma finally took the match (at 14 in the 5th), as did Wang in hers despite a great fight by Steff, to the enthusiastic delight of the crowd. As Ma departed, he was descended upon by dozens of autograph hounds, wherein security had to help him get to backstage.
The fourth and final set of matches for the afternoon phase of the tournament featured one of the other marquee players of the event, Jan-Ove Waldner versus Canada's (out of China) Johnny Huang, and the current mens' singles World Champion, Wang Liqin against teammate Liu Guozheng. The PA guy announced each player and their accomplishments amidst the smoke, strobes and techno, but he neglected to mention Liu Guozheng. Oops.
Joo off the table with Ma waiting for another kill.
After the very intense Ma-Joo match, due in large part to the crowd dynamic, I knew that a let-down was about to occur with the two Chinese players playing against each other. Sure enough, the match had all the drama of watching an Iowa farmer play the nickel slots machines. A nice shot here and there, no real spectacular and drawn-out points, and a five-second "rest" in between games, made for the predictably tepid affair. Wang's presence alone, if not his gameplay, made it well worthwhile for the thousands who came to see him and he, like Ma, was enveloped by autograph seekers.
The Waldner/Huang match was much more interesting. Huang is an at-the-table attacker, while Waldner plays wherever he feels like. At the table, Waldner's hand-speed was impressive as he blocked back Huangs fast pips shots at the backhand. But when driven off the table, the showman Waldner really stands out. He had some lobs that nearly hit the ESPN overhead camera 30' up in the air. He would put just enough sidespin on the lob and send it so far up in the air, that at first it looked as though it would sail off the far side of the table, but upon descent, the sidespin would bring it back to the table. Despite the PA guy saying prior to the match that "Waldner was not happy drawing Huang" (due to a style matchup issue), Waldner easily dispatched his opponent to the delight of the roaring crowd. And so ended the afternoon scheduling.
While in a buffet for lunch, I saw a woman with a moustache.
The evening session started on time, fortunately, and the PA guy and Ed Hogshead went through the same motions and regiment as they did during the afternoon session. Hogshead was again trying to get the crowd to respond - to him. Memo to Ed - not necessary. Good game play would ensure itself of a great audience participation. However, I guess there's a reason for insurance. Lily Yip was involved to translate and speak directly to much of the Chinese crowd.
Amidst the fireworks, the players were again brought in and musician John Finn played "The Star-Spangled Banner" on his electric guitar. He's good, but he's no Jimi Hendrix. The PA guy and Lily Yip tried to remind the crowd that they could take pictures, but not to use the flash. Personally, I'm surprised at the stupidity of amateur photographers in these events who apparently either don't know how to turn their flash off; leave it on in order to "improve" (it won't) their shot; and seemingly couldn't care less if a player is affected by the background flash. Regardless, this was the first direct offical confirmation of the allowance of cameras despite the notification otherwise on the tickets.
With the introductions over, the first set of match players were introduced: Lupulesku versus Karakasevic and Primorac versus Joo. I cringed at the thought of Lupi and Karakasevic as their match at the 2005 Arnold Killerspin Classic was for me a colossal bore. Further, they're currently Killerspin teammates and have played each other hundreds of times, so how involving could it be? Amusingly, the PA guy told the crowd that the two had "nothing but competition on their face", which can be put down as another entry into the hyperbole column. I focused on the Joo-Primorac match.
Herein lay the next most dynamic crowd-pleasing match played so far. Primorac has a habit of grunting loudly during his hard hit shots. The crowd picked up on that and started parroting him during each of his shots. So when Primorac went for a forehand drive, he and the crowd emitted a collective, "UNGH!" It was hilarious.
