Great Reception for Timo Boll

The ExCeL Arena is in the redeveloped Docklands area of London

Hopperational details
Date & Venues	Wednesday 8 August 2012 at the ExCeL Arena, London
Competition	The Olympic Games – London 2012 Men’s team table tennis, bronze medal match
Hopping	Fifth Olympic sport seen live, first time watching top level table tennis (even though I played the game at a moderate level in town and university leagues in my teens and is the only sport in which I have a trophy!)
Results	Germany 3 Hong Kong 1
This day in one sentence
A bronze medal decider followed by a trip into the city to sample some of the general London atmosphere.
So what?
Germany has the bronze medal in this event.
The drama unfolds
The best-of five format has two singles, a doubles and then two more singles.  Each match is also the best of five sets – each set is played to 11 points with a minmum two-point advantage. The opening singles brought out Germany’s Timo Boll and Hong Kong’s Chu Yan Leung.  Boll took an early grip on proceedings, was temporarily pegged back to 9-6 but saw through an 11-6 set win.  Solid in both attack and defence he won the second even more convincingly, 11-3. Here’s a clip – it shows Boll (in the black kit)  putting the first point on the board for an 11-7 set win.  As you can tell, I was embedded in the German support.  Impressive stuff.  Germany 1-0 Hong Kong Dmitri Ovtcharov played Peng Tang.  A closer contest, Tang opened up leads at 9-6 and 10-7, but a timeout seemed to work in favour of Ovtcharov who drew level to 10-10 and won his second set point.  13-11, as shown in this clip. The second set was even closer.  The German had two serves at 9-9 but he missed a smash at match point.  Tang turned it around and won the set 13-11 to make the match level. In the third set, Tang led in the early stages but a superb rally set up a set point for Ovtcharov, who had a simple smash to take the set 11-9. This clip shows the German securing the second team point in an 11-9 set victory.  Germany 2-0 Hong Kong For the doubles, Bastian Steger joined Ovtcharov and Tianyi Jiang joined Leung.  The Hong Kong pair wasted four set points before converting the fifth and a 12-10 set win.  A serving fault gave them the second set too, 11-8. This clip from the third set shows Hong Kong proceeding to a straightforward 11-4 set win, giving them the match 3-0 and a point on the board.  Germany 2-1 Hong Kong Jiang stayed at the table to face Timo Boll in the next singles matchup.  Jiang worked his way to two set points, and Boll’s serve clipped the net – he won the pont on his second serve.  A drive from his next serve clipped the net and missed the table, giving the set to Jiang 11-9 and completing the momentum switch in the match overall. Boll steadied himself and won the second set convincingly, 11-5.  He also held his nerve at the critical points near the end of the third, which he won 11-9 after he had trailed 5-7 and 6-8. Jiang took a grip, so it seemed, 7-3 but Boll got it back to 6-8 and then 7-8.  Here is the climax of the game, as Boll did the job and won the decisive set 11-9 to give Germany the match and the bronze medal.  He was the star man of the day and gave me a punning opportunity that I could not miss.  Final score Germany 3-1 Hong Kong After that, I took the cable car from Victoria Dock to North Greenwich and meandered my way back to London to sample the atmosphere, first at Canada Wharf and then along the South Bank from the Tower to Westminster.  Here are a few snaps from the day – the high-level ones are from the top of The Monument. Aerial view of "The North Greenwich Arena"   A Routemaster 'bus   The steps inside The Monument One of many Wenlocks (and Mandevilles) dotted around the city
What Next?
FA Cup groundhopping at Sleaford Town v Holwell Sports on Saturday. UPDATE: an out-of-the-blue attack of labyrinthitis (a viral inflammation of the inner ear) has put an indefinite hold on my travelling.  Will be anything from one to six weeks according to the www but hopefully at the shorter end for me as I have no other complications.  Watch this space, and cheer me up by sending me a Hopping for Moorfields pledge (see previous posts for details, esp. 3-2-1 Go!) - normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Olympic Hoops

