1999 German Open & ITTF Pro Tour

ITTF ranked #2, World & Olympic Champion Liu Guoliang wins German Open

High level does not even begin to describe the quality of play at this event.  From October 13-17 Bremen, Germany saw quite frankly, the best table tennis in the world. 16 of the top 20 men in the world participated. The women's side was likewise loaded with talent. The doubles matches were equally as attractive and dynamic!

From the very beginning of the qualifying rounds, the play was fully world class.  In Germany, you had to win pre qualifying events just for the right to try and qualify for their open!  Paul Vancura and Terry umpired a match in the second qualifying round that could easily have been a finals at any tournament in the US, including the Open.  It was Paul's first opportunity to see this kind of play.  He was truly impressed.  Despite the exceptionally high level of these two players, neither even qualified for the main tournament!

As a perspective point for US players; competitors of (former US champion) Cheng Yinghua's level generally failed to make it out of the men's qualifying rounds.  The 1999 German Open fielded higher level play from start to finish than was seen at the last Worlds or even the Olympics due to the difference in entry eligibility.  There were no weak players for the strong to pick on as happens in the other events.  The $65,000 in prize money and ideal location encouraged top entries.  It was the most difficult competition of any of the 12 Pro Tour events Terry has so far attended.

Bremen is in the far north of Germany near Hamburg.  It is across the channel from Scandinavia.  There is easy air access through Frankfurt and it is the location for next years European Championships.  The city is one of the oldest in Germany.  At the same time the tournament was going on, the "Frei Market" was happening.  This is the second largest fair in the country only to Oktoberfest in Munich.  100s of thousands attended making the streets at times impassible to even foot traffic.

Everything was in walking distance, from the town center to the stadium.  The weather was unseasonably warm.  Only on the last day did it drop below freezing, which made getting around during the week very pleasant.  From the hotels, you crossed to the central train station and then underground via a walking tunnel into the fair and stadium area.  All told this was about 2 kilometers.  It was a long enough distance that once in the playing hall, you tended to stay for the entire days session.  In route you were tempted by delicious foods and smells.

The Stadhalle was large (about 1/2 the size of the Las Vegas Convention Center).  The tournament used 32 match tables and 12 practice ones all on the red rubber flooring.  The buildings floor was concrete over which the German association laid 1.25cm (1/2") particle board and on this they put the mat.  4 playing halls were used.  The main arena housed 8 tables and sat about 3000.  The second and third halls with 12 tables each, were some walking distance away and sat limited spectators.  Next to hall 2 was the practice hall.  Hall 3 was upstairs and was used only on the first day of qualifying.  All halls had good lighting, although not as good as the 99 English Open.  The main arena used electronic scoring.

Joola, the tournament sponsor, the German association and the Bremen schoold district all worked together to expose school age children to the event and the sport.  Numerousvariaions were set up for them to play along with special exhibits.  Around 2000 kids participated in the fun.

The first day was intense.  The Germans brought in 88 umpires for the tournament and needed them all on the opening day.  The Vancura/Canup team from the USA had a schedule listing 16 matches for the day.  Most IU teams had similar loads.  Due to the heavy load of Domestic players, foreign umpires got a lot of opportunities at the start of the event.

As the actual Pro Tour started, most notable was the match up of two defenders in the first round.  Matthew Syed from England and Greece's qualifier, Ntaniel Tsiokas.  The match drew a good number of spectators appreciative of the play.  It was a five game marathon going the full hour and a half possible without entering expedite.  It was an unusually hotly contested match for a first round.  On two adjoining tables, two rounds were played while this one was going on.  Syed eventually succombed.

There were other tight opening round matches as well with German qualifier Bastian Steger taking down Netherlands'sDanny Heister in 5 and China's Ruiwu Tan going 5 with a Japanese qualifier Kinjiro Nakamura.  Another German qualifier, Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth, dispatched Russia's #1 Dmitrij Mazunov in 4.  He next moved on in the second round to down China's Yan Sen.  Liu Guoliang in his first match was pushed to 19 in the 5th by Trinko Keen while Tan in the second round again was a 5 game winner, only this time against the seeded German, Roskopf.  Meanwhile, Germany's Stephan Fetzner after prevailing in the first was also eliminated in the second round.

For his effort against Heister, Steger was rewarded with a second round match against World #10, Austria's Werner Schlager.  Schlager appeared unprepared for this teenager and had to struggle back from  0-2 and down 14-5 in the 4th!  For his reward, Fejer-Konnerth drew Liu Guoliang.  Again the German played brilliantly before the home crowd and battled an exciting 5 games before dropping to the World Champion.  Germany certainly has a bright future ahead!

