Boys look at the Stars
Ping-Pong
by
Enzo Pettinelli
SMASHWORDS EDITION
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Copyright © 2011 by Enzo Pettinelli
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A special thanks goes to Sandra Boschetti for having translated the ebook from Italian to English.
Another special thanks goes to Nicola Falappa for having helped me to draft the ebook
Index
1961 - In China more than 200 milion people play
1964 - He smashes the balls at 100 kph
1968 - The age group is growing
SHIGEO ITOH - EBERHARD SCHöLER
1971 - Touched he gives 3 table
1971 - New information excites the group
1974 - The boys make some witty remarks
THE COMING OF THE LONG PIMPLED RUBBER
1976 - This time it’s a Frenchman
1976 - It’s a question of wavelength
1977 - They would have never done it
1980 - It isn’t a mysterious chinese rubber
1981 - Then it spread all around the world
1982 - The mysteries of the Great Wall
1983 - The group is interested in the novelty
1988 - Suddenly a phone call arrives
1991 - The best play is the Swedish
1992 - With ping-pong you can get rich
1994 - In England the title is won by a Belgium
1995 - Two hours study and six of training
The coming of the modern racket
It’s always a great honor for me to present Enzo Pettinelli’s latest work, both personally and institutional. The new work, entitled “The boys look at the stars”, which will be only on the web, perfectly joins two basic aspects of table tennis that Enzo Pettinelli, with his great experience, knows very well.
Putting together the world of the big champions that have left a sign with their presence, their unforgettable performances, the most important world exhibitions, and the world of the boys that see in table tennis a way to play, enjoy themselves and dream, seems to me really a marvelous intuition which will be certainly appreciated by everybody.
Enzo's work, with which the author also wants in his way celebrate the 150th anniversary of the reunification of Italy, can be placed as an important cultural project, in the strengthened collaboration that there is among our federation, the TT of Senigallia and the Federal Centre of the Marques town. Passion and emotions on one side, technology and innovation on the other side are the fundamental parts of an idea that I wish to have all the success that it deserves also for the good of our common love table tennis.
Franco Sciannimanico
Fitet's President.
It is not only ping-pong or table-tennis. It is an adventure lived by children, through their way of being. Love, cruelty, the story of the great champions from all the world, stimulates their creativity.
This tale is written in the style of a novel. The story has really happened. Dreams, reality, goals morality, the search of oneself, are the ingredients. This adventure takes place in a timeless space.
If you think that to get better, you always need to play with the better players, how did the best of your club become better than you?
1961 - In China more than 200 million people play
In a little Italian town, bathed by the Adriatic sea, about ten children play ping-pong with poor rackets. The club is still young. So is the managerial and technical staff. There’s only one table. All the afternoon, the children all soaked with sweat, talk, shout and challenge each-other. Suddenly one of their mates comes from the main door. Excited he shouts: “He’s a Chinese, Chuang Tse-Tung is the new world champion!”.
The match stops. They all go towards him. They want to know how the Chinese Champion plays, who was defeated in the final. Someone says he didn’t lose a set, some others say that in China more than 200 million people play ping pong. Everybody knows that in China, ping-pong is like football for us. After a while the challenges start again. Someone plays with a penhold grip, thinking that the grip might have some secret. He tries and invents some shots. The boys, waiting for their turn to play keep on arguing: “China has one thousand million people! Mao-Tse-Tung, head of the Government, plays ping-pong every day! At school they always play ping-pong. If you are good at playing you will pass the exams!” And the friends: “Let’s all go to China!”. Meanwhile the small club finds the money for some national tournament. Two promising young players draw the attention and are immediately called to play in an international match. For the group it’s a surprise and they celebrate.
CHUANG TSE-TUNG (Zhuang Zedong)
The Genius
Peking: Chuang wins his first World title
Chuang Tse-Tung, is the greatest talent of all times. He starts playing ping-pong on pavements. He used to draw a rectangle and to build a net using some bricks. Whenever Chuang, went out from his house, he used to have a ball in his pocket. This made him feel happy. With his friends he used to go to a park where there were dozens of open air tables. In winter they usually went to the public house. There for the first time he played against the elder players. They gave him advice and with them he trained with them at first. Throughout China all the Public Houses of the Communist Party, had ping-pong tables. The party wanted this.
At 13 he won his first important tournament. He joined the Public table-tennis school. He did not appreciate repetitive patterns. Whenever the trainer was not there, he used to play with his mates. The one who had won was called “big brother” until the next challenge. The trainer lets him go on. At the end of the match the trainer used to ask him to try the good shots he had done. Chuang tried, but he wasn’t able to repeat them. The trainer took the opportunity to explain to him what does training mean. He talked about socialism and the importance of representing his country in the world, all this through hard work.
A little crazy child
Chuang doesn’t neglect school. At home he practices the movements in front of the mirror; his mother with love says she has a little crazy child also because he speaks by himself while he corrects his movements.
During a visit of a famous trainer at the gymnasium Chuang sees the ball launched very high during the performance of the services. This strikes him. The day before a match a racket is given to him as a present. He tries it with his hand while he is in bed and falls asleep with it. The day after he wins the tournament. He is very happy because the party and the Nation take great care of the youngsters. One day it was raining and he arrived at the training soaked wet. He is the only one who arrived. The trainer touched, dries him up. For Chuang it’s a great day, he had the opportunity to play with his trainer. At Peking in the ‘58s, he performs the first friendly match against Hungary, and wins.
