2010 North American Teams Championships - USA Table Tennis

Photo by Paul Derby
Black Friday the thirteenth —no, no, the vibes are favorable. Richard
Lee’s 2010 Joola North American Teams Championship opens with post-
Thanksgiving fanfare. Bright and early I leave the Hyatt Regency, the
official tournament hotel, and arrive at the nearby Convention Center to
hear Hadyn’s Trumpet Concerto resonating round the 147 neatly arranged
maze of Joola tables There are 135 of them brand new, just waiting, with
a myriad of other Joola Booth products, to be sold as a marked-down
$1,000 Black Friday Special. This is the thirteenth straight Team Championship
Richard and his staff have run in Baltimore, and as I’ve covered
them all, I count myself one with those who again helped me to have the
match results I needed. So, kudos to Tournament Director John Miller
who unfailingly provides answers to my questions; Registration Director
Wendy Troy; the always obliging Control Desk operatives Tom Nguyen,
Mary Palmar, Sandy Pate, and Rebecca Chou; and Media/Marketing
behind-the-mike entertainer Alan Williams, who on asking team FTU to
report, quipped, “I said that very carefully.”
Also, a Thank You to Tournament Referee Bill Walk, Deputy Referee
Tony Shaw, and all those in uniform who receive a travel, food, and
lodging allowance necessary to keep the weekend peace. Tried and true
sponsors, Dave Sakai’s Senoda (full service printing and graphic design),
State Mortgage, and Phillips Seafood, are back, and joined by the Joolapromoted
iPong (ball feeder plus a versatile wired remote). Also, if what
ails you is hunger or thirst, there’s a convenient concession stand near the
red-matted Arena, and you can easily get (1) a sandwich and (what you
can’t get inside the Center) a beer at the Pratt Street Ale House across the
street, or (2) what many people were having delivered to the playing site,
a variety of Chinese dishes. Joola, I might add, sells the newest table tennis,
well, entertaining vaudeville book, Everything You Know Is Pong, to
look through while you enjoy your food and drink.
(First Stage) Preliminary Play
To begin Friday play, all 212 teams, except the top-rated four exempt
JOOLA NORTH
AMERICAN TEAM
CHAMPIONSHIPS
Baltimore, Maryland, Nov. 26-28, 2010
by Tim Boggan
from early-round play, are divided into 16 Preliminary Groups according
to the combined strength of their three highest-rated players. Modified
round robin play then determines what Divisions they play in for the remainder
of the weekend. Though my coverage here is necessary limited
to the Elite Division 1, all the other teams are vying to win titles and
trophies in various other Divisions. (Indeed, these lower-rated teams get a
perk in that the further their tables are from those on the red-carpeted floor
in the Arena, the better the lighting.)
Initially, all teams, except for those top-rated four given byes to Second
Stage play, are placed relative to strength in a 16-Group“snake” format
that doubles back on itself. In Group 16 the first placed team (16th ratingwise
overall) has a 7205 rating and the second placed team (17th ratingwise
overall) has a 7068 rating, one not too far from the first. However, by
the time you snake back all the way to Group 1, the first placed team there
(first rating-wise overall at 7700) has a huge point advantage over the
32nd-placed team (rated 6822)—but then you wouldn’t expect a 32ndrated
team in the field to be in Elite Division contention.
Consequently, it’s no surprise that, among Preliminary Groups 1 through
12, nine of the winners either blanked their opponents or lost, at most, just
one (best five out of nine games) match (called a “tie”), and only in Group
10 was there an upset. Conversely, however, it’s s no big surprise that in
Groups 13 through 16, where the teams are closest in rating, all the firstplace
teams failed to advance.
Before I get to those upsets, I’d like to mention a few Pre-lim results of
teams not to be heard from again in this article. (Teams in the Groups are
designated A, B, C…according to strength.) In Group 1, Florida’s Over
Rated (C at 6751) was ironically just that, overrated—they lost all four
of their ties, including a nasty 5-4 fall to NYTTF/DSP (F at 6275). In this
tie, Alston Wang (2091) was the hero for the winners: he opened with a
12-10-in-the-fifth swing win over Errol Lattiosh (2340), then finished off
Marisol Delzo and Chi Kin Chan.
