by Harry
Hardbat Tournament at $100,000
No kidding!
Last 5 posts by Harry
- VICENTE HAO CHIN SR. Memorial Cup Bicol Table Tennis Championships - July 23rd, 2010
- Vernlen Age Group Table Tennis Tournament - July 22nd, 2010
- Inter Company Table Tennis Cup 2010 Results - July 22nd, 2010
- 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou - July 22nd, 2010
- Why Play Table Tennis? - July 12th, 2010
Popularity: 4% [?]
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Dapat simulan nang ligawan nang TATAP ang San Miguel Beer sa ‘pinas!
Then Bud Light USA Champion vs San Miguel Philippine Champion.
Yep, kaya nga sa billiards eh.
no confusion pls. hardbat ito , (not liha)
for clarification lang naman ito
the so called :barna racket as most filipinos knows it by that name
itong tourney na ito – pakana ni marty reisman (behind)
the hardbat icon ng amerika!!!!
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ang di ko matanggap sa konsensya ko- pati liha(daw)- sya din daw ang
`liha `king ng mundo despite 76 yrs old na sya !pati liha sinakop na nya in a sweeping statement.kahit pa million piso ang pusta -hamon nya
payag ba kayo?mga kababayan kong ponger sa mga sweeping statement na ganito ?
tagal ko ng kausap sya.
pete
@pete
Yup, hardbat and liha are different but they have something in common; players rely on their skills not equipment.
That is the beauty of table tennis, you still think that you are hard to beat even at that age. Hope we can bring Marty in PI and give him chance to prove his claim.
can we send our best lihador to the tourney to win
@Jojo
Nope, this is only for pongers who reside in US.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124078190514657141.html
si richard gonzales maruning/magaling din european hardbat
( according to him )
that scares me !!! bihirang player na may ganitong talent.
makes him a ‘grand slam’ player
liha, hardbat and goma – all around. 3 types.
how i wish may ‘grand slam’ sa table tennis rin not only tennis.
pinoy mananalo nyan
hope liha na ang kasunod sa ganyang prize.
lusob na mga kapatid kapag nakahanap ng butas- opportunity !!! ahahah
pete
sinasabi ko nga ba eh
last year binulong at binigyan na ako ng tip sa akin ni marty reisman ito.
at talangang nagkatutuo !!!
may kutob akong sya nga !
talagang may kakayanan sya yung influence nya.
sya nga ang may pakana etong $100,000 money game na ito- behind
big time si reisman
soon ilalagay na nya sa liha game
barya lang yung hamon nya sa atin na liha
na half to 1 million piso. – peso. and looks “weirdo” sa ganyang ‘kalaking” pera
we cant even come up with such money – oh boy!
for him to come and make it worthy of the trip for him to do so.
kahit pa sabihin natin – walang binatbat sya pagdating sa liha
paano na talaga makilala buong mundo ang galing ng ” pinoy”
eh karamihan yung mga lihador dito na may money game – informal ” kanto kanto” lang walang ‘ grande ang dating”
teka nga muna !
sang ayon ba kayo na lagyan ng pera ang table tennis.
dame opinion dito.
eh bakit , billiard boxing etc.meron at nakilala sa mundo sila pacquiao, at efren bata reyes.
walang “stigma’ sila kapag na lagyan ng pera itong sports na ito -someway
di nyo ba naisip ito minsan.?
at seems like ” DAPAT” may pera yung ang feel ng tao sa mga ito.
tayo?
pete
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[Please, post this message on your favorite sites. The Hardbat
revolution is here. Tell a friend, uh huh, thank you very much!]
Dear Hardbatters,
Like it or not, the Bud Light Hardbat Classic tournament was the
brainchild of table tennis’ famous, beloved, Classic-era icon –Marty
Reisman.
The spongers flocked to compete in his Classical Hardbat world that he
alone kept alive for five decades by his refusing to buy into the
Modern Sponge Game,
Reisman has been the lone, questioning voice in a sea of apathy. He
is an important, lovable, present and past champion of the game. We
players at Hardbat International are so glad Wall Street Journal
writer Dan Ackman gave him
credit for the work he has done. Hardbat International cares!
Please peruse article below.
Peace out!
Codey Out-take
Think Tank
Hardbat International
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SPORTS JULY 7, 2009 Ping Pong on the Vegas Strip By DAN ACKMAN
LasVegas: One school of ping pong purists holds that the game was ruined
in 1952 by a man named Hiroji Satoh. Mr. Satoh was a then-unknown
member of the Japanese national team who showed up at the World
Championships in Bombay wielding a paddle fashioned with a layer of
sponge on both sides. Using this mysterious and powerful instrument,
Mr. Satoh cruised to the world title, beating U.S. hopeful Marty
Reisman en route. The sponge paddle quickly became the standard, and
the game was never the same again.
Mr. Reisman’s life story was the inspiration for the Hardbat Classic,
an all-comers tournament and
made-for-television event at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas held from
June 26 to 28. The tournament matched hand-picked “Hardbat All Stars”
against tournament-rated players of various levels, bar-tournament
champs and unrated “basement” players. For a tournament buy-in of
$100, the victor would take home $100,000 — an unheard of sum in the
ping pong world, where the U.S. Open winner earns $6,000. (Overseas
tournaments can be considerably richer.) The idea was to revive ping
pong in its “classic” form and create a TV franchise in the process.