The passport
The day of the passport arrives. The door of the great wall opens. First out-door match, Oxford. The traffic impresses him. The double-decker buses, the shops. The leaded dogs. The people dressed all differently. The women with necklaces, bracelets, rings and neat as if they had never worked. He shook hundreds of hands, all soft, with no corns. He finds the people warm and nice. The places are luxury and dazzling. Chuang knows that somewhere someone works for them. He his playing in the land of imperialism. Chuang is excited, he feels the responsibility.
First match far from home
He loses the first set. In the second one he is losing for 15 to 2. He stops a moment. He hears a voice rising inside himself telling him: even if you don’t want to win, your country does. He feels better, he isn’t afraid anymore. He brings the points to 19 equal, then after with two dunks he wins 21 to 19. He wins in the last round. This victory hit the opponents and fills the Chinese delegation with pride. The Chinese preparation includes also a tournament in Scandinavia, in 1959. Chuang wins again.
Preparation for the World Championships
China trains for the World Championships that will take place in Peking in ’61. People say that in Japan there’s a very talented young player, Hasegawa, that is later called “wild lion”. The Chinese trainers are worried. They know that Hasegawa has won the Hungarian and the Yugoslav with the looping, a shot that Chinese don’t know. They decide to send some observers in Japan to study and understand. When they come back, the trainers decide to make some Chinese trainers play the same as Hasegawa. Chuang and the rest of the members of the National players complete their training.
Peking: World Championships
Chuang is very excited. He can’t fail. He knows that millions of Chinese, on air, will follow the event minute by minute. TV and newspapers from all over the world are there. The Chinese players also fear the Japanese Ogimura, called “the mind”, World Champion in ’54 and ’56. He is the favorite. Chuang, meets the “wild lion”. He loses the first set and in the second one the score is 0 to 7. He leaves the opponent too much time to the opponent who has a powerful hit but with long movements. Chuang knows he must anticipate. He anticipates, he serves fast and attacks. Hasegawa is surprised. Chuang puts all he has learnt during the training. He wins. Also Ogimura surrenders. Chuang is first and the Chinese places themselves in the first four positions. The 5 thousand spectators acclaim Chuang. He, calm greets the spectators. He knows that he has done his duty. He his modest. Like Mao used to say, one doesn’t exalt when wins nor discourage when loses. He his considered the genius of table-tennis. When he returns to his town, after the matches, the first thing he does is to go and see his first old ping pong’s trainer. He never forgets to bring him a little present. He will win three titles in the singles, 3 with the team and 1 in the men’s doubles.
From 1961 to 1966 he is number one in the world ranking. Then the great carrier interrupts. China isolates itself from the rest of the world. It locks itself up behind the great wall and begins the cultural revolution. He will be back in ’71 in Nagoya where the Chinese invite a delegation of American players. This event will be defined by the world’s press as the ping-pong’s diplomacy. China will obtain recognition from ONU instead of Formosa, today’s Taiwan.
Chuang, later, will become Minister of the sport. During the cultural revolution Chuang will be accused of being part of the “gang of the four”, an anti-Maoist politic group. He loses the assignment and is sent away from the town of Beijing (Peking) where there is the university of table-tennis. Later, thanks to a friend, he will be reinstated.
The Chinese people, in table-tennis, didn’t have their domain anymore. They will have to wait 8 years before they can get the title left by Chuang. Meanwhile, with the change of writing, Chuang Tse-Tung becomes Zhuang Zedong.
Perhaps the position he kept while waiting for the ball, frontal to the face of the racket enabled him to get ready more quickly to perform powerful shots even backhand. The racket is near the body and the left arm, then it is pushed forward high.
Whenever you lose, if you feel like laughing, your future will be bright.
1964 - He smashes the balls at 100 kph
The sandwich rackets came from Japan. The boys just think playing top-spin, and to make the ball go round. A Swedish has become the new European champion. He smashes the balls at 100 kph! The boys that were at the international match, say: “the Swedish and Hungarian players use only attack shots, without losing time exchanging the ball. They are players with a powerful body that have the right arm the double of the left arm!”
In the stories there is a mixture of reality and imagination. Meanwhile the boys check if their arm is bigger, they compare one another showing the muscle and making fun of each other. Some-one shows off. Others, embittered, don’t take any notice. The boy that chose to play like the Chinese, says: “the Chinese are small, but they are the best in the world”. And with great patience keeps on playing with the penhold grip, sure that soon or later he will beat everyone.
Aggressiveness
Malmoe: Johansson becomes European champion
High slim, long-limbed, with legs of a greyhound. Brown hair, smooth, pageboy cut. Fast and anticipated play. The smash is perfect: it’s like a cord of a bow that draws and charges. Then it goes and you can’t see where. I didn’t know him. When I heard about him they used to say: he smashes everything. He is a phenomenon. I had never seen a foreigner play. I was very curious. I used to ask for details. But about Johansson, the answer was always the same: he smashes.
Johansson was taken as subject for the study of the movements and we came to know him through the frames. Our club, at those times, had studied table-tennis through the Japanese magazine Butterfly that regularly published the sequences of the world’s best players. Everything was studied, in this way, in detail. The forehand smash of Johansson for example, I knew it in every little detail. Like also the backhand one, that had the same elegancy. In the ’60 Johansson was the maximum expression of the modern and western play. A model that couldn’t be copied. He could only inspire you like all champions. How often happened, in the club we spoke of every little news, also verbal. Then the enthusiasm, the desire of getting better, and all working hard to train. And smashing was a pleasure. You felt as if something inside yourself escaped to become free. When you smashed you felt good. But this couldn’t last long.