Hopperational details
Date & Venues	Tuesday 7 August 2012 at the Basketball Arena in the Olympic Park
Competition	The Olympic Games – London 2012 Women’s Basketball – quarter finals
Hopping	Fourth Olympic sport seen live, 11th venue on my courthopping list for basketball
Results	USA 91 Canada 48 Australia 75 China 60
This day in one sentence
More of the Olympics in the East End innit, but a blistered foot from yesterday meant that I could not set a new personal best for the stomp from West Ham station.
So what?
USA will meet Australia in the semi-final.
The drama unfolds
It was a nervy start and a low scoring first quarter, each team making unexpected mistakes like missing uncontested breakaway lay-ups.  Both sides were only making about 25% of their field goal attempts before USA seemed to settle first and they stretched out a 19-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.  The match was already over as a real contest, it would seem. The second quarter saw USA proceeding serenely, having upped their field goal percentage to around 40 but Canada marooned in the 20s.  Several times, the Canadians failed to get a shot away in the 24 seconds allowed.  The lead was up to 21 points (42-21) by half-time and would have been more but for an outrageous hook for 2 from Canada’s Shona Thorburn with microseconds left on the clock. Here is a brief clip of the half-term entertainment which at least woke the crowd up. Here is a clip from the restart – more of the same.  Canada are in red.  It was 66-31 at the end of the third quarter, with USA outscoring Canada 2 to 1 on almost all the relevant stats such as rebounds and assists.  Top scorer was Diana Taurasi with 15 and the USA could afford to leave her on the bench for the rest of the game. The final score was 91-48, a real thrashing for a quarter-final.  We enjoyed a showboat two from USA’s Maya Moore, and Kim Smith top scored for the losers with 13 points.  To be honest, I’d expected something closer as a sporting spectacle. We were all pleased when Australia and China started trading baskets in a much closer contest.  Here is an early clip to set the scene.  Australia are in yellow. China took the lead for the first time at 12-14 but were immediately pegged back to 14-14.  A Chinese attack led to a collision with a cameraman who then started to flinch visibiy every time the ball went to his end.  Aussie Suzy Batkovic launched a 6-0 tear with a piece of athleticism to keep the ball in play before one more score for each side left the score at 22-16 at the end of the first quarter. China played really well in the second quarter.  Australia called a timeout at 25-21 and another one after the game had been tied at 29-29 and 31-31.  Xiaoyun Song threw a three from chest level to give China a one point lead, Batkovic missed one, and there was one more field goal each before the interval.  35-36 at half-time.  Australia had converted about 1 in 3 of their goal attempts whereas China averaged nearer 1 in 2.  All to play for. This clip from early in the 3rd quarter finishes with a technical foul and Australia back in the lead by one point at 41-10. The Aussies hit foul trouble and free throws restored China’s lead and extended it to three points.  However, the game turned again with a six-point swing.  Liz Cambage made a great defensive block, they took two breakaway chances and then Cambage hooked in another two pointer.  China scored to keep the margin at three points, 55-52 at the end of the third.  It appeared that this game could go either way. Australia kept the lead during the early exchanges until suddenly the game slipped away from China in the blink of an eye.  Cambage got a three-point play by adding one from the free-throw line, Lauren Jackson scored a three, Batkovic and Jackson scored again and suddenly it was 71-58 with under four minutes to go.  That destructive burst denied us the chance of a tight finish, and Australia were able to run down the clock on their way to a 75-60 win. For the record, #2 son @yappattack had tweeted that I should look out for Australia’s “big three” who had impressed him in earlier games, and he was spot on.  Cambage, Jackson and Batkovic had 17, 12 and 10 points respectively and thus Zengyu Ma’s 15 and Lijie Miao’s 13 were on the losing side. There was time in the evening for a trip up to the viewing platform of The Orbit, Anish Kapoor’s curvy installation which allows some great views of the Olympic Park and London beyond.
What Next?
Olympic Table Tennis on Wednesday!  FA Cup groundhopping at Sleaford Town on Saturday.