In Group 2, Steven Chan’s (B) Forehand Chop Kings were quickly de-
throned—cut down by both John Wetzler’s (C) Manor Club and Jackson
Li’s (D) Boston Spinners. In Group 3, Reza Ghiasi’s MaDe to aTTaCk (B
at 6835), in losing to Canada’s Desmond Wilson’s Antilleans (C at 6712),
kept their offense more hidden than the name of their club. Oh, alright,
they did later win Division 3 from Quebec 2. Seeing these results, you’d
be right to assume that, except for the very top teams, this snake format
makes for many challenging ties. Chess master Larry Evans once said
of his sport, “It slays boredom and exhilarates the spirit. You’re always
thinking, always in present time. You know you’re alive.” So it is with
the hundreds of t.t. enthusiasts at the Center of it all here. Group 4 saw (C
at 6693) Queens Bully Ward, led by Parry Husbands, upset (B at 6840)
Tecuba 1, 5-3—with Im Yong Ji getting all three for the losers.
In Group 5, after coming off a dispiriting 5-3 loss to the Jorge Naranjoled
(E) Puerto Rican Guaynabo City 1 team, the (C) Joe’s team (without
so much as a Joe on their roster) proved fatally distracting to Erica Wu’s
(B) HTTA team (Erica herself had losses in the end-game fifth to both
Don Hamilton and Stephen Clyde).
A sidewinder snake loops loose sand sideways, and, in Group 6, the
(C) Fearless Sidewinders wide-swing looped away—only against the (E)
Barbadian Wezzlers, they got off to a losing 5-4 start, and then dropped
another 5-4 tie to the (B) Elite Maryland team. Best showing for the Elite:
Raghu “Rags” Nadmichettu’s three wins, including an 11-9 in the fourth
over Simon Shtofmahker and his wife and two daughters court-side. Best
match for the losers: Douglas Li over young Tong Tong Gong, 13-11 in
the fourth, 15-13 in the fifth. Alas for the Simple But Effective (D) team,
their players were simply NOT effective against even Mark-Anthony
Dowell’s (E) Barbados team and the (F) Canadian Junior Women.
In that D vs. F tie, Heather Hua Wang herself was effective, winning
all three—one 16-14 in the fourth, another from two games down—but
she could get only one assist when Wong Wai downed Liu Jiawei, 14-12
in the fourth. The turning-point saw Quan Ly Li defeat Wong, rallying
from down 2-0 and 10-all in both the third and fourth games. These Canadians—Quan,
Liu, Chan Alayna, and Annie Coulombe—though not advancing
to the Top Twenty, would not only win the $300 for highest Girls’
finish, but $500 for the Highest Women’s finish. At first it would seem the
Wang Chen Club women (7563) not the Canadian Junior Women (6002)
would win the $500. But it was pointed out that Kim Bong Geun, a male,
had played for this Wang Chen team. He’d wanted to be on a team, and
was admitted to this one, without apparently anyone thinking about the
$500 prize—a costly mistake for the adults, a very unexpected boon for
the juniors.
In Group 7, last year’s Division 4 winner, California’s (C) Thundering
Horde, with Sandeep Mahat in charge, finally 5-4 trampled away a
spunky Lancaster (D) team, led by Christoph Teille and Sutanit “Joe”
Tangyingyong. Group 8’s (B) Punishers, who started a player short last
year, weren’t short this year and, with Shawn Embleton taking three, 5-4
badly hurt the feisty (C) Rent Too High Express team (Mike and Dan
Walk, Chip Coulter, and John Ramirez) who’d earlier survived 5-4 over
Tony Belzile’s (E) Canadian Portes team. Actually, if Embleton had won
a third straight match against the (A) Zhiyu Beijing Team 2—he was up
2-0 on Li Yang only to lose 12-10 in the fifth—his teammate Scott Lurty
(2156) would likely, er, might possibly, have beaten Zhiyu’s Jack Wang
(1843) in the ninth match, and then The Punishers in advancing really
would have been punitive. Jack, I note, was a last-minute addition to this
Chinese team. Two years ago he enjoyed a basement-game with his dad,
and now plays seriously at the Westfield, N.J. club. So seriously, in fact,
that he’s currently the #1-rated Under 10 boy in the U.S..
In Group 9, (C) Rockville, MD’s Club Joola (YO’la…but you can say,
as most people do, JOO’la), just 5-4 held on to down Brad and Brandon
Belle’s (D) Beton Builders when Rich DeWitt took the ninth-match
clincher, 11-8 in the fifth. In Group 11, EDWA could figure out what to
call their team—ETHAN Jin, DICKIE Fleisher (plaque-less this year,
I fear—which means the “Dead-Last” finishers wouldn’t be honored),
WILSON Wei, and ALLEN Wang—but they couldn’t figure out how to
win more than two matches from Lu Ying’s NYTTC 2 team.
In the first of the upsets, the Group 10 (B) Quebec 1 team, one of seven
from Quebec entered in the tournament, downed the (A) TFU team, 5-3.