Johansson smashed everything, so we did, as soon one served, BOOM, immediately smashed. As time passed, nobody bothered to pick up the ball anymore. Because who collected the ball served. Then we discovered the remedy: the short service, very short, you couldn’t smash. A real and proper obstructionism. But Johansson could smash everything, but there was a way through.
Though it wasn’t true he always smashed. It couldn’t had been possible. But it was the shot that impressed . So it was decided to only play matches, to serve a bit each. Nobody was interested in winning. The important was smashing. As time passed the services were shorter and shorter and the smash became an anticipated top spin, with an high start. With great surprise this shot began to work, and it became a new shot that represented the base of our school in Senigallia and that we eventually discovered to be the famous looping performed by the “savage lion” Hasegawa.
Johansson slowly faded from our minds, along with that pure picture of aggressiveness. He had a kind of play that tended to purity, very fast, with the use of rotation. It was very near the Chinese school.
Memory
I remember him at the European games of the ’74 at Novi Sad, third in the singles. Second in the doubles with Bengsson. First in teams with Bengsson and Wikstrom. In ’64 and in ’66 he has been European champion in the single.
I remember the team matches where Sweden wins and owes everything to Wikstrom, number three of the Swedish team, Johansson – Orlowski in the team semifinal against Cecoslovacchia was the most beautiful match. Johansson sets up the play on velocity.. Orlowski has a pimpled racket on the backhand surface, and exchanges. The forehand top spin is fast and powerful. Strong legs. Johansson doesn’t leave the opponent return as he wants. Johansson foresees the shot and goes. The arm and forearm in “V” position, vertical, parallel to the body and high racket. The left foot moves and hits the parquet. The right leg kicks backwards and the body twists. The right elbow, the right and left shoulder and the left arm are on the same line traced by the smashed ball. The racket ends slightly bent nearly up the left shoulder. He is still and motionless like a statue. It’s an instant, an explosion. The ball is already out of control against the barrier. It’s a killer shot. You can see the start and arrival. The rest you must put together in your mind.
At this point the game has been improved in the use of forehand top spin with powerful rotations. And Orlowski performs it well. Those balls become very difficult to smash. So Johansson, in every set, smashes less, perhaps also for the age. The star Johansson slowly loses its brightness: in the end he surrenders to Orlowski, that will also win the single becoming the European champion. The team match will be saved by Wikstrom, with a play similar to Johansson’s, younger, fresher and perhaps with less responsibility. And the only heir of the smash, a little even for the play, but history doesn’t repeat itself. For Wikstrom it will be the most high moment and surely the most beautiful memory. For Johansson, the end has begun and he will take with himself that smash that enchanted for its aesthetic beauty and rapidity. And we shall not see anymore that face, with that released expression, along with that grin with his mouth slightly open.
I played against some-one that always smashed. The only thing I remember best are the barriers instead of the table.
1967 - I defeated a Chinese
The World Championships are back again, this time in Europe. With surprise a Japanese is the winner. The boys are charmed when they come to know that he plays with their same grip. They mock their “Chinese” mate. That defends himself by saying: “Also the Japanese play with a penhold grip, and are better than the European”.
Then the challenges start again and they decide that who is first, will be World champion. The boy that plays like a Chinese, is called by the others “China”, and when the others beat him, they say aloud and amused: “I defeated a Chinese!”.
The harmony
Stockholm: the Japanese Hasegawa triumphs at the World Championships
These World Championships were to be in Australia. At that time there was the Vietnam war. Australia supported America, that were involved in the conflict. To avoid the withdrawal of Vietnam and any other delegation, it was decided to hold the matches in Sweden.
Hasegawa considered the care of his body very important. He knows that thoughts won’t become action if his body isn’t perfect. He does Yoga. Meditation. Runs in open spaces. Does gymnastics. When he’s on an plane you can see him serious, along the plane’s hall do push-ups. At the final he wins his team mate Kohno. Hasegawa has already won the team title and the mixed double. Three golden medals. A real triumph.
Hasegawa has a very classic play, that comes from inside himself. He is elegant, strong and has defined muscles. His play is fluent and oval. There aren’t abrupt interruptions, no edges. His movement is round and soft. Every action seems a ballet dance. The straight hand top is ahead of its times. Nobody used it, that way. His grip is nearly European. He kept the index finger longitudinal along and in the centre of the racket. The finger is the extension of the hand, lined up with the arm. Hasegawa has two sandwich rubbers.
You don’t realize the movements are made using the legs. Everything is made without strain. His arms are the focus of the action, like the wings of the seagull for its flight. The Japanese girls go crazy for him and don’t leave him in peace. His play is aesthetic, pure: the balls and the table are the equipment.
Music and movement
He is against the traditional, utilitarian Japanese school trend. When you see him play you can avoid watching the balls flight. If you do, and just watch him play, you won’t be able to take your eyes off him. When Hasegawa moves it’s like music. The racket becomes a ballet tool. He plays the backhand top spin as well as the forehand one. The 90% of the Europeans use the pimpled racket on the backhand. Among the forehand and backhand play there is symbiosis. The two arms, when opening and closing, fill the scene. The path of his limbs describe a magic curve in the air. When you go back watching the other players they seem incomplete or like scared and clumsy crabs.
