01 Jul 2020

Reminiscing about Olympic memories, training hard and a big appointment to the WTT council, this week’s "Player Watch" is packed with content. So, let’s proceed straight into the action:

by Simon Daish

Olympic Day 2020

On Tuesday 23rd June sports fans across the world celebrated Olympic Day 2020, a special commemorative occasion to highlight the magic of the iconic event. A number of table tennis pros also partook in the celebrations with their own personal dedications:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Olympic Day! 🥰🥰🥰🤙🏼🤙🏼🤙🏼!!!

A post shared by Mo Zhang (@momodream0717) on

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Happy Olympic Day ❤️

A post shared by Khaled Assar (@khaledassar20) on

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Olympic Day ☺️#olympicday #olimpics #happyolympicday #rio2016

A post shared by Natalia Partyka (@npartyka) on

Preparation continues

As you may have seen over the past few weeks in particular, the stars have been ramping up their fitness work ahead of their eventual return to action and this week was no different.

Young French player Marie Migot and Czech Republic’s Hana Matelova have been training together on the table:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Duss practice, enjoying the game. With @hmatelova Etival power! 💪🏿😘

A post shared by Marie Migot (@mmigot) on

Dimitrij Ovtcharov has been working on his service game:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Never too late for a serve session 😉🏋️‍♀️

A post shared by Dima Ovtcharov (@dimaovtcharov) on

While Suh Hyowon continues to perfect her high ball toss technique:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

#스카이서브 🏓 더더 높게 던지기 😆

A post shared by 서효원 (@suh_hyowon_) on

What else have the stars been getting up to?

Aside from reflecting on Olympic memories and training hard, what else have the stars been doing to preoccupy their time over the past week?

Ibrahima Diaw has been enjoying a spot of kayaking in Sweden:

Hugo Calderano appears to have perfected the back flip dunk:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Backflip-dunk workout 😄💪 #backflip #dunk

A post shared by Hugo Calderano – Table Tennis (@hugocalderano) on

And Debora Vivarelli wowed us with her incredible flexibility:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

no better place than home 🏔@visitsouthtyrol

A post shared by Debora Vivarelli (@deboravivarelli) on

Liu Guoliang receives warm welcome

In other news, Chinese table tennis icon Liu Guoliang has taken up a new role as Chair of the World Table Tennis Council with his main responsibilities including taking overall leadership and responsibility for pioneering the future of table tennis.

Liu’s arrival has received wide praise from the table tennis community:

The voice of table tennis himself, Adam Bobrow, also posted his congratulations:

Read more about Liu Guoliang’s new position here.

General News Dimitrij Ovtcharov Hugo Calderano Zhang Mo Natalia Partyka Suh Hyowon liu guoliang Hana Matelova Marcelo Aguirre Ibrahima Diaw Marie Migot Khalid Assar Debora Vivarelli