Notably, China's Wang Liqin looked significantly off of his game.  He barely survived a first round match-up with his qualifying countryman Qin Zhijian.  If one did not know better, the might think Qin took a dive.  Certainly Damien Eloi, who struggled by Poland's Lucjan Blaszczyk deuce in the 5th, had no problems with Wang 3 straight in an almost embarrassing display of bad TT by the Chinese teenager.

In the meantime, Taipei's Chiang Peng-Lung, the US Open winner, advanced to the round of 16 taking out Argentina's Liu Song convincingly.  Tan, however was much to quick for him there and became the first into the quarters.  This round also saw Samsonov's first real test as he knocked off China's Liu Guozheng in 4.  Sweden's Jorgen Persson dusted France's Patrick Chila 3-0 and his team mate Jan Ove Waldner eliminated another of the French team, Christophe Legout in a good match that went 4.  Schlager faced Canada's Johnny Huang for the umpteenth time with the same result as virtually every other time, he moved on in 4.  China's Ma Wenge, the English Open winner, played a crowd pleasing match against France's former World Champ, Jean-Philippe Gatien eventually prevailing in 5.

This set up 4 excellent 1/4 final matches with Samsonov facing Persson, Eloi v Schlager, Waldner v Ma, and Liu v Tan.  It looked like Tan would be too quick for Liu, but somehow (good coaching?) the Olympic champ prevailed.  Samsonov and Persson played a classic match that delighted the crowd.  Looping counter looping, a truly masterful display.  "The bounce was true.  The lighting was good.  You could see the ball well.  Very good playing conditions.", Persson would say afterward.

Eloi was the surprise here.  Playing well above his normal level and benefiting from Wang's sub par effort, he controlled Schlager from the first point on.  Never letting Werner into the match, Eloi became the first into the semi finals 3-0.  Waldner and Ma go back more than a decade to when Ma was the star of the Chinese team.  Almost 4 years ago, Ma was pushed off his team by a youth movement while J-O went on to win another world title.  Coming out of retirement late last year, Ma moved to Germany to play in the leagues there.  He has bulked up and his game is perhaps even better than when he was "in his prime".  Waldner, however, is the "Master" of table tennis.  This 5 gamer was as exciting as any they had played in the past.  J-O moved on in 5 brilliant games.

The semi match up of Samsonov and Eloi was a no contest as the BeloRussian showed why he is ranked number one in the world.  The Frenchman had no answers for any of Samsonov's tactics.  Eloi's getting into double figures was in doubt in each game.  In the 3-0 sweep he only did it twice.

It was just the opposite in the Waldner v Guoliang match.  "This is very high level table tennis!", teammate Persson observed.  Indeed it was.  Each player utilized a constantly evolving game.  As one would adjust, the other would counter the adjustment.  The play was brilliant! The differences in the two countries game philosophy became evident during the match.  "The Swedes tend to let their players think on their own during the matches while the Chinese rely much more on the coaches controlling game strategy during the match", observed 5 time US Champion Sean O'Neill in discussing the outcome.  This was evident in game 3 when Waldnerseized control and dominated what seemed to be a mesmerized Liu.  Between games the Chinese coach was animated as if to say 'what are you doing!?  Do as I say.'  Both sides used their time outs in the crucial game 4.  At 18 all, the Swede missed an absolute sitter long.  It seemed to break his spirit as Liu then ran out the game and match.  It was Liu's 10th straight win over Waldner.

The finals pitted World #1 and #2.  It was televised with a 1/2 hour delay throughout Europe.  A classic match-up between the penholder Liu and the big tall European shake hander Samsonov.  Guoliang's mastery of the "penshake" backhand proved decisive in this match.  The standard penhold grip is very vulnerable to attack on the backhand side forcing the player to have near perfect footwork (like Kim Taek Soo).  With the new wrinkle employed by Ma Lin and Liu, it reverses some of this strategy.  Combining two different rubber types and modifying the grip in the middle of rallies leads to pace and spin changes that can prove fatal to the opponent.  Samsonov, utilizing an even more economical game than Waldner's almost worked through Liu's strategy.  He had chances throughout the 4th game to take the match, but when it got deep into the 5th, it became apparent that Liu was the best at this particular tournament.  While he would falter over the next few events, on this day this week, he was the best.

Complete story and more pictures coming soon!
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