Hasegawa will be remembered for his harmony which he exasperates, enhances, and exposes. He maybe wouldn’t have become a World champion just for the aesthetic of his movements, like other big champions, Surbek, Secretin, Stipancic, Schöler, Johansson, Bercic, etc… but we would have all the same remembered him for the extraordinary aesthetic contribution he gave to the sport.
If you lose a match and the opponent tells you have been clever, don’t believe him: he just wants to encourage you to play the same way you did.
1968 - The age group is growing
An elder boy is attending University in an important town, where ping-pong is played in University clubs. They bring the news of what they have seen at the European Championships. A Yugoslav has won the title. So the story starts.
They all listen with their mouths open: “Surbek the champion, before playing, concentrates one hour still just watching the ball”. Some one tries, after a while the challenges start. Some think they can already play better. The group is stimulated by every news that comes from abroad. Meanwhile the managerial and technical staff has given an ethic moral and is studying a technical kind of play, that all follow enthusiastically.
The tiger of Zagabria
Lyons: Surbek becomes European champion against the defender Börzsei (Hungary)
Croatian, 1.85 high, strong and out standing muscles, no fat. Large shoulders. Thin waist. Explosive thighs. When he bends and gets ready to play he looks like a Sumo fighter. His first love, the 400 mts. The second, table-tennis. He will keep playing at the top world ranks over his 40 years. Dragu, this is his nick name. At the Barcelona Olympics, he carries the Croatian flag during the games’ opening parade. With the backhand he checks and gets prepared to attack. With the forehand he opens the play and begins a real and proper battle especially physical. The opening of the top spin with the forehand is a model. He brings the racket below and launches it with a fast movement of the forearm on the ball. Then he instantly stops. He doesn’t bring the movement high. He isn’t fast enough to bring the racket low and reply. Even his body keeps low, and moves back. He is ready to start. His mass doesn’t allow him to be fast near the table, unless he is able to quickly push the opponent back. His best play is at the medium and long distance.
Surbek invades the playgrounds
He fights on each ball. He never let’s one pass without having tried to catch it. It doesn’t matter how. He throws himself on it as the tiger on its prey. If it passes high many meters high and goes across to fall far away, he is under. He runs backwards. He turns. He jumps over the barriers. He invades the playgrounds where the others are playing. He avoids, jumps the obstacles. He squeezes somebody to avoid him fall. So all the players of the “parterre” stop. They look at him. They aren’t upset with him . They are delighted. Surbek can always perform a great number. It’s better not to miss it. He, Surbek running with his nose upwards. Trying to guess if there are still obstacles under. He always watches upwards. The ball passing over. All in a few seconds. When the ball will come down he will have to hit it back. Right down where it left the table. And where the opponent is already ready to hit it once again. So to have more time, he will reply as high as he can. This way he will have more time to move. Not only high, but with the top spin effect. So when the ball will touch the table it will bounce faster, higher and longer. And this play can last 2,3,5,8 times. The spectators, keep their breath, they want to clap their hands. But you can only clap at the end of the game. With Surbek you often can’t resist. The game seems over. The spectators start clapping. But Surbek catches a lost ball. Then the clapping becomes an ovation, there below there’s a giant that can’t stop anymore, that throws, that runs. Back and forward, laterally, then falls, he gets up and then runs again. At the end, it doesn’t matter who did the point, the clapping is always for him, the clapping at the end becomes a chorus: Dragu, Dragu, Dragu. Watching him is a show. The giant that runs with his nose stuck in the air: in ecstasy. With his calm face, like a child opening a present. Thus you think at his heart and not at his power and mass.
If I lose at ping-pong I’m embittered. If I get a bad mark at school, my parents are embittered. What a misrepresented family.
1969 - The arrival at Munich
The boy that is studying at University, is back from the World Championships of Monaco. This time he had with himself a 8 mm. camera. The projection. Excitement and expectancy. Pictures from the train, the arrival at Monaco. The ice palace has been prepared for the big sport’s event. Loads of people at the entrance. The boy of the University says that destiny played a dirty trick on the organizers. Spring is late. The first days you suffer the cold, you have the impression of being still on the ice. The German people try to solve the problem. Obviously ice palaces don’t have central heating. So they bring hundreds of electric fires that they put around the palace. In the film you see thousands of spectators.
The boys are surprised to see all those adults. The movements of Hasegawa impress them, he opens and closes the arms at every shot. The boys give him the nick name of Seagull. Then they see Schöler, and once again they are amazed, because they see him play, during the first matches, like a forward, knowing he is the biggest defender in the world. And then...
SHIGEO ITOH - EBERHARD SCHöLER
The end of the defences
Munich: final for the World-Wide title
They’ve got to face the indoor player Schöler, 29 years old self-taught and the Japanese Itoh, 24 years old. For the first time two players with glasses reach the final.
Schöler is ready to start: tall, dark, always elegant and his appearance is cared both in the look and in the game. He is a defender of great class. When he meets not very strong players his play is decisive and essential.
Though his maximum expression is in the performance of the chop defence. The movement is clear. He throws the racket backwards and pushes it forward, he stops it when it touches the ball. It looks like a lunge in fencing. Right arm and right leg forward and left arm high, behind. He is still, and the ball starts where the racket stops. He intercalates sudden offensive shots, masking them with a defensive movement, surprising the spectators and the opponent.
He plays far away from the table and he uses a racket with smooth rubbers, (not one for defenders). The posture is original, always with the right leg forward (right hand player) he seems a swordsman. You don’t see him running breathless or in difficulty behind the ball; he is always ready to strike standing still with style and elegance.
