The depth of Chinese strength in table tennis

It's the end of the year guys, and table tennis world tour will achieve it's climax in Lisbon, Portugal, where the penultimate International Table Tennis Federation World Tour Grand final is currently in progress.

At the time of writing, we are about to see the semi final stage where all available 4 slots were already filled up by Chinese peddlers for men category.

At 1345 Lisbon time, Ma Long will face Zhang Jike while
at 1515 Lisbon time, Fan Zhendong will face Xu Xin.

For women category, from the 4 available slots, 3 are Chinese peddlers with one go to Korean peddler.

That is the depth and magnitude of Chinese strength of Chines table tennis.

I mean, if their coaches ever decide to go back to main land China to attend to something else, they are already guaranteed of a certain Silver medal for woman (worst case scenario) while for men events their coaches are already guaranteed of gold, silver and bronze medals all safe in Chinese team camp.

What will be decided in man events is just a matter of who will get what medals. That is the depth of Chinese table tennis squad.    

About 45 minutes from now, Zhang Jike, the current gold Olympic holder of table tennis will face Ma Long, the captain.

My prediction for final is Ma Long vs Xu Xin. This is just prediction. For actual result, please follow it yourself at ittf tv. There will be an online streaming. Just Google ittf tv and make sure you have adobe flash-player already installed on your pc.

My pick for winner is Xu Xin. Again, this is only a prediction. I shall update the actual result later on.

Azman Ching kembali popular?

Dato Azman Ching, itulah gelaran orang ramai kepada seorang lelaki cina bernama Dato Ching Eu Boon.

Bagaimana beliau mendapat gelaran Azman adalah kerana beliau rapat dengan orang melayu di kawasan beliau iaitu Pandamaran.

Di Klang beliau tersohor sebagai peniaga MLM yang berjaya dengan syarikat CNI. Terdapat gedung CNI yang besar di Jalan Nenas, Klang, tempat beliau berniaga.

Beliau petah berbicara dan memikat hati orang yang mendengar.

Beliau pernah mencuba nasib dalam arena politik dengan menjadi calon MCA bagi kerusi ADUN Pandamaran. Bagaimanapun, populariti dalam bidang perniagaan belum cukup untuk menjulang beliau sebagai ahli politik apabila beliau kalah kepada calon DAP dalam PRU 13.

Rindu tak terbendung

Hari sabtu (semalam) telah selamat berlangsung majlis kenduri sebelah pihak lelaki merangkap adik iparku yang telah berkahwin dengan adikku Yati.

Majlis ini telah membawa aku ke sebuah daerah di Pahang yang terkenal dengan ikan patin iaitu Temerloh, bandar ikan patin.

Ma, abah dan adik-adik juga datang berkumpul di Temerloh. Dua biji rumah home stay sederhana memuatkan kami sekeluarga yang besar. Hanya adikku Kamal yang tak berkesempatan datang, yang lain termasuk Su (makcik) dan dua anaknya pun ada.

Kadar sewa homestay di Temerloh boleh tahan juga. Rumah abah duduk RM 170 semalaman. Rumah Iza (adik) pula RM 180 semalaman. Homestay ini berada dalam kawasan perumahan sekitar hospital Temerloh. Suasana tenang dan sunyi saja. Kalau nak rileks tenangkan minda bolehlah cuba homestay kawasan Temerloh ini.

Seekor kerbau dan ikan patin masak lemak adalah menu istimewa majlis kenduri ini.

Aku hanya dapat makan dengan kadar yang sederhana disebabkan aku masih dilanda selsema tahap gaban.

Sempat juga Azrul (cousin) membawa adik-adik dan Su (makcik) berjalan di Mentakab yang berdekatan dengan Temerloh.

Azrul yang pernah tinggal  di Temerloh semasa Cik Na (adik) bertugas di Hospital Temerloh nampaknya dah biasa dengan jalan di Temerloh.

Irfan (anak) lah yang paling seronok berjumpa sepupu sepapatnya.

Akhirnya bila majlis dah selesai kami semua pun pulang membawa haluan masing-masing.

Ma dan Abah pulang ke Kelantan membawa bersama Irfan. Rindu Irfan pada kampung halaman, datuk dan neneknya ternyata sudah tidak terbendung lagi.

Aku dan Azizi (adik) pulang ke Lembah Klang untuk menyambung apa yang perlu dilaksanakan.

Lewat petang sabtu (dah malam pun) aku sampai dan merancang nak berehat sehari hari Ahad. Alih-alih Selangor menang piala Malaysia dan natijahnya diisyhtiharkan hari Isnin Selangor cuti.

Jadi nak berjalan ke mana hari ni?

Walaupun esok cuti nampaknya tempat kerja aku sudah membuat jadual mereka yang mana final exam bakal berlangsung. Jadi esok GMI tak ada cuti, maaf ya, cuti ditangguhkan. Inilah nasib orang makan gaji.

Apapun, sekalung tahniah buat skuad bolasepak Selangor, juara piala Malaysia edisi 2015.

Sukan IPT 2016

Sukan peringkat Institut Pengajian Tinggi 2016 atau Sukipt 2016 bakal bermula pada 25 Januari 2016 dan berakhir pada 5 Februari 2016. Sukan dwi tahunan ini bakal di adakan di UTM Skudai, Johor. Sukipt 2016 di UTM Skudai kali ini adalah buat kali yang ke 3. 

