Newgy’s Blog

Congrats to all the winners of the Newgy Wang Open Table Tennis Tournament! 60 table tennis players competed for trophies and cash prizes at the Academy Park Gym in Franklin, Tennessee on Saturday, October 11. Newgy Industries and the Wang Vision Institute were proud to sponsor this great event that attracted players from all across Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Virginia. Newgy’s Coach Roger Dickson did a great job, once again, organizing and refereeing the tournament, with the help of the Nashville Table Tennis Club. The format was Two-Tier Round Robin.

“A youth movement and new faces in local table tennis could be seen at the 2014 Newgy – Wang Vision Institute Open. It was a mix of local new young players and several of the Atlanta International Table Tennis Academy students making up the youth movement. Even the US Nation Jr. Boys coach – Shigang “Alex” Yang was here to see his students compete. One boy kept Coach Yang’s attention for most of the event, Andrew Yang at 7 years old and the Coaches son not only competed against all comers – but managed to capture 3^rd in Division F!

The new faces were lead by Mina Boushra. Formerly a player in Egypt, Mina has started playing again and his left handed forehand attack and good use of his long pips backhand not only lead him to victory in the Qualifying groups but got him to the Open Final! Not a new face to finals in events throughout the South, John Mar from Atlanta used his pose, patience and power to bring home the Championship and to hand Mina his only lost matches of the day.” – Coach Roger Dickson, Newgy

Here are all the groups and event winners:

Top Tier AM – Mar, John, Skripnik, Ivan, Weishaeupl, Robert, Boushra, Mina, Neuendorf, Tim, Zhang, Kui, Handoko, Leidy, Flowers, Donny

Tier 2 AM – Glasscock, Michael, Mann, Eli, Fox, Bryson, Hurt, Jonathan, Kavanaugh, Robert

Open Singles

Mar, John

Boushra, Mina

Handoko, Leidy

Skripnik, Ivan

Top A

Chen, Cuiren

Patton, Charles

Dailey, Tommie

Arabov, Iliyan

Top B

Cook, Joshua

Bagchi, Ayan

Jordan, Archie

Ruan, Ethan

Top C

Guo, Xiaofeng

Mann, Thomas H.

Top D

Zhu, Sabrina

Tillery, Glenn

Chen, Ben

Sun, Qi

Lower E

Mann, Eli

Kavanaugh, Robert

Xing, Xuejing

Hurt, Jonathan

Lower F

Magee, Daniel

Williams, Wayne

Yang, Andrew

Taylor, Laura

by Samson Dubina

You probably know that you need to vary your loops in table tennis. However, it is very difficult to consistently give good variation if you haven’t trained for it in practice. In this article, I’m going to suggest 4 variations that you should add to your forehand loop to improve your table tennis game.

Vary the degree of spin. By adding more or less spin to each ball, you will be able to learn to better control the ball and you will make it more difficult for your opponent to comfortably block your loop. If you add the no-spin variation, be careful not to loop with too much speed. The more topspin that you add to your loop, the more potential for speed that you can have while still maintaining consistency.

by Samson Dubina

On September 26-27, the Newgy Akron Table Tennis Open took center stage at Walsh University’s Alumni Arena. The new facility hosted the northeast Ohio’s largest table tennis event with 133 registered players with excellent conditions including 800 lux lighting, wood floor, and 28’ ceilings. Friday’s events kicked off with the warm-up events: Open doubles, family doubles, handicap, and junior recreational. The elite Lindenwood University team dominated Friday’s play with taking first in Handicap and top 4 in Open Doubles.

Saturday featured Round Robin groups of 8 players with the top 4 advancing from each group. In the Open Giant Round Robin quarterfinals 2600-level Xue Feng Jia chopped and looped his way to a 3-0 victory over Lindenwood’s top player Alex Legaria next up Jiaqi Zheng rated 2548 took down Santiago Seville 3-0. Khoa followed suit with a 3-0 win over Gabriel Skolnick. Micaiah Skolnick nearly broke the trend with a 8-5 lead in the fifth over Samson Dubina. Micaiah was stopped short with an 11-9 loss.

In the Open semifinals US #1 ranked Olympic eligible female table tennis player Jiaqi Zheng took down 2x Olympian Khoa Nguyen 3-1 to advance to the finals. In the other semifinals, former Chinese Superleague player Xue Feng Jia, using excellent spin variation and consistency, took down Ohio’s #1 table tennis player Samson Dubina 3-0. With the experienced Xue Feng Jia easily cruising through 10 straight matches, it looked as if he would take the title and $1000 first place cash. However, Jiaqi Zheng played a smart game and Xue Feng Jia was not able to adjust to her pips attacks and drop shots. Congrats to Jiaqi Zheng for winning her first Newgy Akron Open title. Best wishes to her as she prepares to represent the US at the 2016 Olympics!

