Kettler Stockholm Outdoor Table Tennis Table

The Kettler Stockholm Outdoor Table Tennis Table is a high-ranking variant of the Riga Outdoor Table Tennis Table. With features like: Upgraded leg assembly, compared to being dissembled in the Riga Table Tennis Range, the ping pong net and posts stay in place even when the Kettler Stockholm Outdoor Table Tennis Table is folded for storage . The surface is made from a 22mm weather-resistant aluminum table top which weights less and is care free. The special dazzle-proof playing top coat and folding technology with dual safety catch make it an ideal multi-purpose joy and safe, recreational table that can be used under the sun. If the family happens to leave you or one of the children would like to coach for the next friendly, there is a playback mechanism built in to the table tennis table consenting you to train anytime needed.

From my personal experience, this is probably one of the most valuable Christmas presents I have ever received. Assembly was not a hassle so long as you had adequate forbearance to follow manual guides. You cannot anticipate to have a tough, weather-resistant, quality game table and manage to assemble it like lego’s.

Majority of setup can be performed by one person but there are things that necessitate, or are at least eased, by a second individual. Once the table is put together, folding and unfolding is easy even for one person. Actually, levers have been strategically placed specifically for helping one-man operation. I really cannot think of any particularly noticeable drawback  for this table. The fact that setup is necessary isn’t really a disadvantage, especially when not purchased in a store and it has to be expected.

The Kettler Stockholm Outdoor Table Tennis Table has brought a real fun to me, my family and relatives. My uncle Husin, who is a local ping pong old timer also praised this tennis table. He said that the ball-bounce was steady and the sound the ball made when it hit the table top shows that the material from which the table were made are of superior type. He also said that even his little twin sons could easily roll the table away to the house compound for our playing.

In fact, this Kettler Stockholm Outdoor Table Tennis Table is available in two colors, green and blue. However, I prefer the blue one since it looks more elegant, elite and sporty.

If you house already have a billiard table and you still wish to play ping pong, but is having limited space, and you are only want to get a ping pong table to play the game for fun, you may consider of buying the table tennis table conversion top to place on your existing pool table and you can start to enjoy playing.

Indoor Table Tennis Equipment

Let’s talk a little bit about the equipment you need for table tennis. You may think: “why on earth is this guy talking about a couple of paddles and a ping-pong ball? I can get all that stuff together for $ 5,00 at my deli around the corner!”. And you are right you can. 

Therefore, you might be surprised when I tell you that I used to spend about $ 200 a month on my table tennis equipment. Yes, that’s right. It was $ 200, and sometimes even more like recently I just bought a Stiga Pro Carbon racket for myself which has cost me about $70 just for the blade. I guess the same is true for all different kind of sports equipment. I don’t know anything about baseball. So to me all the bats look exactly the same. But even without knowing anything about it, I am sure that my theory is wrong. 

Very likely, there are huge differences between the various types of bats, the wood they are made of, size, weight, etc. So for table tennis, it’s exactly the same story. Let’s start with the paddle. A paddle consists of the bat (which is made of wood, or sometimes a combination of different woods and other materials). Now typically, each bat also comes with different handle shapes, such as straight, concave, etc. 

Each bat has two sides and in 95% of the time, both sides are covered with a rubber. There are some players who only cover one side, because they only use one their forehand and therefore don’t need to cover the backhand. One side has to be black and the other one has to be red. There are no exceptions to this rule. 

The table tennis equipment suppliers provide each of their rubbers in both, red and black. Typically, each table tennis rubber has a spongy kind of layer attached underneath. That layer comes in various thicknesses. The thinker, the fast is the rubber.  The rubbers differentiate from each other in tackiness and density. Both factors play an important role as you develop your game. Some players use a lot of spin on their shots; others prefer more the straight shot variations and therefore don’t need as much grip as others.

There are two general categories of rubbers, the inverted ones and the pimples. The inverted ones are by far more popular. The pimples, or also called long pimples, are mostly used by players who prefer a rather defensive tactic. I’m going to talk about the different playing styles and the relation to equipment in another article.

Table Tennis Rules - Service and Score

Do you really know the rules regarding indoor table tennis? Or do you just THINK you know them? Well, we shall see. I’m about to explain a few rules to you including some of which you might have never heard about before. In order to win a match, a player must have won 3 out of five games. In order to win a game, he must have won 11 points. That’s right, not 21 points. That rule has changed a while ago.

Okay, so again, a player needs 11 points to win a game and he/she needs to have 2 points more than the opponent. So for example, let’s say the score is 9:9. If you make two more points, the game is yours. But if the score is 10:10, you also need two more points in order to win the game. That means theoretically, a final score could be 17:15. So let me sum that up for you again:

A player needs 3 out of five games to win an indoor table tennis match.

In order to win a game, a player needs to score 11 points minimum AND 2 points more than his opponent.

Now let’s move on two the next rule. The service rule for table tennis. Most of the people got that wrong, too. Before you start a match, each player picks a side and coin will to be flipped. If you picked the right side, you have the right to start with the service.

However, that doesn’t mean that you have to actually use your right. Maybe you feel more comfortable to start a new match by returning your opponent’s service. In that case you can hand over the right of serve to your opponent. If your opponent was guessed right on the coin flip, it’s exactly the other way around.

Once it is decided who starts the match, he has two services. And then it keeps alternating all throughout the game, always two services at a time. The old rule was five services per player each times, but that was when a game still consisted of 21 points. Okay, so let’s say your opponent won the right of service to start the first game.

Once the first game is finished, you will have the right of services to start the second game. And for the third game, it will go back to your opponent and so forth.

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

image source

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.

Table Tennis Friend Saves Life

Alex Waring who is an official at Bolton Sports club saved his team mates life after Barrie Fleet collapsed after winning a table tennis match, the hospital later revealed that he suffered from a heart attack.

image credited: burytimes.co.uk

Alex Waring who had been trained in first aid gave Mr. Fleet who is 67 mouth to mouth resuscitation whilst another staff member called 999.

He was then rushed immediately to North Manchester General Hospital, where doctors feared the worst for the 67 year old as he stayed in a coma for 5 days.

Fortunately he has now returned home where he is resting when we caught up with him he had this to say “I feel so relieved to be past the worst of it and I really owe Alex a pint or two for saving my life.”


For Alex we understand this would have been a moment of panic so we asked him about this horrible ordeal and he had this to say “At the moment, I’ve got a lot of short-term memory loss and I’ve been told to rest for three or four weeks until I can have a test to assess the impact on my heart.”