It is 5 pm in Kiev. The Russian invasion intensifies. The anti-aircraft alarms do not stop sounding, mixing with the sound of gunfire and bomb explosions. Everyone is confined to their homes.
Everyone? No. In a small dump, located in an undetermined location in the city, a Ukrainian named Bogdan Pirtik plays a game of table tennis against his compatriot Nikola Kulynych. When they finish, another opponent will pass (named Mikhail Hlaholev) and they will continue playing until you drop from exhaustion.
Ukraine is officially a cyberpunk dystopia. While bombs explode outside, shots whistle and compatriots die, in a series of dungeons distributed throughout the country, table tennis proletarians do not stop playing. The Setka Cup continues to be played 24 hours a day.
EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA has already reported the characteristics of this shady table tennis tournament, created solely and exclusively for sports betting. A championship that is played every day of the year, at all hours, without an audience and with a level of competition close to amateurism.
It seemed that the armed conflict that threatens the entire country was going to put an end to the activities of this organization. Nothing is further from reality. This newspaper has been able to verify that, although the competition has diversified and now many games are played in the Czech Republicthe bulk of the competition continues to be played on Ukrainian territory.
all for the bet
Why is this tournament still being played? For the money. Plain and simple. The Setka Cup is a competition designed to this for bookmakers around the world. It is a Ukrainian table tennis tournament that is played 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is no pause. Like in that movie called ‘Danzad, damned’ in which a group of needy people signed up for a dance marathon until they burst, to try to get the cash prize.
This is similar. A table tennis tournament that never ends. Mysterious installations in various parts of Ukraine (Kiev, Dnipro y Lviv) where public access is not allowed.
Despite the riots, a regiment of unknown players continues to parade every 15 minutes through the different cubicles until completing about eight games a day.
If it is accepted that they are professionals, it is because the organization ensures it. Technically they are; the fact that they are paid to play (amounts that the organization does not reveal, to questions from this newspaper), It already makes them professionals.
The competition does not have social networks, or fan clubs (as would correspond to the stars of a sport), or international ranking, or anything like that. And although it is presented as an international tournament, all its participants are of Ukrainian nationality. Players from other countries do not fit.
The appearance of the competitors is often far from that of the elite athletes. There are players who seem to be over 60 years old and others with very low physical condition. In the endless round of daily matches, some of a good level are interspersed with others that are unworthy even for fans.
All of them play matches almost non-stop throughout the 24 hours, becoming a kind of ‘proletarians’ of table tennis. On the live scoreboard, only three pieces of information: the name of the participants, the score and the pulsations which records the heart of each player at that moment.
The stage in which they play also has little to do with that of any major international competition. It is impersonal. There are no signs with the names or faces of the participants. There is a color changing decoration in each cubicle and a sign that says ‘blue player’ and ‘red player’. Approximately every 15 minutes different players occupy these places, with shirts that the organization does not even deliver. Ceach one is done with their blue or red shirt… and to participate.
play in times of war
What’s going on? That the cities in which these pavilions have been built are all in conflict. One of the cities that hosts the most matches is Kiev, which is currently under curfew. It is not an obstacle for these tennis proletarians of table move each day to these mysterious zulos and complete their working day there.
As reported by EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA, the Setka Cup is being so profitable for the association that they have started their expansion to the west. Thus, at the end of 2021 they signed an agreement with the Czech Table Tennis Federation, to build in that country tracks where matches can be played. That is the novelty of the last days. That many of the matches are played on a field called Prague and is located in the Czech city of the same name.
However, as confirmed by the images that the organization broadcasts every day on its YouTube channel, the tracks called London, Beijing or Africa remain active. All of them are located on Ukrainian soil. It is also known that it is not a recording, because in all the retransmissions a clock is set that guarantees that what is being seen is happening in real time.
Phantom Results
This newspaper has once again contacted the organization, which responded to our requests for information after publishing the first report on the Setka Cup. Now, once again, they remain silent and do not tell us if the continuity of the tournament is in danger, or if they feel they are putting participants at risk.
Curiously, the organization has withdrawn from its website the calendar and the results of the matches that are played on Ukrainian soil. On their website, where they used to point out the results of all the matches, now only the markers of the czech flag hang and on their YouTube channel they broadcast only these games.
However, a simple look at any bookmaker reveals the reality: although for official purposes they are not counting these games, for the purposes of the bookmakers they continue to work. Users can continue to lose money in these games played on Ukrainian territory. We attach the proof that confirms it.
Russian games
Another of the unknowns that opens the war scenario affects the other two great perpetual leagues. Because, although the Setka Cup is the most popular (because it broadcasts all the matches live), there are two other almost identical competitions that take place very close to it. Specifically in Russia.
Called Pro League and TT League (acronym for Tennis Table). Both are Russian competitions that share the same characteristics as the Setka: they never end. The same look at the bookmakers serves to verify that they have not stopped either. And that bookmakers across Europe continue to buy the product.
Now, sports federations of almost all disciplines have decided to bar Russian teams from all international competitions. The latest was FIFA, which confirmed on Monday afternoon the expulsion of Russia from the World Cup. While, bookmakers seem to have no reluctance and continue to buy this purely Russian product, which takes place on Russian soil and whose participants are all of the same nationality.
Because there is no boycott here, just money being generated endlessly. This is what these shady table tennis competitions are about: 24/7 events that allow compulsive gamblers to put their money there at any time, even if no other sports match is being played at that moment.
The question, however, is how long it will take for the Russians to jump off the betting grid. The sanctions follow. Especially the economic ones. There is unanimity among the anti-Putin countries about banning Russia from the Swift financial system. Without a doubt, a hard blow for both competitions that, for the moment, continue to generate matches as if nothing were happening. Just like the Setka, whose table tennis proletarians play non-stop while, outside, the bombs massacre their compatriots.
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