TFU stands for Tohoko Fukushi University, and the players are here in
part at their own expense, and through the help of Suguru Araki, a professor
at TFU, and some funding from the University. In 2008, Suguru
brought three teams; this time, however, because traveling is so expensive,
only three TFUers made the trip. Joining the two seniors, Shohei
Tokuno and Satoshi Kaneko, and freshman Akira Kamio was Kazyuyuki
Yokoyama (2502). After playing t.t. during his high school days in Japan,
“Kaz” retired, came to New York, and years later recovering from a herniated
disc is still quite a defender. He took three from the Quebecois, but
didn’t get any help from his teammates.
In Group 13, (A at 7317) GET SOME…at Spin New York, were 5-4 eaten,
as it were, by the (B at 6982) Tambov Wolves. Emad Barsum (2503)
won three for Spin, but when Andrew Chen lost all three, and Randy Cohen
(“I’m a little rusty”) could only beat Art Cohen, I don’t know if open
arms awaited them at the Spin Club. The Club’s resident famed actress/
celebrity, Susan Sarandon, came to watch some of the matches, and said
there was some talk about opening a Spin Club in Toronto (or who knows
where else?)
In Group 14, Alex Chong’s (C at 6520) UMD Terps through four ties
were a disastrous 2-20. One of their losses was to the (E at 6156) Puerto
Rican Fantastic Four, led by Manuel Gomez, who blanked them without
sending a match into the fifth. How account for such a discrepancy?
(B at 7055) Team Senoda got off to something of a shaky start against
the (D at 6406) Tornados team when Ricky Seemiller (2209) was stopped
deuce-in-the-fifth by, and Eric Boggan (2453) was down 2-0 to, Hui Jingwen.
She’d just come back from China, had been a semiprofessional
player at age 12, but thereafter had generally concentrated on being a
student. She planned to be in the U.S. for at least two years, based in
Austin, TX, getting a Master’s in Sports Management. She was rated an
absurd 1995; Ricky thought she was about 2300. Whatever—she knew
how to play.
The (A at 7279) Mexiquerises team (one of seven representing Mexico)
had to play a weak teenager third, Isabelle Theverin (1736) when their
stronger third, Jorge Navarro (2164), couldn’t make the tournament. This
meant that with either Amy Feng (2333) or Captain Dave Sakai (2232)
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was indeed—though he’s a lefty and they’re right-handed. Even Arnaud prised that her hubby was hurtin’ (from time to time, she said, he has
R-Nadon, whose unusual name I’d been calling attention to for several joint problems), or that Gail Kendall, for once not Captaining a team, was
years now, startled me by saying he didn’t know why his name was al- trying her hand at being a smiling, sympathetic masseuse. Hard to say,
ways listed like that—it was quite simply Roche Nadon. The LFP team though, that David, at 47, is falling apart—his rating’s almost 2700.
beat these Canadians, though Pintea downed Austin Preiss and Grant Li; Against Peter-Paul, Gao gets off to a promising start, wins the first 12and
Nadon got the better of Feng Yijun.
10 and takes a 4-2 lead in the second. But then Pradee, in between points
LFP, though clobbered by both Yong-in City 1 and Lily Yip 4, upset always bouncing, bouncing like a boxer, hustles up a 9-2 win-streak. In
the Wang Chen team, 5-2—racing off to a 4-zip lead when Grant Li beat the third, it’s 8-all, but when Gao whiffs a serve return, Pradee moves un-
Wang Can, 11-9 in the fifth; Preiss beat Kim Bong Geun, 11-7 in the fifth; hampered to a 2-1 lead. In the mid-game fourth, Gao’s forehand is failing
Feng beat Wang XinYue, 11-9 in the fifth; and Grant beat Kim who would him. With Peter-Paul leading 9-7 they play the best point of their match.
later lose to Feng. The Wang Chen team had to be doubly unhappy, for Pradee, back deep lobbing, maneuvers to come back into the point and,
they also lost 5-4 to the Lily Yip team. Adam Hugh, becoming more and taking the forehand offense away from Gao, scores, then wins 11-8, and
more intense, made it happen for Lily more than anyone else—he won moves #1 seed Canada, not unexpectedly, to the semi’s.
all three, including a climactic ninth match from down 2-0 against Wang In the companion quarter’s, Lily Yip 5 faces Yong-in City 2. Report-
XinYue.
