May 6 at the Worlds

46^th World Table Tennis Championships

Osaka, Japan · April 23 - May 6, 2001

Sunday, May 6, 2001
Day Fourteen of the Worlds

China Sweeps All Seven Events
Wang Liqin and Wang Nan Sweep Men's and Women's Events

Well, after two weeks, the 46^th World Championships are finally over – even the official tournament party. It's official - China swept all seven events, but it they had to battle for it. The following articles are up as News items on the Worlds page:

The tournament has been a great success, and those who put it together did a great job. (See some special thank yous at the end.)

Today’s highlights (besides the actual play)

Tim Boggan suddenly standing up and yelling, at the top of his lungs, “Shut Up!” to the large group of Chinese chanting and beating drums during a match.
Meeting 6-time Women’s Singles World Champion Angelica Rozeanu.
Shaking hands with Kim Taek Soo, who was awarded the “Fair Play Award.”
Eating hoards of ice cream at the Farewell Party.

Here are a few stats on these Worlds

121	Number of Associations that took part
366	Number of players in Men’s Singles
262	Number of players in Women’s Singles
92	Number of Men’s Teams
68	Number of Women’s Teams
154	Number of Men’s Doubles Teams
108	Number of Women’s Doubles Teams
211	Number of Mixed Doubles Teams
1347	Number of players and coaches
55,600	Number of paid spectators (excluding the final day, when the Men’s Singles Final was played), an average of 4700/day, and not including the school children from the “One School, One Association” program)
12,000	Number of elementary and junior high school students who watched the tournament as part of the “One School, One Association” program and cheered for assigned countries
1393	Number of Staff and Volunteers (not including security personnel)
1822	Number of Security personnel (they were everywhere)
494	Number of Journalists (381 from Japan, 113 abroad)
5250	Number of trips taken by shuttles between playing site and hotels (approximately)
370	Number of First Aid cases
7	Number of First Aid cases that went to hospitals
14	Number of Days of the Tournament
19,805	Number of Minutes of the Tournament, from 9AM on April 23 to 6:05PM (approximately) on May 6 when Kong Linghui served into the net to end the Men’s Singles Final, the last match

Observations about Osaka

For nearly three weeks, all I’ve seen is the hotel, playing hall and shuttle. I was told that there was a Japanese city out there, called “Oh-Saw-Kaw,” or something like that. Until this morning, I never saw it. I finally was free this morning, and took a three-hour stroll through the city. Here are a few observations on this, and my other more limited experiences here.

General Observations

The people drive on the wrong side of the street!
The Japanese are the most polite people I’ve ever met.
The Japanese get every detail right.
Osaka is crowded. The streets are full of cars, the sidewalks are full of people and bicycles. The mall was jammed – I’ve never seen so many people in a mall before.
Many bathrooms do not have paper towels or other items for drying their hands. People bring their own. Americans used their pants.
Many people rode two to a bicycle. One would ride normal; the other would stand on a pole that stuck out on either side of the back tire, holding on to the driver. I’m sure they have this in the U.S., but here it was very popular.

American Culture

The theatres were all playing American movies, and the headlines movies at video stores were mostly American movies. (On the other hand, Japan sent us walkmans and efficient cars.)
Everyone seems to know at least a few words of English.
McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken are all over the place.
Other than the fact that most of the people are Japanese, the signs are mostly in Japanese, and everyone drives on the wrong side of the street, Osaka could pass, at least superficially, for any large city in the U.S.

Interesting Sights

I saw a happy-looking dog wearing sunglasses being walked. (What, you’ve never seen a happy-looking dog before?)
I saw a teenager dressed all in black leather, with spiked hair and so many tattoos and chains that … well, you get the picture.

On the Dark Side

Cigarette machines were on nearly every corner.
Slot machines were all over, with stores full of them on nearly every block.

Special Thanks To

Tong Lee – For lending us his laptop computer when the modem on mine broke, for lending us his digital camera, and for taking photos.
Sheri Pittman – For arranging (along with Tong) for me to go on this trip so I could give these online reports to the membership.
Julian Waters – For taking many of the online photos.
Diego Schaaf – For taking the sequence photos on the Worlds Page, many of the photos we will be using for the magazine – including the expected cover shot – and for computer help.
Tim Boggan – for helping with the coverage of the tournament.
Suguru Araki – For helping with computer problems.
Masaru Hashimoto – For helping with translating.
Bob Fox and Margaret Smith - For helping to organize everything.
USA Team, Coaches, Supporting Personnel and Staff – For working and playing like a team.
Japan, Osaka, the ITTF, the Worlds Organizing Committee, and the Staff and Volunteers for these Worlds – for putting on what many are calling the best Worlds ever.