CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

 

1979: Pyongyang: Corbillon/Swaythling Cup Play

 

Perhaps a good many people not only from our own country but others would be interested in hearing from the media at this World’s how the U.S. Team was doing, how they had finished, in their Swaythling and Corbillon Cup competition? And interested, too, in whether there were unusual circumstances here in Pyongyang that might have affected their play?

But, never mind--such questions were moot. For though ABC Wide World of Sports wanted to interview our players, USTTA President Sol Schiff would not allow their TV appearance unless ABC paid our Association for their participation. This ABC refused to do.

To all those who would have enjoyed such an interview and were disappointed by, even critical of, the U.S. demand (I'll say more about this in my next volume), our International Chair and U.S. Team Leader to Pyongyang, Gus Kennedy, offered a defense of the Association’s position. Gus said that since the USTTA had helped ABC NEWS and ABC Sports (as well as others) get into North Korea, they really ought to try to  help us--and, as it was, they certainly hadn’t been giving much attention to U.S. table tennis. Further, said Gus, ABC Sports pays “the Gymnastic Association, the Ice Skating Association, and the Amateur Boxing Association” to show their events on TV, so why “shouldn’t they also pay something to our Table Tennis Association?”

After all, we weren’t being unreasonable--we’d made it clear before we’d left for North Korea that the ABC “NEWS group could cover our trip for news purposes without paying us a thing. It was only if the SPORTS group wished to cover the World’s that we would expect some funds.” Gus said that ABC wanted the interview to be at its own exclusive Press Conference and therefore wanted to “use” our players for their own profit, and this we didn’t think was fair.

Ending his defense, Kennedy asked himself, Why was there so little coverage of the Pyongyang Championships by the U.S. media? Then replied that he thought the USTTA was “not an organization skilled at dealing with such groups.” Wait, he said, until China gets into the Olympics--then Table Tennis will receive its just due.

Gus enjoyed being a spokesman for the Association--indeed, he liked the attention, the authority it conferred. But he had to take some heat. U.S. Women’s Team Captain Heather Angelinetta in her report to the USTTA Executive Committee felt that Kennedy as Team Leader had had too many distractions (his family was with him, he was an ITTF Committeeman), and that he’d been too concerned with “the political aspects of the trip.” Of course, as in China in ‘71, “Ping-Pong Diplomacy was called for, and everyone on the U.S. Team and in its entourage was expected to be on his/her best behavior.

But understandably Heather, for one, was sometimes frustrated and had to ask herself, “Where was one to draw the line?” She complained that Team Leader Kennedy “made it quite clear to me as Women’s Captain that no points during match play should be argued with the North Korean Umpires. In the event of questionable calls he ordered me to desist from making any official complaints no matter what the situation was. This definitely opened the door to the biased officials.”

I myself think that door was wide open from the beginning--but, as I’ve already reported at length on the U.S. Women’s matches,, let’s leave Heather to her reflections, and concentrate on all the Category I ties I’ve yet to cover.

 

Corbillon Cup

  Defending World Champion China did not drop a match--won 24 straight games in Singles play.

Runner-up Japan, aside from their losses to China, dropped only two 3-1 ties--one to France when Claude Bergeret upset Shoko Takahashi (World #12 in post-Pyongyang rankings), and the other to hapless, relegated Poland when Iolanta Szatko got the better of little-used Yoshiko Shimauchi.

Third-place Hungary, in addition to getting blanked by China, struggled with three 3-1 ties. One of these was against Hong Kong when Hui So Hung (who finished with a 10-5 record) beat current European Champion Judit Magos, 18 in the 3rd, and then came -20, 17, -19 close to knocking off ‘79 Top 12 winner Gabriela Szabo (10-4). Another was against the Netherlands when the same pattern repeated itself--fast-improving Bettine Vriesekoop opened with a win over World Top 20 Zsuzsa Olah, only to be later stopped by Szabo -20, 13, -19. Still another 3-1 tie--against (4th-place) Sweden--found Marie Lindblad doing in Szabo -21, 18, -18, but seeing her good play go for naught when ‘75 and ‘76 Top 12 Champion Ann Christin Hellman came up short, 19 in the 3rd, to Magos, then couldn’t much contest against Szabo.