edly, all members of this Korean team—two men, three women—play
Make that Wang Chen team triply unhappy (and this without even men- in leagues back home and weren’t funded to make the trip here. The two
tioning the $500 miscue). They lost 5-4 to the #3 seeds, the formidable younger women don’t play this tie; the older one, in her late twenties, lefty
South Korean Yong-in City 1 team. The women, in a model team effort, Lee Hyo Shim, is the highest-rated player (2600) on the team. Ben opens
put up a wonderful fight against the men—Sun Bo took two, and for- against Lee Moo Haeng and, down 2-0 and match point in the fourth,
mer member of the Beijing Women’s Team, Wang XinYue (“Taylor”) and closes with a win. It’s a spirited start for the Lily team. And one soon
Wang Can each took one. Sun Bo (2482) particularly shone—down 2-0 to taken advantage of, for, all in a rush, Adam Hugh, continuing his self-
playing third, Senoda would for sure take three matches. However, to get
the other two Eric would have to upset both many-time Mexican Champion
Guillermo Munoz (2561) and Okoh Jude (2554) whom someone
said was once #2 in Nigeria behind Atanda Musa.
In the last year, for the first time in almost two decades, 47-year-old
Eric, the only native-born winner of the U.S. Open in 45 years, and once,
during his play in the German Bundesliga, #18 in the world, had been
practicing maybe once a week. He not only occasionally hit some with
his longtime Long Island friend Dan Green, or, rarely, with Randy Cohen,
but also, since it turned out U.S. Champ Mike Landers lived only 15
minutes away and had a table, he practiced rather regularly with him. As
a result, with his improved individual change-of-pace play and his fasthands
defense, he beat both Munoz and Jude three straight. When Amy,
now having taken over the Rockville, MD Joola Club, defeated Isabelle
in the ninth match, Senoda advanced. The Mexiquerises would go on to
win Division 2 over GET SOME or NOT GETTING SOME at Spin, 5-2.
In Group 15, Boos Brothers Jim McQueen and Dell Sweeris, despite
looking wigged out, didn’t scare anybody they needed to, and their team
was 5-0 zeroed in on by (A) Team Jerry and (B) LFP. Dell’s comedic
salt-and-pepper stand-up-hair piece, secured by a golf visor, was his surprise
prize for doing well in a Par Three golf tournament. (A) Team Jerry
(named in homage to supporter Jerry Wartski) was upset, 5-4, by (B) LFP
(Li, Feng, Preiss). Team Jerry started off well, going 3-1 up when Grant
Li dropped the opener to Alex Perez; and Austin Preiss, who’s finding it
difficult to concentrate on both table tennis and golf, lost to Dr. De Tran
and Perez (and later to Feng). The first big swing match went to LFP’s
Feng Yijun, a member (along with Austin) of last year’s winning Division
2 team. He just 7, 8, -6, -5, 9 barely prevailed over De’s great but losing
rally. Then, after Tahl Leibowitz, who’s teaching t.t. at Queens College
and pursuing back-to-back Master’s degrees in Urban Policy and Social
Work, downed Preiss to keep Team Jerry alive, the second big swing
est Finishing Boys’ team, Hua Xia TTC (Yang Liang, Li Hangyu, Liu
Wantong, Liu Nan, and Charles Deng), this NY/St. Louis team couldn’t
contest for second—though their 5-4 upset of the A-Team (that included
Pang’s three wins) allowed them to have a 2-2 record. The tie between the
A-Team (Peter Li, Timothy Wang, Zhang Yahao) and Hua Xia was also
very hard fought, played out like this: Yang over Peter Li; Zhang Yahao
over Li Hangyu; Timothy Wang over Liu, 18 in the fifth (someone told me
that “Tim” in Vietnamese means “Heart”); Yang over Zhang, 18-16 in the
fifth (!)); followed by Peter Li over Liu, 11-9 in the fifth; Wang over Li
Hangyu; Liu over Zhang in five; Wang over Yang in five; and Li Hangyu
over Peter Li. The Hua Xia team thus emerged from the three-way tie to
advance to the quarter’s—a 9-6 play-off winner over the A-Team’s 9-9
and the NYAC/STLTT’s 6-9.
In Division 1B, Senoda lost all four of their ties. In their 5-1 loss to
China Sichuan, Boggan split his matches—beat Wang Siliang (“Steven”),
lost to Wang Wei. In their 5-3 loss to Zhiyu Beijing Team 1, Ricky Seemiller
lost deuce in the fifth to Wang Shuai; Boggan won all three. In their
5-3 loss to the NYTTC 2 team, Boggan won two, lost one (in four, three
11-9 games, to Oh Choor Sime); Dave Sakai beat Thomas Yu in five.