Generating an Inspiration

Maley & Jeffrey (Australia) lead off in the men's C2 semi-final

Jana Dukatova of Slovakia would end up in sixth place overall

Brazil and USA pounding volleyballs into submission at Earl's Court

Britain leads the world in the Synchronised Sweat-Mopping event

GB v Italy eventually started at 2230h

Note to self: new "Olympic" category needed for programme filing systems

Hopperational details
Date & Venues	Thursday 2 August 2012 a)    Lee Valley White Water Centre b)    Earl’s Court Arena
Competition	The Olympic Games – London 2012 a)    Canoe Slalom semi-finals & final: Men’s C2 and Women’s K1 class b)    Men’s Volleyball group stage games: Brazil v USA and GB v Italy
Hopping	First Olympic events seen live, first time watching canoe slalom and volleyball live.
Results	Gold for Baillie & Scott (GBR) Silver for Florence & Hounslow (GBR) Bronze for Hochschorner & Hochschorner (SVK) Gold for Emilie Fer (FRA) Silver for Jessica Fox (AUS) Bronze for Maialen Chourraut (SPA) USA 3-1 Brazil Great Britain 0-3 Italy
This day in one sentence
A personal victory over the idiosyncracies of online ticket purchase and travel logistics so that I could experience a small but significant part of this great event.
So what?
I now want to go to Rio in 2016 !
The drama unfolds
I had spent a number of very frustrating hours trying to get tickets through the online purchase system, which seemed full of anomalies. Eventually, I was lucky to get a volleyball ticket at about twenty minutes past midnight.  It was more out of curiosity than anything that I logged in next morning – to my amazement I was able to secure a canoe slalom ticket within three minutes, timed at 9.14am, for an event starting at 1.30pm.  The voices in my head were telling me that this could get logistically tricky, but, hey, I may never get the chance again.  To the Yappmobile! I left the house at 10.00am, parked in Cheshunt at 10.40am, collected the day’s tickets after a 45min walk (good job I’d had the presence of mind to take ID), and was in position in plenty of time.  The signage was excellent, the volunteers were friendly, the security checks were smooth and courteous, the atmosphere was multinationally superb – I couldn’t have asked for more.  Give me British troops rather than independent security firms every time, by the way.  I made an early decision that I would have to skip the medal ceremonies in order to have any chance of getting to the evening event. A series of good audio-visual presentations explained some of the technicalities of the  sport and the big screens would prove crucial in helping spectators to follow what was happening.  I had a great view of gates 5 to 11 in particular but needed the screen for the rest of the course. Team GB had two pairs in the C2 semi-final, which would reduce ten nations to six for the final.  In the C class, the participants are kneeling and have a single-bladed paddle.  The Australian and two Czech pairs preceded David Florence and Richard Hounslow, and here is a part of their run, which turned out to be the fastest in the semi. The Slovenian paddlers were slower too, so even at that point, Florence & Hounslow knew they had made the top six for the final.  A Polish pair posted a good time and then came the other British canoe, with Tim Baillie and Etienne Scott.  They had an eventful but fast run – finding themselves reversing through gate 12 where fast forward had been the plan – but they avoided penalties and had the third best time at that point, and knew immediately that they were in the final.  It’s fair to say that the crowd were loud and partisan. Semi-final: Baillie & Scott reverse (as planned) through gate 10 Even though all three remaining pairs (China, Slovakia and France) went faster than Baillie & Stott, no-one beat the Florence & Hounslow time.  The crowd cheered somewhat unsportingly as the later canoes picked up penalty points, including the Hochschorner brothers, looking for a fourth consecutive gold medal for Slovakia in this event.  Both Slovakia and France were behind Florence & Hounslow because of a two-second penalty for touching a gate. On to the women’s K1 semi-final, which would reduce 15 nations to 10.  In the K class, the athlete is seated and holds a double-blade paddle.  There was plenty of support for the young Aussie, Jessica Fox, and of course for Team GB’s Lizzie Neave.  Stepanka Hilgertova was representing the Czech Republic at the age of 44.  As it turned out, Neave had a disappointing run, picking up six penalty seconds and missing out on the final in 12th place, by over a second.  Pacierpnik (Polcand), Chourraut (Spain) and Fer (France) had the three fastest semi-final times. Jessica Fox of Australia in the semi-final Lizzie Neave (GB) picked up penalty points and went out at the semi-final stage In the men’s C2 final, Baillie & Scott went first and posted a penalty-free run of 106.41 seconds.  None of the drama of the semi-final, it was a very solid performance.  