Hong Kong’s 3-2 win over Rumania didn’t mean much--decided 5th-6th, which meant that, if successful in the block-of-four crossovers (where Group A’s 5th plays Group B’s 6th, and Group B’s 5th plays Group A’s 6th), they could meet again in that block’s mini-final for the overall 9th-10th ranking.

The Netherlands’ 8th-place finish was deceptive. They played 3-2 ties with Sweden and France (7th). In the one tie, Lindblad’s wins over Vriesekoop (with a 19 game) and Marian Van der Vliet (with a deuce game) were an important factor. In the other tie, Bergeret (8-4) allowed France to avoid a switch in standings by beating in extended singles play the winning doubles combo of Vriesekoop and Van der Vliet, who also fell to Nadine Daviaud. One can see from a closer look at the intensely competitive Vriesekoop’s hold-her-own 8-7 record--she played thirteen 19 or deuce games--how she’ll rise in the European Rankings from being out of the Top 10 in Jan., 1980 to #3 in May of ‘81 to #1 in Jan. of ‘82.

Over in Group B, in the all-important crossover for the U.S. (we finished 7th) Vriesekoop made the big-swing difference--beating our Insook Bhushan -19, 19, 16 and He-ja Lee 19, 20.

In this Group, both North Korea and the USSR had 6-1 records. Against the Russians (take note, U.S.), the Koreans used all four of their Team players, and won, 3-0. But against the (3rd-place) Czechs--whom the Russians blanked--World Champion Pak Yung Sun was embarrassed by singles losses to Marie Hrachova (19 in the 2nd) and Ilona Uhlikova (deuce in the 3rd). But of course the tiebreaker with the Russians, broken by the Koreans’ head-to-head win, meant that the Russians, not the Koreans, would meet the dreaded Chinese in the crossover semi’s.

Yugoslavia’s 3-2 victory over England was significant, for it kept the Brits from finishing 4th, and tumbled them from the 5th through 8th into the 9th through 12th overall block. 1976 European Champion Jill Hammersley won all 10 singles matches she played--yet England, in addition to losing to (4th place) Yugoslavia, was also beaten by the Russians and the Czechs. Given their inability to win at doubles (at least without trying to use and so overwork defender Hammersley) they could only beat two teams--(6th place) Germany, when Karen Witt (3-12) defeated Kirsten Kruger, and the U.S., when Witt defeated He-ja Lee. Relegated Bulgaria, meanwhile, could not contest.

After the round robin there were two crossover ties for every team--with, as I explained in the last Chapter, the exception of odd-team-out Poland (who finished 0-8) in the 9-team Group A (as opposed to, in South Korea’s absence, the 8-team Group B). But here I concern myself only with the four remaining contending teams.

In the crossover semi’s, China wastes no energy with the Russians--gives up only 77 points in six quick games. The North Koreans, however, will be locked together with the Japanese--and the question is, Who holds the key to their 5-match tie? In the 8th’s of the Singles that will follow the Team competition, it appears there’s a good chance that Japan’s Shoko Takahashi will play World Champion Pak Yung Sun. So why, after Takahashi has beaten Magos, Vriesekoop, Hellman, and her ‘75 World Doubles Champion partner,‘76 European Singles runner-up Marie Alexandru, is she not playing this all-important tie for Japan? Two reasons. One, because lefty looper Pak is at her topspin best against such a defender. In the later Singles event Takahashi will indeed play Pak and get only 39 points total. And, two, because her Cup substitute, Kayo Sugaya, having been well-rested after only three matches, figures to do no worse against Pak than Takahashi. (To slip quietly ahead to the Singles again for a moment, I note that Sugaya will be the only player to go five games with the new Chinese World Champion, Ge Xinai.)

However, at the moment, Kayo can’t take so much as a game from either Pak Yong Ok or Pak Yung Sun--can’t complement the partial success of future 3-time U.S. Open Champion Kayoko Kawahigashi who’s scored in singles (over the lesser Pak) and in doubles (with Takahashi). So Japan succumbs--and the thousands in the stands are ecstatic.

