It was an amazing match. The word on the streets is Ma Jinbao dedicated some serious time in China to training and has retooled his game in order to reach a whole new level.
@@MrCooperscoopers 34 is not old, I don't much about Kou Lei beyond what is publicly available, but people don't stay in the US to keep their highest level, you have to find the right competitive environment - the amazing thing about Kou Lei is his ability to keep his level while staying in the US so much. We will see how he responds to the level of Ma Jinbao and Xin Zhou who are both obviously training hard.
@@lajogunshola1685 He's just comparatively old. He was a professional player before so I am sure he has lots of injuries. I think he has a club in CA now and he may be like Tao wenzhan, who spends lots of time training people, a relatively easy/stable job. I personally hope he can go somewhere like Japan or Germany where he can play professional league so he can keep up his level. Yoshida is 41 years old and he is still in German league.
Now that you mentioned this, I went back and watched the video again. I think you are right. Kou Lei actually adopted a new serve this time. Kou Lei basically has two types of serves: a regular pendulum serve and a reversed pendulum, which he used most often. But in this match, he used a spin/no spin serve, which I haven't seen before. obviously he is trying something new.
Probably because he found it didn't work against Ma Jinbao at the JOOLA NA Teams event a couple weeks ago. He only used reverse pendulum a couple times in the first game, whereas he usually uses it the whole time like against Petr Korbel.
I was thinking the same thing! But I'll never be anywhere near his level so I'd let someone else judge. But it seems that he tosses it backward and very low.
Great games, but have to say Ma Jinbao is such a weirdo with his cho'ing: doing this before the point, then eye contact first pump cho'ing. Kou Lei was definitely my favorite here, too bad he didn't win.
A lot of players cho before the point tho. Watch the Japanese national players, they do that a lot. I think is more like a preparation thing. Also Kou lei was going through some injuries. The lack of training is showing.
![2023 LA Open Table Tennis Tournament (SF) - Wang Zhen (Eugene) vs Ma Jinbao [4K 60fps]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/k_TYlnPbH0w/mqdefault.jpg)
![2023 LA Open Table Tennis Tournament (SF) - Wang Zhen (Eugene) vs Ma Jinbao [4K 60fps]](/img/tr.png)
First time seeing Kou Lei show so much emotion in a game !
same here! I guess he really wanted his revenge from losing 2 weeks ago. tough game!
OMG, we've never seen Kou Lei lose since he moved to US. Great match.
It was an amazing match. The word on the streets is Ma Jinbao dedicated some serious time in China to training and has retooled his game in order to reach a whole new level.
He lost to Ma Jinbao at the NA Teams. He also lost to Horacio Cifuentes at the Joola Open,
@@lajogunshola1685 Kou Lei is old now. I found that he lost to people who has consistent powerful loops during the rally.
@@MrCooperscoopers 34 is not old, I don't much about Kou Lei beyond what is publicly available, but people don't stay in the US to keep their highest level, you have to find the right competitive environment - the amazing thing about Kou Lei is his ability to keep his level while staying in the US so much. We will see how he responds to the level of Ma Jinbao and Xin Zhou who are both obviously training hard.
@@lajogunshola1685 He's just comparatively old. He was a professional player before so I am sure he has lots of injuries. I think he has a club in CA now and he may be like Tao wenzhan, who spends lots of time training people, a relatively easy/stable job. I personally hope he can go somewhere like Japan or Germany where he can play professional league so he can keep up his level. Yoshida is 41 years old and he is still in German league.
last set 11-11 look at that point, and who got it.
Kou lei won at the US open
3:40 sounded like the ball hit the edge :o
It's strange that Kou Lei didn't use his deceptive reverse pendulum serve in this match
Maybe it's so deceptive you didn't realize that it was used. Big maybe, but big if true. :😀
@@LosAngelesTableTennis He did use it several times but not many.
Now that you mentioned this, I went back and watched the video again. I think you are right. Kou Lei actually adopted a new serve this time. Kou Lei basically has two types of serves: a regular pendulum serve and a reversed pendulum, which he used most often. But in this match, he used a spin/no spin serve, which I haven't seen before. obviously he is trying something new.
Probably because he found it didn't work against Ma Jinbao at the JOOLA NA Teams event a couple weeks ago. He only used reverse pendulum a couple times in the first game, whereas he usually uses it the whole time like against Petr Korbel.
@@chimyshark other serves don't work well either. It's good to see that Kou Lei has some challenges in the US otherwise it will be boring. 🙂
Not sure if it is only me, Kou Lei's arm back-swin is small during serve, compared with other top players.
Majimbu vs Cooler? 😂
LA open ? Bigger crowd in every little village tournament in Europe.
I bet those little villages in Europe don't have tacos like we have. Can't expect people to stick around when tasty tacos need to be eaten.
@@LosAngelesTableTennis good argument. But do like us : sell food and drinks in the sports hall. plus it makes money
kou lei has an illegal serve
I was thinking the same thing! But I'll never be anywhere near his level so I'd let someone else judge. But it seems that he tosses it backward and very low.
The very first serve of the match is so illegal I had to pause and laugh. The referee is a joke.
Great games, but have to say Ma Jinbao is such a weirdo with his cho'ing: doing this before the point, then eye contact first pump cho'ing. Kou Lei was definitely my favorite here, too bad he didn't win.
A lot of players cho before the point tho. Watch the Japanese national players, they do that a lot. I think is more like a preparation thing. Also Kou lei was going through some injuries. The lack of training is showing.
very illegal serve by kou !