Both of the next two canoes (China & Poland) picked up penalties and were over 6 and 4 seconds behind respectively.  The French pair (Klauss & Peche) moved into second place, guaranteeing at least a bronze for Baillie & Stott.  The crowd worked it out before the commentator. The Hochschorner brothers were quick, but with a 2-second penalty they could only take second place, upgrading Baillie & Stott’s in-the-bag status to silver with only their Team GB teammates to go.  We were on our feet creating the oft-mentioned “wall of noise” as Florence & Hounslow came down for a silver medal … less than half a second behind Baillie & Scott, who therefore took gold in an amazing 1-2 for Team GB.  Hochschorner & Hochschorner were pushed into the bronze medal place, and their incredible achievement has been largely ignored outside Slovakia and the canoeing fraternity. Slovakian legends would have to settle for bronze this time Florence and Hounslow on a smooth route to silver for GB The women’s K1 final seemed rather an anti-climax after that, and two or three participants picked up early penalties so that completion of the course was a matter of pride and formality rather than threatening the leaders.  Fox led for Australia with the top three to come.  Chourraut was narrowly slower and took the provisional silver position, but then Fer went fastest so far with just Pacierpnik to come.  However, her run hit problems early on and she finished 7th overall.  So to summarise, Gold for France, Silver for Australia and Bronze for Spain, but I was already on my way down the steps from the stands as the applause died down at just after 4.30pm. I’d decided to abandon the car in Cheshunt and it proved to be a good decision.  I used the free travelcard that came with the tickets and got a train to Liverpool Street, then the tube to Earl’s Court, getting there in plenty of time for the security checks and a pre-game falafel wrap.  (Yes, shock horror – I am off the burgers for the new season.)  Again, the rules and features of the game were explained for those unfamiliar with the sport. I must read up on the physics of "hanging" sometime! The first two sets of the men’s volleyball game between USA and Brazil were compelling, feisty and of the highest quality.  It was a privilege to watch, and there was plenty of yellow-shirted support for the South Americans in the crowd.  If their reaction is anything to go by, Rio 2016 will be a lot of fun.  Both sides had 3-0 records so far, and neither had even dropped a set.  Something had to give.  USA held an occasional slender lead on and off during the very tight first set.  Here’s the end of it … USA are in white. So, Brazil took the lead, 25-23.  USA took initial control of the second set but Brazil came back strongly.  Again, here are the final few points. USA drew level with that 27-25 set win.  The next two sets were competitive and hard-fought, but the USA supporters found their voices as their team gradually took charge.  Team USA ran out victors by 3 sets to 1, (23-25, 27-25, 25-19, 25-17). At 10.30pm, the match between Great Britain and Italy started.  The scorebook will show that Italy won comfortably by 3-0, leaving Team GB looking for their first set of the tournament at the bottom of their group.  They had their moments, and this was a competitive game with GB’s body language positive to the end even as the crowd steadily filed out as we approached 11.30pm.  Neither side had the raw power of either USA or Brazil, and there were more examples of delicacy and finesse at the net.  It was always entertaining but the truth is that the result was never really in doubt.  I was heading out of the door just before midnight.  The final set scores were 25-19 25-16 25-20 to Italy. Here's a short clip to set the scene.  Italy are in blue. The Tube to Liverpool Street station was fine, but there were no more trains to Cheshunt.  After a quick chat with staff, I just made the 12.40am to Chingford which was at least heading vaguely in the right direction.  After a short and reasonably priced taxi journey, I was reunited with the lonely Yappmobile at 1.40am and back online trying (unsuccessfully)  to get some more tickets at 2.30am.  There is no cure.
What Next?
The regular football hopping season will start on Saturday with a Step 5 trip and the beginning of “Hopping for Moorfields”.  I also had the experience of being a studio guest on BBC Three Counties radio last Tuesday – Kate Robbins was sitting in for Nick Coffer and some groundhopping chat appears two to two-and-a-half hours in to the three-hour programme.  She thinks I’m mad, and I am absolutely delighted with that.  This listen-again link will work for another day or two.  Please send me a penny-a-goal pledge (or something of your own choice) if you can – price of a pint or a pie and a great cause, and you don't have to pay up till next June. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p001d7nr/broadcasts/2012/07 (It is the 31 July programme)