They’re even more so when in the final the World Champion opens so heroically against...Ge Xinai. But let Carl Danner, covering this and some of the Men’s Team ties for our USTTA magazine “Topics,” describe Pak’s opponent. “Out to defend China’s honor is an unlikely looking citizen of the Twilight Zone, Ge Xinai. She is short, does not look athletic, and wears the sort of glasses your Aunt Emmie used to use to peer at dominos with. What’s worse, this would-be librarian is, of all things, a penhold chopper. She makes the ball do weird fluttery things (especially when blocking) that seem beyond physics.” Pak, however, after rallying from 17-13 down in the 1st, will win this match 2-0--the only singles match China will lose in Cup play through 10 ties.

Which, just in case you thought that China might opt to give up an event she prizes most, rather tells you what will follow. Carl speaks of how “right-handed penhold attacker Zhang Deying beats Pak Yong Ok two straight”--and notes that the “Korean girl is more powerful, but bigger and slower.” As expected, the doubles will go to the imminent World Doubles Champions Zhang Deying and Zhang Li (who, though runner-up during Pak’s reign, has been thought by many to be the Friendship Champion). Zhang Deying will then, 18-in-the-3rd, insure China’s victory while allowing Pak a Champion’s dignity in fighting the good fight to the end-game end.

 

Swaythling Cup

In writing about the Men’s Team Championships Carl was happy to note that the conditions at the Pyongyang Gymnasium were “perfect--piano-legged Stiga tables, Nittaku balls and a beautiful parquet wooden floor. The lighting was incredible, and each large court was individually barriered.” He was a little dismayed though--occupational hazard, Carl--that so many matches were being played at once. How could one keep track of them all?

The format at this World’s was the same as those previous. So I’ll start with the Group A round robin. Because it had 9 teams, as opposed to Group B, which (in South Korea’s absence) had only 8, Rumania, 0-8 in its ties, was deemed odd-team-out and relegated without any chance to play in the crossovers. Rumania, as we saw in Chapter 15, was the only round robin team the (8th-place) U.S could beat.

Poland (7th with a 2-6 record) lost three 5-3 ties--with France (3rd), West Germany (6th), and Yugoslavia (5th)--and also one 5-2 tie--with North Korea (4th).

Against France, Poland got off to a fabulous start--won its first three matches and in the fourth was at deuce in the 3rd. But Patrick Birocheau (12-10) escaped Ryszard Czochanski (3-15), who’d earlier upset Christian Martin. And then in the 5th match, after Jacques Secretin (17-7), with his defensive/offensive high lobs and high-hopping loops, eked out the 1st, 23-21, from Andrzej Grubba, the momentum shifted conclusively to the French. Grubba, who’d be runner-up at the European’s in ‘84 and at the World Cup in ‘85, won two from both Germany and Yugoslavia, and lame, game Stanislaw Fraczyk contributed a win each tie--including the one against North Korea where Grubba (15-9) beat Yun Chol (8-11).

Against Germany, North Korea prevailed 5-3 by winning 4 out of 5 of the 22-20 and 21-19 swing games. Losing 3 of these games was Germany’s 1978 National Champion, Engelbert Huging, whom our Carl Danner described as “a big guy with shoulder-length stringy hair and a black beard to match his racket.” Even more of a threat to the Koreans was Yugoslavia who fell to them 5-4. Though Dragutin Surbek took three, including a 19, -8, 22 tie-tightener over penhold attacker Cho Yong Ho (18-7), Anton Stipancic, who’d go on to share the World Doubles title here with Surbek, lost two disappointing 3-game matches, and Zoran Kosanovic, who’d soon be trading off key U.S. Open matches with Sweden’s Mikael Applegren and Eric Boggan, couldn’t add an outcome-changing winner.

The Yugoslavs also lost 5-3 ties to France and Hungary. Surbek’s excellent 20-2 record was marred only by a 15, -19, -20 loss to Secretin (his other, a drubbing by China superstar Guo Yuehua--whom Surbek later, in a losing Singles cause, would average 21 points a game against). For whatever reason, "The Dragon" didn’t come out of his fiery cave to play against Hungary--but Stipancic won a 19-in-the-3rd thriller from Gabor Gergely, and gangly penholder Zoran Kalinic (12-5) gave the indifferent Korean spectators more of the same by outlasting ‘75 World Champion Istvan Jonyer, and then knocking off Tibor Klampar two straight.