Schöler’s thought
During an interview they asked him how he is able of this ability; he answered that it isn’t him that goes to the ball, but the ball that comes to him. The truth is that after every shot, he moves very fast to go where the ball will come back. The spectators watch the ball go to the other part, so they don’t notice Schöler’s movement. Therefore when the ball is hit by the opponent, Schöler makes the last correction, so to the spectators eyes he seems standing still on his legs when he moves the arm.
Itoh’s thought
Itoh is the last Japanese heir of the technical revolution of the smooth rubber. He mainly plays forehand and uses only a part of the racket. Impressive lateral movements.
He has a penhold grip with a wide offensive performance and powerful top spin.
His thought: a Japanese athlete is able to become strong “in the spirit” because with great seriousness always fights to get to know “how should a man be” in table-tennis. He tested 50 rackets in a year.
The match takes place in the Ice rink, it’s full of people, many spectators will have to watch it on TV.
The first two sets go through smooth, the German checks the aggressiveness of the opponent. Schöler gains a point jumping the base barrier of the pitch rectangle, he defends himself with deadly spin shots. Then he jumps back in the rectangle and with an offensive shot, he gains the point. The spectators stand and clap their hands for over 5 minutes. It’s a standing ovation. Perhaps for this point he played the world-wide title. The gratification, the long interruption, aren’t good for concentration in table-tennis.
The two sets end. Two – zero for Schöler. The match continues, it’s the third set. The match is full of suspense. The German spectators foretaste the first title that they could win in their history. Schöler at the end of the set leads for 19 to 18. Then he will give up for 21 to 9.
Itoh asks for a break
We are at two sets against one for Schöler. Itoh asks for 5 minutes break (today this break isn’t allowed anymore). He sits on the ground at the corner of the game pitch, he covers himself with a towel and takes out from is bag a little book and reads it until the end of the break. We never came to know about its content.
Itoh in the 4th set uses the top spin with an impressive fan movement. Stubby legs, always ready they move nonstop from left to right and vice versa, like none of the Europeans can dream of ever doing. Then he hurls on the ball bending forward as if he is hitting with an axe, sending backwards with a kick the right leg. Schöler goes up and down in all directions of his playground rectangle without being seen. Then the spectators see him again still, like a target that must be hit. Schöler spins and the ball seems running on a thread, then you see him rise again, always in different spots of his game area. Neat, elegant, remote, maybe with pain inside. He will lose also the 4th set 2 against 2. In the fifth set Schöler feels the story has already been written. He is tired, Itoh hits the ball with growing violence. For the spectators it’s the end of the spell. The ball doesn’t go to Schöler anymore, that is now far away, exhausted and not tuned with the play.
Schöler with honor
Nobody better than him will honor the end of the classic defense. He will give up at the fifth set for 21 to 9. Schöler will lose the world-wide final and without batting an eyelid he will shake the opponents hand. The spectators clap their hands, but they feel a dream has been lost for ever. Itoh, even if he has won, falls in tears and is taken by his mates.
With the coming of the new rubbers, no defender will arrive so close to the world title and slowly the defenses will disappear from the high world rank.
I pay, after each lesson. The trainer smiles at me and says thank you. Just like the woman at the restaurant.
1971 - Touched he gives 3 table
The boys of the small Club celebrate. A little court has been covered for them. A sport equipment sales representative comes by. He sees all the children play on an old table. Touched he gives 3 as a gift. So the story goes on. It’s a new beginning for all the Club.
The gymnasium fills up. They all want to play. It’s the ping-pong diplomacy...
Nagoya - Japan
Clenn Cowan, captain of the American table-tennis team, was invited by the Chinese players for a tournament around China. We are at the World Championships in Nagoya. The Chinese win the team matches. Bengtsson an eighteen year old Swedish, will win the single.
China, owing to Mao’s cultural revolution, had cut off all political, cultural and sport contacts with all the world. It only had left the doors open to the world’s ping-pong federation. But for ten years China didn’t take part in any of the official competitions. So it was in Nagoya that took place the great world event. Jumping all the official diplomatic channels, China just used the contacts with the common people and presented itself at the Championships. The Chinese Prime Minister Ciu En-Lai, in a very nice interview of Edgar Show gave the message that the opening was directed to the people from other people, instead between governments.
China had been for ten years like an island in the world: you couldn’t get in or get out. The Great Wall was the symbol of incomprehension. China was represented by Formosa for ONU.
The doors of the Great Wall open
With the isolation before and then the surprise of the invitation made to the American players (which had an explosive effect), the ping-pong diplomacy period starts. The case is immediately sensational all around the world. Following there will be the warm welcome of the USA team in China which will be a success both political and advertising. Newspapers and TV of all the world talk about it. Meanwhile the American president Nixon will start the normalization of the relations. The Chinese will end their diplomatic strategy, with a tournament which will touch many nations. The ex three times world champion Chuang Tse-Tung (now Zhuang Zedong, for the change of writing) will go for a tour in Sweden and will end the carrier without ever losing a match in 10 years.
They have scored the last point hitting the net and the edge. What shall I tell my trainer about the other ten points?
1971 - New information excites the group
A little comfort arrives. The youngsters study till 18 years old. The years for playing are longer. New information excites the group. At a friend’s home you can watch a TV channel from abroad, which always broadcasts sport. This time it will broadcast the final of the world ping-pong title that will be played in Japan.