Kementerian  Pengajian Tinggi dengan kerjasama majlis-majlis sukan IPT adalah pihak yang mengambil inisiatif untuk mengajurkan sukan ini bagi mencungkil bakat sukan di kalangan mahasiswa dan mahasiswi di peringkat IPT di Malaysia. 

Apa yang menarik tentang sukipt ini ialah hampir semua IPT yang ada di Malaysia sama ada IPT awam atau IPT swasta telah dijemput menyertai sukan ini. Khabarnya ada juga IPT luar Malaysia turut dijemput.    

Yang paling menarik sehingga aku pun cover topik ini ialah German Malaysia Institute, GMI tempat aku bekerja juga telah dijemput menyertai sukan ini. 

Sebanyak 25 acara sukan bakal dipertandingkan kali ini, antaranya rugbi 7 sebelah dan juga ping-pong.

Harapan GMI dalam acara ping-pong tampak tipis kerana kolej lain yang menghantar wakil pemain cina sudah pastinya bakal mengungguli acara ini. 

Pesta Sukan dalaman GMI baru-baru ini juga menyaksikan pasukan ping-pong staff GMI membelasah teruk pasukan-pasukan student yang kebanyakannya kurang latihan dan pendedahan dalam sukan ping-pong. 

Apapun kepada pasukan athlet sukan GMI amnya dan pasukan ping-pong khususnya, aku ucapkan selamat berjuang demi mengharumkan nama GMI dalam arena sukan. 

Untuk jadual acara, ini yang aku capture di skrin komputer aku.

RM 28.25

Tinggal sekitar 20 hari lagi sebelum tahun 2016 datang dengan cabaran baru.

Syukurlah matlamat aku untuk 2015 boleh dikatakan hampir tercapai.

Apa pula matlamat untuk 2016?

Bolehkah aku buat matlamat untuk capai RM 35 pada 1 Januari 2016.

Aku hanya mampu mencuba.

Sesekali berangan

Masa pergi kerja tadi nampak Nissan Navara bergerak dengan mantap sekali membuat aku terasa seperti berangan nak pakai 4 wheels drive.

Kalau tak dapat Navara dapat Hilux pun ok.

Senarai kereta yang aku berkenan.

1. Toyota Hilux
2. Nissan Navara
3. Volksvogen MPV, tak ingat nama dia.

Lambat lagi kot baru boleh pakai. So setakat ni boleh berangan je lah. Sekian.

Secret of Chinese power in table tennis

Table tennis is a sport where the dominance is without doubt held by Chinese, whether it is in the form of China National Table Tennis Team or Chinese people representing other country.

So what is the secret of Chinese dominance in the table tennis sport? Why European nation like Germany could only be a formidable challenger without ever actually beating the Chinese National team? Why China is so strong in table tennis? What is the secret behind all these things?

What is actually the formula of China success in table tennis? Why other powerful nation cannot beat the China National team?

From my humble opinion and observation, the Chinese success factors in table tennis are speed, determination, hard work, focus and believe.

Table tennis is not an easy game. It might look fun and simple in an evening outing but in a real tournament table tennis is full of tension and deception. You might end up looking like an idiot if you face a formidable player who shows no mercy.

Speed
National players for Chinese team retire around early 30s, a relatively young age. This is simply because at that age they might loose some speed although their skill is intact. It is hard to find a Chinese player who plays defensively. They are mostly attack-minded and they will attack upon receiving the first ball without even thinking about the suitability to attack. Bruce Lee is a good example of speed that could beat bigger opponents. China adapt it into table tennis because table tennis is about speed and precision.

Determination
The China national table tennis team is treated like golden son by Chinese government. Fans look upon them like some sort of god. So all players dream to be in the team and all selected are determined to defend their position. They do not tolerate mistake and they do not see some fun outing as fun, all they want is to play perfect table tennis. In Olympic London 2012 final, Ma Long slapped his own face for making a silly mistake although he was leading the game at that time.  

Hard work
It is not fair to say that other nation such as German does not work hard to train their table tennis athletes. Somehow, China give it all their heart by not simply work hard but they rather die trying than giving a half-heart attempt. Just look at how dangerous Qi Gong training, Kung Fu or even acrobatic arts, but they are willing to endure all the pain to achieve success. They applied the same principle in table tennis. They started at the very young age and never look back.  

Focus
The players who represented China in table tennis do not marry until some time later on. They do not have much fun other than training like a soldier. Nobody complaints nevertheless. They respect their coach like an emperor. They set a certain target for each player and achieving it is a must without any excuse. They train hard in physical and also mental department. They are human after all, but a hardened athletes nevertheless. Look at Ma Lin who cried after winning gold medal in 2008 Olympic final beating his compatriot Wang Hao. No words here could explain it. Look at it yourself.

Believe
For Chinese, dragon is a major influence. This mystic figure is very much associated with Chinese culture. In a competition, especially against foreign player, Chinese player do not look like a normal human being. They mostly look like a human being possessed by a fierce dragon. If you don't have a self believe, you simply cannot play competitive table tennis.

It will be hard for other nation to catch up with Chinese but if they are willing to learn and copy the formula from their Chinese counterpart, table tennis can be a competitive sport again. Until that time arrive, we must simply stay put to think that when it come to table tennis, God simply choose China as His preferred team!