Among Surbek’s victims had been Li Zhenshi, who impresses Danner with his “astonishing speed” as he “hustles to get into position for repeated deft thrusting forehands that are astonishingly quick.” China beat Yugoslavia 5-2--the other loss being a highly suspect one, for Kosanovic (4-12) upset one of the heretofore favorites to win the Singles, Liang Geliang, 18 in the 3rd. Thus Liang is positioned as a loser for the important tie to come?

Though China has given up only these two matches, in the final tie of their round robin against Hungary they were to win only two.

Danner says that in the opening match Klampar is often able to contain Li Zhenshi’s penhold flash attack so that he himself has a chance to take the offense. “He serves short, digs into short pushes...then wallops the first ball that comes up.” After getting in “two down-the-line kill loops,” he takes the 1st game at deuce, and wins in 3.

Carl, like everyone else, is captivated by Liang Geliang’s game. “He was first a world class player as a chopper, then he won the Asian Games attacking!” His opponent here is the flamboyant Gergely who “scrambles, jumps high in the air to lift Liang’s impossibly loaded chop, and bashes winners.” The Hungarian wins in straight games, ending the 2nd by winning 8 of the last 9 points. Maybe Liang isn’t so good after all? Maybe the whole Chinese Team is overrated? Maybe this tie signals the end of Chinese domination for now and decades to come?

“Jonyer and Guo Yuehua,” says Carl, “is a high tossing, free-swinging affair. Guo’s loop is superb. Jonyer spins everything he can.” Seemingly the former World Champion is in 1st-game 17-11 control, but Guo rallies, and, down 19-18, “kill-loops Jonyer’s best serve and wins when Jonyer misses two short pushes.” After the Hungarian wins the 2nd, Guo gets off to a 7-1 lead in the 3rd. But perhaps it’s no surprise he doesn’t hold it. “At 14-all Jonyer whales a loop crosscourt to Guo’s backhand, wins a long looping point and breaks the game open with spectacular play.” The Chinese are down 3-0.

Isn’t this embarrrassing?

In the 4th match, Carl points out that Klampar doesn’t let Liang hit a ball. Then, whether he lets him or not, Liang, down 17-14 in the 1st, does take the attack, but can carry it only to 19. In the 2nd, Liang is up 16-5! So now who do you think is going to win? Not China, for in the 3rd, down 20-18, Liang chops off.

Enough. For a moment or two, that is. Li beats Jonyer in 3.

Ah, the tie is tightening? Can be tightened further? Maybe that’s what the North Korean umpire thinks? He cheats Gergely “out of an early first game point against Guo” and the Hungarian goes ballistic--loses the match 8 and 7.

But...mission accomplished. Jonyer “masterfully dominates” Liang. The Chinese appears to need coaching, for he’s much too defensive-minded. The next time he plays the Hungarian--which will not be in the Team final, from which he’ll be removed, but in the Singles--this veteran of World Championships since ‘71 will know what to do. By “boldly attacking and counter-looping,” he’ll defeat Jonyer in straight games and join his teammates Guo and Li in the semi’s.

But for now, in Group A, Hungary is #1 and Defending Champion China #2.

Perhaps the Chinese should have played Huang Liang? No, they shouldn’t have, said one longtime observer, because the Hungarians were used to Huang’s once dreaded racket and couldn’t be chopped down. Jonyer, Klampar, and Gergely have had so much experience playing the Chinese, this analyst insisted, that they know to watch carefully how the ball flies, and so read the spin very well. Jonyer for one--and as Jonyer goes, so goes the team--doesn’t have any problem with high toss serves or any other Chinese kind now because he knows exactly what’s on them. Also, though he hadn’t been practicing much until just before this tournament (his play has been limited because capillaries threaten to break in his calf), and though he can play badly for, say, 10-point stretches, he has, frighteningly, the necessary strong-arm game to power winners through the Chinese. So the Hungarians, the argument goes, were scarcely the same Birmingham underdogs a number of people had made them.