We all go to the appointment and wait. They prognosticate with hazard, everyone is thrilled. A little moment of panic, caused by the mist on the screen. Then the picture. A sigh of relief. Silence...
Will and youth
Nagoya: Stellan Bengtsson becomes world champion at 18 years beating the Japanese Shigeo Itoh, champion in charge
Tiny Stellan starts playing sports at 7 years of age. He practices wrestling, handball and table-tennis. At 12 he decides for table-tennis. The sport with no physical contact, it exalts his capacity of skill and sensitivity. At 15, during a gymnastics lesson at school, he falls and fractures his left elbow. He soon finds out that its serious especially because he is a left handed player. He is admitted into hospital for 2 weeks. He undergoes 3 surgical operations. In his elbow, they fit him with a silver plate. He will never be able to fully stretch his arm.
His dream
At the night of the third operation he has a dream: he finds himself in an athletics stadium. He has 2 rackets, one in each hand; he raises and moves them. He lifts himself from the ground and then with amazement he starts flying. Think how many things can be done with table-tennis rackets. He leaves the athletics ground. He is flying through the buildings. The windows are lighted. Inside every window, young kids are playing this sport. He thinks of his left arm which is no longer in pain. He is tempted by entering one of the windows to play. He feels that its more beautiful to fly. He moves his arms. He flies high, above the houses, he feels agile and happy. On top of the roofs, he can see nests. They are all full of table-tennis balls. Doesn't it seem like something strange. The kids playing in the building are in need of balls. Later he thinks that he has to return, he has been missing a long time from home. He has so many things to tell, the arm is cured...
Suddenly he wakes up. Its only a dream. The left arm is lying on the bed, motionless. It will take 3 months of re-education before regaining the normal condition.
The doctors advise him to continue playing for rehabilitation. At Stockholm, a contest takes place between Sweden and Japan. Stellan won't miss a single training session as a spectator. He is curious and asks himself loads of questions. Then he becomes Ogimura's friend. Before the accident, his forehand was much stronger than his backhand. But now he can’t strain his forehand so much as he feels pain, whilst he can play freely with his backhand. He places himself at the centre of the table and favors this play. As time goes by, slowly he introduces the forehand into his play. He learns how to move his legs well. He can't extend his arm as he did before.
He leaves his studies and at 17 the Swedish federation sends him to Japan for 3 and a half months. For him this will be the turning point. During the first month he trains at the university of Nichidai. He beats all of his opponents. Then he goes from city to city. He trains and plays matches with Tasaka, Inoue, Kimura and Takahashi. His friendship with Ogimura is of importance and surprise. He gives him technical, psychological and scientific advice on play. He is also taught how in Asian culture, the respect of the opponent is of notable importance. He makes him understand that when you win you don't need to exalt, its only a moment and you always need to look ahead. Then he trains with Itoh and Hasegawa. They become friends. Stellan has a lot of respect for their behavior, both during a match or outside it. They also play loads of matches. He beats Hasegawa only once. Against Itoh, instead he will never win. Stellan trains well, he manages to resist 6 hours of training per day. He observes everything and at night before going to sleep, he makes notes and puts his ideas into order.
The big day
The big day of the world finals at Nagoya arrives.
The organization is perfect. The favorite is Itoh, his training partner at the Japanese exhibition which finished recently. Stellan doesn't want to think about the possible outcome. He is not interested in the route that could be reflected in the table. Ogimura has given him all the advise in order to improve his play. But most of all he has given him serenity and has talked to him as a friend
The single matches start. Hasegawa comes out. Bengtsson beats the Chinese Xi Ehting in the semifinals. Itoh beats Yugoslavian Surbek. The moment of truth has arrived. Bengtsson has Itoh in front of him. He doesn't feel any emotion, he is concentrated on the tactics. He knows that with his backhand he must angle his response both on the left and right. The stadium is packed. The crowd is mostly Japanese. Even Ogimura at London in '54 had all the crowd against him. First set 21-17 for Bengtsson, second set for Itoh. Bengtsson, just 18, doesn't give up, he takes time from his opponent. The Japanese public sustain the same chant until the end of the match, even though Bengtsson will leave his opponent in two successive sets 13-10.
3-1 for Bengtsson. Europe celebrates and invades the Swedish bench. It had been since 1953 that Europe hadn't won. When Bengtsson was born, Europe was losing the world dominion. With his 18 years Bengtsson will become the hero of young kids.
For the Asians instead, it was the end of their power, to see stepping on the highest rank of the podium, that "samurai" coming from the cold north, where the nights are lighted from the fantastic colors of the boreal dawns.
If you think losing isn’t useful, ask your opponent.
1973 - I want to go to Russia
In the group, a new problem worries everybody. When they take part in a competition, they have discovered that some players use a rubber called “anti-spin”. The play they know how to do, doesn’t work anymore. They lose and are disappointed. Players that were incapable now win. They are the dread of every tournament. They discus the problem. One says: “They were unpleasant before, now they are hateful”. Another points out: “why don’t they do it like for tennis, where everybody plays with the same racket?”. A third says: “ a friend has stopped, because with this rubber it’s not ping-pong. This rubber is to save those players which are incompetent, but makes thousands leave”.
