The trip was a long one for Terry. Traveling 22 hours each way and
30,000
kilometers, a slightly under the weather T.C. ventured
below the equator again. After a brief stop in New
Zealand, Terry was off again. This time to the land of too many
rabbits. 8 of the top 10 men competed along with most of the top
women and about 170 total entrants.
The city was beautiful with unusual architecture and the people marvelous. The facility was stunning. Approximately two city blocks long, the building is the permanent home of the Victorian Table Tennis Association. The table tennis hall holds up to 20 tables. Next to it were squash courts, a dozen badminton courts, 8 full sized basketball courts, an Olympic pool, an Olympic diving pool, and many other amenities such as restaurants.
Even the early
play justified the wonderful facility. The
Referee was busy doing last minute checks to the draws and schedules.
As in Japan last year, there were a number of world class choppers here. 
Four of them made it to the 1/8s. England's Mathew
Syed, Japan's Koji
Matsushita, & Shibutani,
and Argentina's Liu Song. Syed's
impressive come from behind win over Peter
Karlsson from Sweden after being down 2-0 and 14-9 in the third was
spectacular. One of the major upsets was World
Champion J-O Waldner losing in the first
round to Peter Franz of Germany. *RESULTS*
There was a good mix of pen holders and shakehand players, attackers and defenders. But, table tennis was not all there was to Melbourne. Outside the art museum for example, there was a huge colorful cat sculpture. Downtown, a perfect replica was an attention getter as were the sculptures of the tourists. Getting around the city was easy on the electric trams. The beautiful lake in the heart of the city called to us as the perfect weather blessed the days.
But the tournament was the main point of the juorney. Table tennis was evident throughout the massive complex. From retail goods sold in the stores, to permanent scultured sinage. The crowds were very appreciative and knowledgable. Around a thousand turned out to see the preliminaries. Tickets were sold for every day. There were about 2000 for the semis and finals in the show hall. An interesting aspect to the finals was the cheerleading squad. This excellent dance/cheer team added to the spectacle.
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Jorgen Persson and J-M Saive squared off in a great match. photo
1 - photo 2
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photo
4 - photo 5
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photo 7 the
match really captured the crowd. After Jorgen beat Saive, he was
unable to take down Liu
Guiliang. Liu
constantly put the ball into the tall Persson's
hip.
Australia's Miao Miao caused some excitement winning against the English attacker Helen Lower. She could not get past Takada from Japan in the next round though. China's Yang Ying won the women's event. On the men's side, the youngster Wang Liqin was the best player at the tournament even though Kong Linghui was the winner over Kim Taek Soo. Terry was awarded the Men's Finals match.
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