The Hungarians won--most people, including our U.S. Men’s Team Captain Houshang Bozorgzadeh, were saying--because they’d given up their wide-arc topspin and were playing much closer to the table. Moreover, a player like Klampar, who’s good off both wings, will, if inspired, be more than a match for the Chinese hitters who have only a block and a forehand and with suspect footwork are therefore vulnerable on the backhand. Most people were also saying that it’s not the Hungarians who are intimidated but, ever since Hungary beat China in the Scandinavian Team’s several months ago, the Chinese.

Some experienced circuit players were still skeptical of Hungary’s success though. Said one, “Come on now, if I can keep the ball short when the Hungarians’ serve, why can’t the Chinese? Of course if you give the Hungarians chance after chance to loop, they’ll look like worldbeaters. Who wouldn’t?”

But others pointed to the fact that if you served short to the Hungarians they now flipped the ball back instead of just softly returning it short. Also, they’re pushing fast and long to make it more difficult for the Chinese to out-and-out hit the ball. Now the Chinese are forced to half-hit, half-topspin and this allows the Hungarians to block or counter very quickly and then get into their super-hard forehand or backhand topspin control. Or, to put it another way, the loopers can stop the hitters from hitting, but can the hitters stop the loopers from looping?

Of course China is still in contention to retain their title, for they have entered the crossover semi’s as runner-up in Group A.

Meanwhile, over in Group B, three non-contenders are fighting for the 6th spot, which will assure them they can’t be relegated in the crossovers. Australia, who’d barely managed to stay in Category I at the last World’s in Birmingham, 5-4 survived their ties with Denmark (7th) and Hong Kong (8th).

The Aussies were down 4-2 to the Danes--after which in the 8th and 9th matches the unpredictable happened. Bob Tuckett (2-13) defied all odds by bearding Claus Pedersen (16-5), then Steve Knapp (7-10) avoided an ironic reversal by 23, -17, 23 besting Palle Rud (5-17) in a tie-tingler. Two days later, more teasing uncertainty for the Australians. Leading Hong Kong 4-1, they suddenly saw Tuckett lose two matches after winning the 1^st game in both, and Paul Pinkewich, who’d heretofore given up but 34 points total in four games, drop a 19, 8 match to Vong Iu Veng. Knapp again came through, though, beating Lam Hung Shing 21, 14.

Naturally the Australians, whose men again narrowly avoided relegation, were feelin' pretty good as later they prepared to leave Pyongyang. But, as Aussie official Len Haycroft told Mal Anderson, the North Koreans at the airport told them that their bags were overweight, and the overweight charge would be $1,000 U.S. The Australians answered that their bags were not overweight when they arrived, so the increase could only be due to all the mementoes of North Korea that they had received; so rather than pay this charge, they would open their bags and leave all these mementoes on the runway. The North Koreans then compromised--the charge was reduced to $12.50 U.S.

It was unfortunate for Denmark (who, like Australia, finished 2-5) that they were in danger of relegation, for they not only beat Hong Kong 5-0 (highlighted by Freddy Hansen’s deuce-in-the-3rd win over Li Kuang Tsu), and scored a wasted 5-2 victory over England (highlighted by Pedersen’s deuce-in-the-3rd win over Des Douglas), but they 3-5 contested with both Japan and the USSR. In the Japan tie, Pedersen lost to Seiji Ono, but downed both Masahiro Maehara and Norio Takashima. And in the tie with the Soviets, Denmark was actually leading 3-1 thanks to Pedersen’s victories over Bagrat Burnazian and Valerij Shvechenko.

All of which shows that Denmark’s later 5-4 tie--with Pedersen beating Danny Seemiller 26-24, 22-20--that resulted in the U.S. being relegated was scarcely an embarrassment for our Team’s modern-day debut with the world’s best.

Though Hong Kong couldn’t win a single Swaythling Cup tie, they managed to 4-5 extend the USSR which, in posting, like Sweden, a 4-3 record, finished 3rd. The Soviets were stopped by the 5th-place English, whom the Swedes beat--but since the Swedes fell to the Soviets they lost out in the head-to-head tiebreaker, and finished 4th. ‘73 World runner-up Kjell Johansson, true to his word, had indeed retired. In fact, only ‘71 World Champion Stellan Bengtsson remained from Sweden’s Birmingham Team. Mikael Appelgren (4-8) and Ulf Carlsson (4-12) were the most promising Swedish newcomers and six years later would pair up to win the World Doubles title.

