2006 Best Points

So you think that only Chinese people play ping pong? True, ping pong is really popular in China, and, indeed, China produces many of the world's best players, including World Champions and Gold Medalists, such as Wang Liqin, Ma Lin, and Kong Linghui. China's Wang Hao is currently ranked #1 in the world. However, contrary to popular belief, Europeans and non-Chinese countries also have a presence in the international table tennis scene. Sweden's Jan Ove Waldner (3x World Champion and Olympic gold medalist) is a table tennis legend, and many in the table tennis world consider him the best table tennis player in history. Korea can claim Olympic Gold Medalist Ryu Seung-Min, Gold Medalist Kim Taek Soo, and World Championships Runner-Up Joo Se Hyuk. Germany's Timo Boll sat at the number 1 spot for a while in 2003. Austria's Werner Schlager won the 2003 World Championships. If we take a look at the men's world rankings, we see that non-Chinese players actually do have a presence in the table tennis scene.

1 WANG Hao CHN
2 MA Lin CHN
3 MA Long CHN
4 WANG Liqin CHN
5 SAMSONOV Vladimir BLR
6 CHEN Qi CHN
7 BOLL Timo GER
8 RYU Seung Min KOR
9 JOO Se Hyuk KOR
10 LI Ching HKG
11 GAO Ning SIN
12 CHUAN Chih-Yuan TPE
13 OH Sang Eun KOR
14 OVTCHAROV Dimitrij GER
15 SCHLAGER Werner AUT
16 HAO Shuai CHN
17 CHEUNG Yuk HKG
18 KREANGA Kalinikos GRE
19 KAN Yo JPN
20 MAZE Michael DEN

So, yes, ping pong is pretty big internationally, and not just in China. Maybe Americans should start treating this sport as seriously as other countries do :-o!

With that, here's a little something something to show you some world class table tennis in action. I found this video on YouTube, and it features the world's top men, including China's Wang Liqin, Germany's Timo Boll, Belarus's Vladmir Samsonov, Korea's Ryu Seung-Min, and Austria's Werner Schlager. If you listen to the commentary, it's in some weird European language. Ping pong on TV in Europe. See, it exists outside of China!