This NYTTC 2 team, however, being blanked by both NYAC/NYCT-
TA and China Sichuan, won only two more matches. In their 5-2 loss to
Zhiyu Beijing, Oh beat Li Fengguang and Zhong Zongqi. Zhiyu Beijing,
in turn, could put up no resistance against NYAC/NYCTTA and only a
little against China Sichuan when Wang Shuai beat Zeng Xun, and Zhong
Zongqi finally succumbed to Stephen Wang, 14-12 in the fifth.
The NYAC/NYTTC team, seeded #2 in the tournament at 7876, was
upset, its favorable place in the single elimination draw strikingly altered,
by Cheng Yinghua-coached China Sichuan, 5-4. Wang Wei, rating unknown,
who at times, smoothly alternating attack and defense, looked to
be the best player in the Arena, opened for China Sichuan by rather easily
defeating Californian Du Chengyi, a member of last year’s winning
Yoo Chang Jae (2600), she prevailed 15-13 in the fourth, 11-7 in the fifth.
In Division 1D, the Zhiyu Beijing Team 2 was blanked except for the
two matches they won against the Lily Yip 5 team. Lily’s team too was
blanked—but those watching their Yong-In City 2 tie at 9:00 a.m. were
right away wide-awake to see John Leach go down 12-10 in the fifth, and
Judy Hugh take a 2-0 lead over Lee Hyo Shim, only to lose in five. Lily
is holding a Christmas Camp and then a Grand Opening Tournament in
Feb. at her new two-floor Center in Dunellen, N.J., just two train stops
after Westfield.
Her 5 team, however, couldn’t get the needed 5 matches from Alex
Li’s My Table Tennis.net Masters team, one of nine he sponsored here.
Ontario’s Giancarlo Cerna won three, and Alex himself, though losing to
Barry Dattel, added the other two with a five-game win over Leach and
an 8th-match 19-in the-fifth killer over Judy. Giancarlo will be moving
up to Thunder Bay and in two years, if he doesn’t freeze to death or get
struck by lightning, will have his Engineering degree. Not only were My’s
Masters Robert Roberts and Dave Mahabir fun to watch but so was young
Master Max Xia, a lefty 14-year-old rated 2175 and climbing.
Ambitious Alex, the Founder/Director of the Canadian Chinese TTA,
who sponsored the runner-up My team here last year, was trying to field
a 10th Super Masters team, but when he called Chinese Coach Liu Guoliang,
former World and Olympic Champion, he couldn’t get the players
he wanted because of the conflicting Asian Games. Maybe next year. As
for this year, Li’s team couldn’t pull an upset, though in their NYAC/
NYTTC 1 tie Giancarlo beat both Mike Landers and Shao Yu (11-9 in the
fifth). The Korean Yong-in City 2 team did pull off an upset, though—
beat the NYAC/NYTTC1 team. Here’s how they did it: Lee Moo Haeng
over Shao Yu; Cho Yoon Je over Landers for a 2-0 lead. Then, retaliating,
Liu Juan (2663) beat both Lee Hyo Shim (2600) and Lee Moo Haeng (11-
9 in the fifth), and Shao Yu stopped Cho Yoon Je to give the NY team a
3-2 edge. But that’s where they died…rather peacefully.
encouraging yells after every winning point, and Han Xiao, who’d been
on the 2008 Championship team, follow with four-game wins (strangely,
not a match this tie will go into the fifth). But then the Koreans fight
back—Cho Yoon Je, who’s fond of shadow-stroking in between points,
takes two, Lee Moo Haeng one. Another win by Adam—and the Lily
team is up 4-3.
Now it’s Lee Hyo Shim vs.Ben Johnson (2439) who, on moving from
Florida some years ago, is a bank manager in Los Angeles. Lee, when
about to serve, has a habit of keeping the ball on the palm of her hand
(until you think, “Is she gonna get on with it or not?”). She and Ben split
the first two games and are at deuce in the third. At which point, Lee fails
to return serve, floats it long, then blocks Ben’s serve off to lose the game.
Ben roars his approval. In the fourth, both players are committing midgame
errors until Ben gets an edge to make it 8-all. Then a good backhand
in for Lee, a good forehand in for Ben. At 9-all, Lee moves, as she should,
to hit in Ben’s serve, but misses the forehand. Next thing you know, Ben’s
on the floor, then moving to his bench holding up his wrapped towel like
a trophy, then hugging teammate Adam. “I love this enthusiasm,” says a
spectator.”
On the other side of the draw, the strong Yong-in City 1 team meets
the Hua Xia juniors—and, 3-0, 3-0, 3-1, 3-1, it’s almost a wipe-out for
the Koreans. Liu Nan, however, as aspiring youth will, 12-10-in-the-fifth
stubbornly resists—stops Kim Jang Mo. And now 13-year-old Charles
Deng (2340) seems inspired—forces Yoo Chang Je (2601) into the fifth.