We would like to thank our dedicated tournament sponsors: Newgy Robo-Pong, Studio 330 Wedding Professionals, Union Institute & University, Wil-Cut Engineered Abrasive Solutions, Clear Choice Custom Lasik Center, Paddle Palace, Nittaku, CLJ Studios, Simplex Creative, PainZone, and Butterfly. We would also like to thank our friendly tournament staff: Greg Thompson, Pierce Scott, Randy Burnett, Joyce Burnett, Larry Loutzenheiser, Harsh Khandelwal, Gabe Stauffer, Cathy Steele, Sam Dubina, Nancy Dubina, Marissa Dubina, Heather Dubina, Rachel Detwiler, Ron Martin, Craig Krum, and Orlando McEwan.

Tournament video
http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Table-Tennis/Features/2014/September/22/Newgy-Akron-Open

Tournament Photos
http://cljstudiosphotography.smugmug.com/Events/Table-Tennis-Tournaments/September-Akron-Newgy-Open/

Here are the tournament results:

Open Giant RR
1st Jiaqi Zheng
2nd Xue Feng Jia
3rd-4th Khoa Nguyen/Samson Dubina

Under 2400 Giant RR
1st Alex Legaria
2nd Felipe Morita
3rd-4th Gabriel Skolnick/Santiago Sevilla

Under 2000 Giant RR
1st Anthony Lewis
2nd David Pech
3rd-4th Shreyans Bafna/Zuo Li

Under 1600 Giant RR
1st Ashwin Turakhia
2nd Zach Spies
3rd-4th Adam Hemker/Bobo Shi

Under 1200 Giant RR
1st Ishaq Kothari
2nd Anwen Harris
3rd Nathen Eldridge/Jeff Pitrof

Open Doubles RR
1st Gabriel Skolnick/Felipe Morita
2nd Micaiah Skolnick/Ahmed Hendawi

Family Doubles RR
1st Anwen Harris/Zane Harris
2nd Sarah Sommers/David Sommers

Handicap RR
1st Zach Spies
2nd Alex Averin

Junior RR
1st Daniel Daum
2nd Andrew Schneider

Sometimes table tennis players will work really hard over the summer, training for many hours each day. At the end of the summer, they play a table tennis tournament and are very disappointed with their results. They might have spent thousands of dollars traveling to China, hiring professional table tennis coaches, and giving great effort, but still they didn’t have the expected results.

Yet other times, players will take a break from table tennis for a few weeks and practice very little. Without expecting much from their first tournament of the season, these players are sometimes surprised with amazing results!

So, why does this happen to so many players?

Actually, I think that there are several possible reasons.

1. Sometimes players who aren’t expecting much are able to play worry-free, relaxed without effort. While others who have trained hard, put too many unnecessary expectations on themselves and the pressure hurts their performance.

2. Sometimes players who are training hard every day are making positive changes to their games – new strokes, new serves, and new strategies. Before these players can properly implement their new weapons, they first must play several practice matches and tournaments before perfecting these new elements. On the other hand, players who haven’t been practicing much might not be so worried about the exact technique used.

3. Sometimes game styles have a huge impact into the performance of many players. If these players are matched up against ideal styles, they can play well. However, if they are matched up against difficult styles, these players may play poorly. For example, if a group of players practice speed work for six hours per day in China, they might have difficulty playing slow blockers or choppers.

Regardless of the outcome, these players must remember that practice is a necessary element to long-term major improvement. Just because they had one great performance after a four-week vacation, does NOT mean they will continue to have great tournaments without practice. Consistent practice, while making positive changes, with the help from a table tennis coach is the best way to improve long term.

Samson Dubina

When watching a professional table tennis player, what you are looking at? Are you looking at the bright color of his shoes, the weird design on his shirt, his massive leg muscles, or the funny expression that he makes when serving? If so, you aren’t paying attention to the most important things if you want to learn how to improve your table tennis game.

Here are the key components of a table tennis game to look for if you want to learn from observing.

1. Preparation

Watch how he goes through his pre-point routine before stepping up to the ping-pong table.

2. Serve and receive

Watch how he stands to receive a serve – his distance from the table, his racket position, his racket height, his foot positioning, his balance. Watch when he serves – his positioning, his backswing, his contact point, his follow through, and his return-to-the-ready position.

3. Footwork

Watch how he moves for each ball, watch how he anticipates for the next ball, watch how he continues to adjust and re-adjust for each ball with large leaps as well as micro steps.

4. Shot Selection

Watch how he chooses when to loop, when to block, when to counter-loop, when to stay close, when to back up – watch his shot selection.

5. Time Between Points

Watch how he takes his time between points. Watch as he walks back to pick up the ball, how his body language is showing his thoughtfulness as he mentally gears up for the next point.

Instead of trying to watch all of these elements at once, I would recommend watching a short YouTube video five times. Each time, watch a different aspect of the table tennis game as outlined above. By training yourself to watch each aspect separately, you will better be able to learn the details of the sport of the table tennis.

Samson Dubina