Though most folks know ping pong as a rec-room diversion, it once drew
crowds to Madison Square Garden.
But with the advent of the sponge
racket — and the decline of U.S. players in world rankings — popular
interest fell flat. The sponge racket allowed a skilled player to
strike the ball with tremendous spin and with vastly more power. “It
ruined both the spectacle and the aesthetics, too fast, too furious,
too technical,” wrote Jerome Charyn in “Sizzling Chops and Devilish
Spins,” summarizing the traditionalist view. At elite levels, rallies
went by in a blink, lasting less than two seconds. Even the
distinctive sound of the game was lost.
Three years ago, film
producers Andrew Fried and Jordan Wynn stumbled on Mr. Reisman’s 1974
autobiography, “The Money Player,” and pitched it to Mr. Wynn’s boss
Mark Gordon, producer of “Saving Private Ryan.” Instead, Mr. Gordon,
joined by @Radical Media (Mr. Fried’s employer) and FremantleMedia
Enterprises (“American Idol”), decided to film the Hardbat Classic for
ESPN in the hopes of doing for ping pong what the “World Series of
Poker” did for that game. Using the old “hardbat” — just a layer a
pimpled rubber on top of wood — would be a great equalizer. A strong
player would still be able to spin the ball, but not nearly as much.
Lesser players would have a better chance, with the odds leveled
further by a handicap system by which top players would spot opponents
as many as 17 points in 21-point games, depending on the respective
players’ ranking on the U.S.A. Table Tennis ratings. Unrated players
would compete in either in the “Bar Bracket,” made up of winners of
bar tournaments sponsored by Bud Light, or in the “Basement Bracket.”
This being Las Vegas, the idea was that anyone could win. It wasn’t
quite true, but the important thing was that it seemed true.
In the
early rounds, the buzz focused on two players. The first was Li Zhen
Shi, 59, a former world champion as a member of the Chinese national
team who later coached the U.S. Olympic team. Though once among the
world’s best players, Mr. Li had barely competed in decades. As a
result, his rating by the USATT was just 2,124. Thus, by Hardbat
Classic rules, he would be spotted as many as 10 points by the
highest-rated players in the field. (Top 10 players are rated 2,500 or
higher.) But Mr. Li would also be giving points — as many as 17 — to
lesser opponents.
Meanwhile, Wayne Oberton was dominating the Basement
Bracket. Mr. Oberton, 73, had been among the top players in the U.S.
in the 1960s — he had even played against Mr. Reisman. But because he
also had not competed in any tournaments for more than two decades, he
had no rating at all and would compete even-up against rank amateurs.
That Mr. Oberton had always used a hardbat, never a sponge, would make
him even more dangerous. Mr. Oberton played his matches wearing both a
belt and suspenders to hold up his khaki shorts. His game matched his
wardrobe: Mr. Oberton employed a devastating chop shot and a fiendish
consistency that allowed him to cruise through preliminary rounds
without dropping a game.
Mr. Li, meanwhile, spotted 10 points and lost
early on to Adoni Maropis, an actor best known for playing a villain
on “24″ — and a very strong hardbat player. He soon regrouped and
beat Keith Fraser, an aggressive and surprisingly agile 300-pounder,
who afterward railed that the former world champ’s rating was
suspiciously low.
In the elimination rounds, Mr. Li, getting eight
points, beat Freddie Gabriel, 26, the 2007 U.S. Open Hardbat division
champion. But in the bracket semifinals, Mr. Li spotted Daniel Chu 10
points and lost. Mr. Chu, 57, had been a junior champion in his native
Hong Kong at age 16. Then he gave up the game before picking it up
again at 52.
Mr. Chu, however, lost in the Professional Bracket final
to Jeffrey Shaw, a 48-year-old chiropractor and midlevel player with a
1,120 rating, whom he spotted 12 points.
In the semifinal round, Mr.
Shaw spotted Mr. Oberton eight points. Mr. Oberton, now the fan
favorite, didn’t need the help and won easily to earn a spot in the
finals.
In the other semifinal, Trevor Runyan, one of the Hardbat
All-Stars and the reigning U.S. National Hardbat Champion, faced off
against Bar Bracket winner Jack Baker. Mr. Baker, 23, a nationally
ranked collegiate tennis player from the University of South Alabama,
had never competed seriously in ping pong until entering the Hardbat
Classic. The unrated Mr. Baker was spotted 17 points against Mr.
Runyan and won 21-3 and 21-12.
It should be noted that the Las Vegas
sports books refused to make book on the Hardbat. In a minor effort to
fill the void, and swept up in Mr. Oberton’s story, I offered to take
wagers on the 73-year-old with the antique style. After all, this was
Vegas — someone had to take a little action. I lost my bets: Mr.
Baker was just as steady as Mr. Oberton, but much stronger. Playing
even-up, the tennis star won 21-11 and 21-13. The promoters and I
might have been hoping for a Cinderella ending, but that wasn’t to be.
Mr. Ackman, based in Jersey City, N.J., writes about culture and
sports for the Journal.
.