Japan--with Ono (17-6) and Takashima (17-5) leading their advance, but with a relatively weak third--had to struggle through 5-3 ties not only with Denmark, but with England and Sweden as well. Englishmen giving the Japanese--and particularly the upcoming World Champion Ono--the most trouble were Douglas (17-5) who beat him, and John Hilton, 1980 European Champ-to-be, who -20, -18 threatened him with his effective antispin. Sweden’s Bengtsson (13-3) was able to defeat Ono and Takashima in straight games, but was upset by Maehara (4-7).

Undefeated Japan finally came to its climactic tie with undefeated Czechoslovakia who, playing three players--Milan Orlowski (18-4), Josef Dvoracek (14-6), and Jindrich Pansky (8-9)--had shown more depth than their opponents, winning over England 5-2 and all other ties 5-1 or better. Though Takashima triply triumphed, the Czechs were able to down the Japanese 5-4 because both Orlowski and Dvoracek proved too strong for Ono, and European Junior Champ Pansky won the 3rd-man, 9th-match battle over the hapless Maehara.

Czechoslovakia thus had the dubious distinction of meeting Defending Champion China in the crossover semi’s. Pansky, who in the 1st round of the Singles would average only 10 points a game against the Rumanian Serban Dobosi (3-11 in the Team’s), opened for the Czechs, and opened some eyes, by winning the 1st game from the as yet undefeated Huang Liang, World #3 after the Birmingham World’s. But then in the next two games combined the Czech youth totaled only 3 more points than he’d won in the 1st. Li Zhenshi followed by 8, 11 crushing Orlowski, who, if you didn’t count that loss and his two subsequent ones to the Chinese, would post an 18-1 record. Meantime, count Dvoracek’s loss to Guo, too--and China had streaked to a 4-0 start.

Nor did Pansky, down 16-2 in the 1st, suggest a 5th-match change might be in the offing. And yet, wonder of wonders, it was. Danner, writing up this tie for Topics, says, in effect, that Guo just uncaringly, carelessly allows the youthful Czech to build some confidence by getting to 12 that 1st game. Then, reports Carl, “Pansky is rejuvenated, eager, and hot”--and, on “looping, killing, looping Guo’s loops” (though often the Chinese is missing now), takes the next two games.

You can tell that Carl himself, after watching the Chinese win 9 straight games, is enthused by this unlikely turn of events that keep the Czechs alive. Here’s his description of the next match:

 

“Dvoracek must be six feet four and 225 pounds. He is big and strong. His style is to loop, loop, loop with his backhand, controlling the table with soft spin and then lunging at the ball with his awkward forehand. He is very steady, however, and has a good touch. His game turns out to be perfect for playing penholders. Li Zhenshi is immediately uncomfortable against him. He cannot time his lightning quick bullet forehand against the Czech’s lazy, deep unpredictable spin. Furthermore, Dvoracek is occasionally able to crank a backhand fast and spinny enough to get through. Li is like a finely tuned and oiled machine into which some kid has thrown his wad of bubble gum....Down 12-19 in the 3^rd, his rally falls far short--at 15-20, he high toss serves into the bottom of the net and comes to a gooey halt.” 

So are you beginning to think that Czechoslovakia might continue staying afloat so, maybe even win this tie? Dream on. In the wake of the last two wins, Orlowski, though deucing the 2nd, loses in straight games to Guo, and the Czechs must realize that their imagined passage to the final has disappeared, as with a ghost ship gone.

So, finally, the final--China vs. Hungary. Will it be a repetition of their earlier tie?

Some say the Chinese are scared, have already given up. Instead of playing Liang Geliang, they’re playing young Lu Qiwei. “Listen,” said one fellow, “if the Chinese thought they had any chance, Liang wouldn’t be sitting on the bench.”

“But,” came the rebuttal, “why would Lu be scared of the Hungarians? He beat them in Sweden and Paris.”

Another pointed out that the Chinese were clearly in disarray. “Look,” he said, “some of them aren’t even wearing their same-color Team shirts.”