The boys talk about how this sport is spreading all over the world. More talking is done about Bengtsson who is only 18. They feel him near to them. They come to know about an important news, in the Soviet Union, 2 million people have a membership card. And immediately say: “only here ping-pong isn’t considered, it’s the federation’s fault! It’s football’s fault!”. Then: “In Russia a ping-pong player is considered like an athlete of any other sport”. This makes them feel better. The best of every sport get employed in the factories to work half day so that the other half day they can play ping-pong. To the boys it seems a dream, to play and be paid. One says: “I want to go to Russia too”. Me too! Me too!
Talent and purity
He was born in 1947, in Georgia (USSR). When he was young he practiced athletics and football. Table-tennis for him was like a hobby. Then at 11, he decides that table-tennis will be his sport. He comes out quickly. At 19 he is selected for the European Championships in London. In the first team match event, USSR must meet the powerful Yugoslavia. There is no hope. In a meeting amongst players, Sarkis says that winning is possible. His coach, gets him into the team, a bit for his play and a bit on trust. Sarkis will get 3 points and USSR wins the match 5-2. He will never again leave the national team. At the Europeans USSR will only lose against Sweden in the final.
Left handed, introverted, a natural talent. He surpasses everyone in the selections of all the best players of the 15 countries of the Soviet Union. Sarkis, hasn't got either European or Asian technique. He plays with smooth worn out rubbers. He changes them when he remembers. Its like racing in cars, with wheels without tread. His play is based on attacking. He has no physical preparation. He doesn't go jogging. He has no training routines. He doesn't use the top spin. He does whatever possible to simplify the play. He only trusts his own talent. He seems like the product of a revolution, distant and forgotten; lonely and tired he has no desire for innovation.
He seems to live by the day. His instinctive play tends to his preservation. In his country he is a myth. The USSR has more than 2 million registered players. The party select the trainers. They don't know much about table-tennis. It doesn't serve to maintain the position. They give a racket to "Tolstoi" and wait for the opera.
Sarkis, the great occasion
1973, Sarajevo: world finals. For the assignation of the titles in the team event, you play in two groups of excellence. In the first one: China, Sweden, Hungary, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Austria. In the second: Japan, Yugoslavia, Germany, France, England, Czechoslovakia and USSR. The first two of each group, in a final of four teams, will compete for the title. After a first stage the four teams promoted: Sweden, China, Japan and Russia will now be in parity.
The most important moment arrives for the USSR: they need to beat China to get on the highest step of the podium. The team matches develop in this way: 3 Chinese players against 3 Russian players.
Each player must meet all 3 opponents one at a time, a total of 9 matches. The team that arrives up to 5 wins. Each match is played to the best of 2 out of 3 sets. For Russia Sarkhajan comes out. For China Hsu Shao-Fu, famous in the world for his serves with high balls, of more than 3 meters in height. Sarkhajan really suffers with serves in the first set, but wins the match 2-0. 1-0 for Russia. Second match, Strokatov-Li Ching-kuang, 2-0. Third match Gomozkov-Tia Wen-Yuan, 0-2. 2v1 for Russia. Sarkhajan wins easily even against the other two Chinese, whilst his team-mates won't even get a point. 5v4 for China.
Sarkhajan falls into tears: his great effort has been vain. The doors to the finals have closed. Perhaps he has been the greatest talent of all times. He doesn't trust the new rubber that has revolutionized table-tennis. His opponents change it after ten hours of play. His rubbers are decrepit and have turned yellow. His partners say that he has not changed them for 3 years. He seems to fear the contamination of the new. It gives you the impression that he wishes to give his back to culture and rules. And to the continuous research of himself, of primordial truth, without mediation. He is discovering the first day of life in order to get to know his true identity, pre-cultural. This inevitable fear of the new, penalizes him. He is aware of this. But his way of being is pure. His play seems oratorical. He controls the attacks of the opponents with simple and unexpected answers.
Prague ‘76
During the European Championships in Prague 1976, I spoke to a player before he met Sarkhajan in the singles: he was scared by the thought of playing against each other. Both of them are leaders of their own nations. But the first, to the contrary of Sarkhajan had adopted the rubbers of the "revolution" and they were always new ones. He stroked them continually to get rid of the impurities that the ball leaves during play. He was entrusted to the new and only asked for it. His play was repetitive, monotonous and expensive. During the match he runs, runs and never arrived to the ball. Sarkhajan instead seemed to think otherwise and distracted he pushed the ball to the right and left.
The opponent, sweating, red, run, shot, run, shot and run again. 3-0, he had quit running and now more red carried out his shots with his head down. Sarkis perhaps has never ever won a singles match in international terms, because in his country, the modern rubbers were not used. The effort to adapt continually to each opponent, at the end cost him a lot of fatigue in concentration.
At world level Sarkis Sarkhajan is the great talent. For Russia, his talent is seen as a divine gift. He must do nothing to win. Nearly immobile, at the centre of the table without fatigue. With the record of 28 gold medals in the Soviet Championships he becomes the "Zar of all Russia".
For Christmas they bought me a new racket, making me promise I’d do better at school. I really don’t understand how they can think that, playing at ping-pong, can make me become more clever at school?!
1974 - The boys make some witty remarks
The boys take part with success in regional and national competitions. The most clever even take part in international activities with the club and with the national team. So they can compare their school. The new European champion is from Czechoslovakia. Physically strong, with an even play. He has always beautiful blonde girls around him.
The boys make some witty remarks, but they like the news. They think that with ping-pong you can easily break some hearts. At the end a boy says to his friend: “But you, can’t play ping-pong, and you aren’t handsome either”.