Charles is from Houston where his mom is into table tennis and pushes it
in five Chinese private schools that total maybe 2,000 students. Charles’s
sister Anne, 16, #5 among the U.S. Junior Women, expects to be running
tournaments for her mom in the coming months. Since Anne’s not here
this year, the focus is on Charles. Onlookers like his varied serves that
his opponents sometimes pop up, his adroit attacking placements, his inover-the-table
backhand winners, and perhaps the way he wipes his face
came in the ninth match, and it was again De who went down, 11-9 in
the fourth.
In Group 16, (B) Lily Yip 5 avenged their last year’s loss to (A) the Baltimore
Brawlers when John Leach took two and Judy Hugh won all three,
including gritty wins over near-2400-rated players Nazruddin (“Oscar”)
Asgarali, 13-11 in the fifth, and Oscar’s son Khaleel, 12-10 in the fourth.
(Second Stage) Elite Division 1 Play (20 contending teams)
The four round robins of five teams each were drawn in according to
seedings—with the four highest-rated teams that had been byed out of
Pre-lim play (Canada, David Zhuang’s NYAC/NTCTTA, South Korea’s
Yong-In City #1, and NYAC/NYTTC 1)—heading, respectively, Divisions
!A, 1B, 1C, and 1D. The top two finishing teams from each of these
Divisions would then advance into Single Elimination play to produce a
quarter’s, semi’s, and final.
In Division 1A, the lean and hungry Tamboy Wolves 0-20 starved to
death. The NYAC/STLTT team (the New York Athletic Club sponsors
Justen and Alex Yao who play out of St. Louis) gave Canada, with a
20-2 match record, their only two losses (Pang Xue Ji beat Andre Ho and
Pierre-Luc Hinse).
But after their Saturday morning opening 5-1 loss to the $300 High-
Grace Lin 1 team. Following a win by six-time U.S. Champion David
Zhuang (over Zeng Xun), and one by David’s teammate GaoYanjun (over
Steven Wang), Zeng, after being down 2-0 to Du, in a match-changing
turnaround, tied the tie at 2-2.
Wang Wei, unthreatened, stopped Gao; but Zhuang again tied it up with
a 14-12-in-the-fourth win over Steven Wang. Zeng then beat Gao. But
now Du, who’d so far been the “goat” of the tie, somehow moved from
farmyard to jungle, and from down 2-0, became tiger-toothed deadly.
Clamping fast and not letting go, he won the third 11-9, the fourth 11-9,
to set up his winning fifth. But though that gave David his chance, Wang
Wei was today just 11-8-in-the-fourth too strong for him—and that meant
their quarter’s opponent would be the #1 seed, Canada.
In Division 1C, the Quebec 1 team, though losing all its matches, had
some surprises for me. First, here was former Canadian Internationalist
Bao Nguyen whom I remembered from a quarter century ago. He’d
stopped and started, stopped and started, stopped and started up with the
Game again, now had two boys, 18 and 15, neither of whom played table
tennis. And could James Pintea be the son of another Canadian International,
the intrepid Romanian defector Horatio Pintea, and his more
famous wife, China’s 1985 World Women’s Singles runner-up and (with
Hui Jun) the 1987 World Mixed Doubles Champion Geng Lijuan? He
(Third Stage) Single Elimination Play: Quarter’s
In the single elimination Sunday morning quarter’s, it’s Canada vs.
New York. As expected, the Canadian #1, Wang “Eugene” Zhen (2704),
takes his first two matches over Du Chengyi and Gao Yanjun. But David
Zhuang balances—first, with a key win over the current Canadian Champion
Pradeeban “Pradee” Peter-Paul, after being down 2-1. In the fifth, up
8-6, David makes a perfect drop that Pradee can’t come near, then gets
an irretrievable net (“SOR-RY!” he yells out with just the right touch of
comic irony), and goes on to win the game and match, 11-8. Zhuang then
struggles to down 23-year-old Pierre-Luc Hinse, 7, 13, 13 (David’s last
point catching the Canadian on an unlooked-for fast serve). Pierre-Luc is
taking courses in Anthropology pursuant to a degree, and so speaks to me
of new discoveries in the field as he preoccupies himself with the savages,
the barbarians, the civilized. Good practice for table tennis too, for hadn’t
someone (his coach? former Asian Games winner Duan Yongjun?) told
him to think and read the Game?