Which prompted one confirmed skeptic to counter with, “Precisely. And when have you ever seen that? Don’t you understand? They’re trying to tell you that their society is changing--and that the image of China as one big collective body instead of small, separate individuals isn’t that important to them anymore.”

So in this fellow’s eyes the Chinese were going to dump the Team’s but maybe win the Singles or Doubles? Did that seem possible?

Guo, Danner points out, is on court practicing for his opening match. He’s warming up with his opponent, Gergely? No, with another Hungarian? No, a Chinese who strokes like a Hungarian. The World Champions are rumored to have, if not a look alike, a play alike, for every contending country’s best they have to face.

But have Guo and his coaches anticipated accurately? Carl says Gergely from the get-go is “a Hungarian madman.” So he was last time when that North Korean umpire upset him and Guo routed him in an 8,7 debacle. This time, however, he “spins and kills, sprints from side to side while launching bullets to the corners around Guo’s penhold reach.” So “up” is he that after one point is over, he “leaps four feet high over a barrier” hurrying to retrieve the ball. Back at the table, following through with a kill, he seems to have the wing span of a giant bird. Guo gets 10--it’s like he’s standing still? The Chinese contests the 2nd, however. But from 18-all, the Hungarian loops in, Guo misses a lob, and Gergely finishes him off with a sharply angled forehand. Hungary 1--China 0.

Coach Li Furong’s decision not to play either chopper Huang or (to chop or not to chop?) Liang Geliang this tie, but to use instead Lu Qiwei, who -17, 21, 9 almost lost to Rumania’s Teodor Gheorghe, seemed to some questionable. The more so, when in the 1st against Jonyer Lu is down 10-1. In the 2nd, however, the youthful-looking Chinese shows he can move and flat-hit well enough to get to 19-all before Jonyer blasts him away with backhand-loop winners. Hungary 2--China 0.

Li Zhenshi looks discouraged. Had he won that 1st deuce game from Klampar before, he would have beaten him? Now he averages 14 a game. Perhaps Coach Li should have sat him out. Would it have made a difference? Hungary 3--China 0.

Is this embarrassing?

Ah, Guo leads Jonyer in the 1st, 16-12. Then gets but one more point as Jonyer zones in. Danner explains that by playing “short balls and then quickly looping before the taller, lankier Hungarian can get his own attack in,” Guo’s doing just fine. But then “he makes the mistake of not varying [his] tactics” (uh, why should he?), and Jonyer aggressively dominates--which to some must seem something of a paradox.

In the 2nd, says Carl, Jonyer, whomping the ball, is up 19-17, then “gags,” so that his errors keep Guo at the table for a 3rd game. Jonyer recovers, is up 6-1....“At 10-6,” says Carl--that’s 10-6 Jonyer--“the Korean umpire calls an obvious side an edge, cheats[?] Jonyer and breaks his concentration. Guo wins four straight and then sees Joyner’s off shot also called an edge (perhaps the umpire was simply blind). Jonyer turns to the Chinese bench and gestures ‘that’s one each.’” But the Hungarian seems distant to the task at hand and, down 19-15, can’t quite get it together in time. Hungary 3--China 1.

Observing the 5th match, Carl reports that Gergely “does the improbable”--defeats Li in 3. Hungary 4--China 1.

Now Lu needs to beat Klampar, or it’s all over. Lu loses the 1st, is down 9-0 in the 2nd, and soon it is--quite decisively--all over. Today is Klampar’s 26th birthday, and appropriately he’s hoisted high on court--the figure who’s iced the celebratory cake.

Zoltan Berczik, the former European Champion who coached the Hungarian Team to victory here, told U.S. Team Captain Bozorgzadeh that “for 15 years I’ve been chasing the Chinese team.” Naturally he exulted in this resurrection of Hungary’s past glory. “Our victory over China during the Swedish Championships was reported in the media to be a result of China’s stressing ‘friendship,’ but they cannot say that now.” As most everyone could see, the Hungarians, who hadn’t won the Team’s since the ‘52 World’s in Bombay, had just demonstrated that, through their marvelous power play, they got what they were entitled to.

As for the Chinese, when a reporter asked Li Furong how he thought his team would do next time, he said, with a faint smile, “It will not take us 27 years to gain back the title.”