The handsome gentlemen
Novisad: Orlowski becomes European Champion
Orlowski, Czechoslovakian, nice smile, clean face of an adolescent, powerful body of a sprinter, attack minded player with a powerful exchange. Women like him. When he plays there is always a small group of ladies that are present and support him.
Orlowski beats Johansson (Swedish) in the semifinals, already champion in '66. In the other semifinal Gergely beats the landlord, Surbek. The stadium is always crowded. Yugoslavia is the land with great traditions of players and competitions. The television with live broadcast always screen the table-tennis played both in the country or abroad. The public is competent, warm, with frequent expressions of color and doesn't take sides.
Finals for the title
Title match. Orlowski comes out on the field. While walking to the table of play he turns to the stand where a group of girls applaud him as if he had already won. He smiles. Gergely gets the advantage quickly 5-0. During a serve he hits the net 3 consecutive times. (In table-tennis there is no limit. You can hit the net infinitely, you always repeat.) Then Gergely takes the points to 11-1. Orlowski is in problems, he loses the first set. But he picks himself up and wins the second. He goes with easy alternations. They get level two sets each. Then the deciding match, fifth and last set for the roof of Europe. Gergely to the serve. Orlowski's fans make a devilish chant. They don't calm down. Gergely waits impatient, (in table-tennis you play in silence) silence returns. Gergely breaks. Orlowski plays more powerfully and secure. From the stands silence. From the table, the tinkles of the ball. The sounds of ping pong ping pong sum up like the seconds of a clock towards conclusion. Gergely seems to want to delay. Orlowski to accelerate. 21-15 for Orlowski. Immersed in the applause some fans rush from the stands in order to invade the pitch. Orlowski escapes towards the bench. His companions pick him up and throw him up. He smiles happily. The fans make a circle, they wait and scream. Above is paradise, below a case of hell. In this year Orlowski will have his best world ranking reaching the third place.
If one of your team mates doesn’t want to play with you, using as an excuse that you make him lose his rhythm, let the opponent do it for you.
1975 - A new shot
Like a long wave arrives the news that an Hungarian has become world champion. The information about his play charm with fantasy the young group. A boy says: “He has invented a new shot!” And then explains the novelty.
The ball doesn’t trace a parabolic curve like for the top-spin, this does an horizontal parabolic curve. The boys try hard and with expectancy to discover the secrets of the new shot.
Inventor of the Sidespin
Calcutta: Jonyer world champion
Istvan Jonyer, 25 years old n° 9, Hungarian, becomes world champion. In the finals he beats Stipancic, Yugoslavian, 21-19 at the fifth set. Jonyer, as a kid used to play football. At 14 he got close to table-tennis and has learnt, listening to the advise of friends. He didn't have a coach that soon. His harmony doesn't occur through obligated figures. Jonyer hasn’t a particular grip in play. The racket isn't held firm in the hand. He moves it continuously, it seems that it is going to slip from him from one moment to another. When he strikes the ball you don't know if the racket is located in the correct position. If you play against him you feel a bit of discomfort. But if you observe him from the stand, you only see the evolution of the gestures. He plays a bit withdrawn with respect to the average, so his gestures are more wide. A bit like fireworks, first low, intense, that later explode in all directions. To have a lot of kind of grips makes you lose time. But you can have more freedom in the evolution of the gesture.
Total player
Jonyer could not be content only playing with his feet. His mind speaks to the rest of his body. With his fingers in continuous movement on the racket it seems that he wants to modify the equipment for every shortcoming. His shots in the game are always more delicate. Powerful shots are made with long strokes. He doesn't strike the ball, he makes it fly, he gives it a spin which acts as the motor for the trajectory, not for making the opponent mistake or make an illogical parable. His aerial play seems to be remote controlled, the geometric curves are beautiful, exalting. They all pass above the table of play, fast and luminous. When the match ends some parables remain printed in the mind, sculptured, in motion. Along with a happy face with a bag strapped to his shoulder, slightly rocking and moving away from the area of play.
The new shot
Loads of people have tried to imitate him. After the victory of the world title, the side spin has gone on tour around the world. At every tournament you could see players that used it at the wrong time. They all felt like young Jonyer's . He was the most noticeable champion for us Europeans. His slow play meant that you had more time to observe him. Strong physique, tall, with an all round musculature. Luminous look with the expression of a good boy always smiling. When he stops talking and getting the word, at the end of the conversation he always ends up in happiness. When he faces difficult moments in play, if you look at his face he always seems excited. It seems as if he is looking forward to the pleasure of seeing the other peoples expression when he succeeds changing the predictions.
I remember Jonyer, 1985 at Senigallia
After having visited the Olympic Centre still in construction, with Costantini we went to carry out a training session in the small gym by San Martino. It was summer: in this period we didn’t play much. The gym was full of dust. Jonyer with nonchalance had asked for a broom. Jonyer, anticipated and got it, leaning on it whilst talking. Then he came to me asking: why do you shoot so powerfully in Italy? I tried to explain that everything was born from the use of Chinese coaches that had from '79 forced all players to concede the 3 exchanges, but I prefer not to comment. Jonyer explained that the play has to be prepared and he brought the example of Hungary, world champion at Pyongyyang, with Gergely and Klampar. Jonyer in the meantime had started to clean the gym, very naturally with simplicity. A great example that I will never forget. Then the training. Jonyer was always delicate in his preparatory play, followed by progressive accelerations. In that play you could find the answer to all that he could not understand of our way of playing.
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