“He brings a lot of fun, I think, to the sport for everyone.”īobrow’s passion for table tennis is rare for an American. But when Bobrow comes, “he brings a lot of smiles to the players,” Jha says. Kanak Jha, the 18-year-old currently ranked 38 in the world by the ITTF, making him the highest-ranked American, describes the atmosphere at international tournaments as focused and serious. “I think there’s a flip side to that coin that has been much more true for me, which is if your work is something that you love, that doesn’t feel like work.” “A lot of people say don’t combine work with pleasure because you don’t want to make your favorite thing in life your job, and then end up hating it,” Bobrow says. As far as he knows, he’s the world’s only full-time table tennis commentator.īobrow hopes contagious enthusiasm will bring in new fans. He travels with the ITTF’s annual world tour all year long, from Budapest to Japan to Australia, living out of a suitcase painted with illustrations of famous players. As the official commentator for the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), the sport’s main governing body, Bobrow is known as the “voice of table tennis” to fans across the world.
Over the years, Bobrow has parlayed both his lifelong obsession with table tennis and endless, unabashed exuberance into viral fame, receiving millions of views on YouTube for goofy videos like “ Enter the Snake: Twist of Fury” and “ Excessive Ping Pong Celebration”. “He wasn’t even looking! Yeah, just one? You say that, but it keeps happening, Timo!” “Look at this! He wasn’t even looking!” Bobrow bellows during the instant replay. Boll puffs out his cheeks, slightly sheepish, and raises one finger, as per the sport’s etiquette when a player has made a lucky point. “Oh! The hand-switch counter! Timo! I lost my headset on this!” Bobrow yells. And the crowd goes wild.īobrow, a lanky Californian, throws his hands in the air, partially knocking off his microphone. To reach it, he switches the paddle to his right, non-dominant hand, allowing him to make a powerful shot that Long can’t touch. Boll returns the ball from far behind the left of the table and sprints to the other side to meet it again. With Long up two points, the two begin a rapid-fire rally, their shoes squeaking as they dart around the table.
Can “the Dictator”, Long’s nickname, make a comeback? Long, a Chinese champion regarded as one of the best players of all time, is up against Timo Boll, a German player who has been ranked best in the world four times over. This table tennis match in Qatar marks Ma Long’s return to the sport after a months-long break following an injury.
0 kommentar(er)