Credit to Big Hair Guy - he and his mates also brought the "ascending crowd clap" into the event. Seen in baseball and other sporting events, the ascending clap starts slow and finishes briskly, such as *clap* ... ... *clap* ... ... *clap* ... *clap* ... *CLAP* .. *CLAP* . *CLAP!* *CLAP!* *CLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAP!!*
With Primorac and Joo displaying their respective skills - Primorac offense and Joo defense, with both parties switching roles, and Joo killing while Primorac lobbed or counter-looped, and the crowd grunting every shot of Primorac, the eventual win by Joo was subservient to the great time the crowd had during the match. Killerspin would do well to get Primorac to as many exhibitions as possible, and get shills in the audience to ensure similar crowd participation. Oh yeah, in the other game, despite a good (non-obvious exhibition) showing by both players, Karasasevic beat Lupulesku. By the way, the PA guy said that Karakasevic goes by the nickname, "Mr. Feeling". He needs a new nickname.
Even after a wild crowd, Head Refere Ed Hogshead was still trying to get the crowd to get noisy. Go figure.
After the great Primorac-Joo match, thanks mainly to the crowd involvement, could the next match live up to that level of excitement? Considering Wang Liqin was set to play Ma Lin, the immediate prediction here was not just "no!" but "OH NO!" Much like the predicted boring affiar of Wang and Liu, and regardless of their supreme level of table tennis excellence, it was woefully obvious that a predictable uninspired accounting was about to occur. Perhaps the second match, Filimon versus Liu could provide counter-balance.
Afraid not. As predicted, the Wang-Ma match was not only boring, it was embarassing, certainly to those (relatively few) spectators who had no starry-eyed perspective. For the latter, just seeing the two was probably good enough, but for those of us hoping (beyond hope) for a fine match, we were vastly disappointed. In a sense, it's understandable: They just concluded first and second place finish in Men's Singles at the World Championships and once you've been to the mountain top, anything else is a stroll in the park. Ma in particular was flat-footed, reaching, and looked utterly bored. I'm sure he was paid a large sum for this match, but he absolutely did not earn his money, except as an initial crowd draw. Both he and Wang showed a few flashes of brilliance, with Ma's crazy spin blocks and corkscrew returns, but those moments were overwhelmed by player malaise, and thus crowd ennui. The PA guy indulged in more obvious hyperbole, perhaps to inject some "drama" by stating that Ma was "working hard" and "fighting to stay in this match", both of which were massive exaggerations. The Filimon-Liu match had no fireworks or crowd participation, and thus the audience energy waned prohibitively during this series. It didn't matter who won.
After these sub-par matches, Court B was shut down, and the remaining matches of the night were held on Court A, so at the prompting of the PA guy, the audience collectively migrated over to that side of the arena, as did I, leaving my $5 Killerspin magazine behind, dammit. I had purchased it with the expectation of getting an autograph or two. More on that later.
Matsushita versus Huang was the first feature match, presumably the choices from the team standing to that point - it was unclear. Regardless as a first feature match, it didn't seem to have much cache as it possibly could have. Both are fine players, but are not nearly of the caliber of Wang, Ma, Waldner, Persson, Joo and Primorac.
Regardless, they put on a good, if lengthy show, playing their respective styles, with Huang attacking and Matsushita defending. Unlike Primorac, Huang apparently does not draw energy from the crowd, and mutters to himself after missing a shot. Matsushita is a bit more open, though hardly a showman, but in his style, does extraneous and exaggerated arm and leg motions to "wow" the crowd. He'll also do some slight clowning, like scratching his head or leaving his mouth open after point losses. Primorac was the clown of clowns as he flopped to the floor, or flexed his bicep, all the while looking at the crowd during his Joo match. Matsushita ended up winning in five games, with the crowd respectful and appreciative, especially during the early parts of the match.
Biba blasting Barney in their "challenge match".
Biba apparently agreed (like she had a choice?) to the Barney Reed challenge match. The PA guy was asking if there were any "Biba fans?!" in the audience and for the Chinese fans, had Lily Yip ask the same. After she took the mike and said "Biba fans?!", the PA guys best line of the night was "Thanks for translating that for me".