Hinse had lost to Gao, but Peter-Paul 3-3 evened up the tie with
a straight-game win over Du Chengyi. Now it was the two #1’s—Wang
vs.Zhuang. But, oh, oh, David can’t continue—he’d hurt his left knee in
his match with Hinse, and he wasn’t going to aggravate the injury with
the National’s coming up. Joannie, David’s wife, wasn’t particularly sur-
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One other noticeable characteristic: winning or losing, he always looks
worried. “It’s just his way of focusing,” said knowledgeable observer Ken
Potts.
The remaining quarter’s between the #4 seed NYAC/NYTTC 1 and the
advancing China Sechuan team was also pretty much uncontested. Landers,
back from learning a thing or two in China and Germany, defeated
Steven Wang; and Shao Yu forced both Zeng Xun and Steven into the
fifth. But that was 5-1 it.
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Semi’s and Finals
In the opener of the one semi’s—the format now having changed to
best three out of five matches—Canada’s #1 Wang Zhen (2704) 6, 2, 4
no-nonsense annihilated Lily Yip’s #2 Han Xiao (2568). Second match:
Canada’s Peter-Paul, 4, 2…over Adam Hugh. Does the audience want to
see such lopsided games? No, they do not—time to go for a juice. But,
uh, better quick come back. Why? To see Peter-Paul win from 7-5 up in
the third? Nope, to watch a suddenly roused Adam go on a 6-1 run. But
then, unbelievably, to start the fourth Adam loses 1-2-3-4-5-6 points in a
row. And, just as unbelievably, ties it up at 7-all. Only to go down double
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match point, 10-8. But what a competitor, what gutsy forehands—Adam
MAGNA TS II is the outstanding choice for offensive players ofalmost all playing levels
moves to 11-10 ad-up. At this point, aggressive as ever, he goes for an-
who like soft sponges with an amazing sound when striking the ball. Magna TS II gives you
other forehand, but whiffs. Then Peter-Paul gets the ad and, sure enough,
Adam’s made up his mind to again all-out sock whatever comes to him,
and Pradee gives him a very fast serve—which Adam swings at but can’t
score with.
The Yip players, though down 2-0, have come to fiercely compete. Ben
Jonson wins the first at deuce from Andre Ho, and what started as a rout is
turning into a very competitive tie. When an opponent tosses the ball back
to Ben to serve, he has this move of scooping it into his racket in an en-
excellent control of allyour strokes, thanks to the unique Magna surface, while the specially
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veloping jai a-lai-like way so that the ball without bouncing just ends up important it is for him to get off to a good start might be seen when on the
sitting on his racket. Right away, you say, “Watch this guy—he may have second point he catches Lim on a fast down-the-line serve—a weapon in
other tricks.” The second game it seemed Ben might also win. At 9-all his arsenal he isn’t keeping as a surprise. From 10-6 down, Pradee climbs
Ho served off…but then boldly served and followed for a winner. Now to 10-9, then fatally pops-up a serve. In the second, from 4-all, 5-all, 6-all,
a net for Ben, 11-10, but he badly misses his game chance. Then 12-11, 7-all, 8-all, 9-all, they back and forth battle, each often trying to get fore-
but he tries to backhand in his serve return. Then a couple more chances
he has…until Andre with the ad scores the 18-16 game-point on an edge.
hands through the other. Pradee loses this one 11-9 too. But in the third
he11-2 dominates play. And in the fourth, up 8-4, he looks to continue to
MAGNA TS II
Ben loses the third game. Then, up 5-0, goes on to win the fourth. But be on a roll, but then Lim from 9-6 down gets in some forehands, Pradee
in the mid-game fifth, Andre pulls away, and down 8-5 Ben pushes his pops one up, and then a point I think at first is Pradee’s just nicks his back
serve return into the net, and moments later, down 10-5, he misses his edge. At 11-all, Lim serves and follows, and wins the next point as well.
own serve. Canada to the final.
In disappointment and disgust, Pradee spirals his racket ceilingward.
First match in the second semi’s: chopper/attacker Wang Wei, wear- He’d outscored the Korean, but he hadn’t beaten him.
ing, like his teammates, a Maryland TTC playing shirt as Cheng Yinghua
looks on, is challenged by Yong-in City 1’s Yoo Chang Jae. In the first, at
8-all, Wang scores on a serve and follow, then from 10-all eventually wins
12-10 when a net gives him a set-up. In the second, from 5-all, the Chinese
pulls away—though uttering an awed, “Oh, my GAWD!” when Yoo
It was thought Wang Zhen would have to take his two if the Canadians
were to win the tournament. But he lost the first, 11-7. Never mind—he
was quickly 7, 6, 7 back in control.