Killerspin is putting a lot of energy into promoting Biba, but the primarily Chinese crowd probably couldn't care less. Indeed, their "Biba" was sitting in backstage - Wang Nan. Ed Hogshead and PA guy Michael Aesner also slavered over the presumably lascivious Biba centerfold in the offered Killerspin magazine, unfortunately she wasn't attired in a swimsuit or a fetching pose. C'mon Killerspin, you can do better than that. It's a centerfold for cryin' out loud.
The Biba-Barney match was one game, which Biba easily took at -6. Barney looked fairly hapless and though he's the Killerspin choice for male counterpart to Biba, they need to make sure he's got some game. Losing to Biba at -6 would indicate otherwise. Get Primorac.
The final match of the night was a "rematch" of both the 1989 and 1991 World Championships: Jan-Ove Waldner versus teammate Jörgen Persson. Like Chinese teammates Wang and Ma, both have played each other hundreds of times, though for a quarter of a century. Would those two play as uninspired and as bored as Wang and Ma? The prediction here was "no".
Sure enough, the two immediately engaged both themselves and the crowd with dynamic play. Drives and counterdrives from wide forehand angles, excellent drop-shot touch, ala Ma Lin from Waldner, and of course the ubiquitous Swedish lobs, including those moon-shots from Waldner. At one point, Waldner set up a lob smash for Persson who immediately obliged with a smash winning net point. Waldner stood well in the backcourt with his arms outstretched as if to say "hey, I did my part".
Waldner and Persson doing what the Swedes do best.
With the game scored tied 1-1, Waldner showed just how readily he knows Persson's serves, having been the recipient thousands of times. Twice, he performed off-hand flips for immediate winners. Waldner also played off the table, and did a Joo-Matsushita low line-drive chop shot which after Persson scrambled for a return, left Waldner at the table dropping the ball casually over the net in front of a sprawling Persson. Both players were smiling and having a good time, but were also making out-right winners in addition to their more stylistic points. The crowd was going crazy through much of this and attempted to recreate the Primorac "UNGH!" when Waldner made his shots. In the end, Persson pulled out a 3-2 victory, with Waldner over the barrier making some superb lob/smash combinations, (an .mpg file of that point is downloadable below).
Thus endeth the tournament - probably the best of it's kind yet seen in the country. For the most part, the matches were both competitive and dynamic, especially when the European players were involved. Hopefully the ESPN broadcasts will provide a taste of what it was like to witness it in purpose.
Unfortunately, the minor tournament management miscues that had occurred up to this point were about to get much more serious.
The Autograph Debacle
The PA guy informed the departing crowd of the autograph session to be held a back corridor, and it is there a major line of 400 autograph hounds was created, snaking its way well down the lengthy corridor. The players had all sat behind some large tables awating the masses. I was one of the last in line and me and others calcuated that at 5 seconds per autograph, and with a dozen participants or so, it would take at minimum 1 minute per seeker, and thus multiple hours for a conclusion.
Apparently doing some belated math, Killerspin decided to abort the line at a point, leaving those past the line literally out of luck, and wasting a half-hour of time to that point. This led to some fairly irate fans, who got in Robert Blackwell's grill and demanded some signatures from their national heroes. To Blackwell's credit, he attempted to accomodate these customers, with the proviso of one chosen player autograph. Naturally those at the beginning of the line ended up with Cheshire Cat grins, holding up shirts, rackets and magazines filled with the player's scrawls. Being part of the unfortunate masses, I too came away with bupkus. The security guards also expressed both condescension, exasperation and a threatening attitude to those turned away yet milling around.
The "incestuousness" of the player "in-crowd" was also an unfortunate happenstance displayed, as some ancillary ping-pong schlubs - they knew a coach, who knew a player, etc. - got some preferential treatment via autographs or picture poses. The woeful mismanagement of the entire autgraph debacle will hopefully be disseminated by the entire Killerspin team, and should another similar event occur, select improvements can be made to make the process more equitable and fair for all concerned.
Despite that, the 2005 Mohegan Sun Killerspin Extreme Table Tennis Championship was a rousing success, and brought a new level of exhibition tournament play to the US shores. Look for the upcoming ESPN television schedule for broadcast dates and times.