Why in the third match, the Canadians didn’t play Hinse, their #2,
against Kim Jang Mo wasn’t clear to me, but Andre Ho, though falling
STIGA
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fly-swat- thumps the ball down onto the table and it rises far above Wang
on its lofty way out of the court. Up 10-8 double-match-point, Wang mis-
-8, -5, 9, -11, fought to the end. Indeed, there was no one in this final who
seemed to have his enthusiasm, his intensity. Like Peter-Paul he too had
The Stiga Optimum 30 sets a
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chops a ball so badly it seemed to try to sneak under the net. But though a fast down-the-line serve—first time he tried it he scored an ace; second
and design in table tennis
Yoo gets to deuce, he can’t win the game and goes down 3-0.
Lim Jae Hyun, reportedly only two years ago World #65, evens the
tie with an 11-5, 11-5, then 12-10 finish over Zeng Xun who’s gotten to
deuce after a thrilling match-point-down forehand counter. The trade-off
continues with little excitement—Kim Jang Mo downing Steven Wang, 4,
8, -6, 6; and Wang Wei stopping Lim, 9, 4, 4.
With this fifth game coming up we’re starting to talk some bucks. There’s
time he served off. From 6-all in the fourth, he served an edge, got an
edge, played as aggressively as he could, but he couldn’t stop Kim’s great
counter-play at the end, couldn’t win.
Though Yong-in City’s Lim can rocket in balls seemingly from nowhere,
Wang Zhen, as anticipated, placing the ball well, goes through the
Korean, 7, 10, 8. Tie tied 2-2.
So again it was up to Peter-Paul who one observer said would certainly
tables. With a 30 millimeter
(1.2 inch) top, the thickest in
the sport and 20% thicker than its
closest competitor, the Optimum 30 has
the most even and consistent bounce
of any table. ITTF approved and made in
Germany, this table represents the pinnacle
of table tennis tables.
a big difference between $1,600 for a semifinalist and a possible $10,000
for the winner and even $4,000 for the runner-up. In the first game, Yoo
gets off to a 5-1 lead, holds it at 9-5. Then there is no lead. After Yoo’s allout
forehand is miraculously backhand-countered by Zeng, Yoo smiles,
wags his tongue a little, thus acknowledges to himself a “Wow!” point.
He loses this game 13-11. But he rebounds to go 6-1 up in the second.
Then, though caught at 7-all, he ultimately prevails to win it at 8 with
a passing forehand. In the third, Yoo’s repeated forehands down Zeng’s
forehand line are 11-3 spectacularly unstoppable. In the fourth, Zeng’s
be better than 7000 if he had a forcing backhand loop. In the first, it’s fun
for the audience to watch the Canadian lobbing against Yoo Chang Jae,
but it’s not fun for Pradee to lose the game. In the second, he’s off to a 4-0
lead, but the Korean, blasting in what seem to me low percentage shots,
one of which whirls him away from the table, wins the second, 11-8. In
the third game, Pradee’s a goner—there won’t be a fourth or fifth. $10,000
to the visiting Koreans.
Yong-in City—where is it? My once expensive though now antiquated
National Geographic Atlas doesn’t list it. But looking elsewhere it was
The playing surface of the Optimum 30 is coated
with a special varnish for the ideal amount of friction and
the truest bounce. The edge and center lines are silk screened for
even placement and professional appearance. The undercarriage features
a 2.4 inch steel apron and 2.4 inch by 1.6 inch steel legs with levelers. The table
separates into two halves, each with their own set of four 4 inch casters for easy
movement and the two halves allow compact storage as well as use in playback
position. The Optimum 30 also comes with a high-quality Stiga VM net set.
Measures 61” x 60” x 26” in folded position. Item: TEOP3
Folded
position
up 8-3. We’re going into the fifth then, are we? No, we’re not. Amidst a
guttural exchange of grunts and hopes, Yoo comes up with a monied 9-2
move, finishing with a successful serve and follow. Yong-in City 1 joins
easy for me to find…40 kilometers south of Seoul. “It’s developed very
abruptly since the late 1990’s.” I fancy a connection. As perennial manyteam,
many-table recorder of this once-a-year tournament, faced with the
$ 00 1399
Playback
position
Canada in the final.
difficulty of matching so many unknown or unremembered names and
Includes net set and shipping*
This tie for the extra $6,000 sees Lim Jae Hyun open against Pradeeban faces, I was thankful that these Korean players all had their names on their
ITTF Approved
Peter-Paul in a match that might well decide the Championship. Pradee
is currently playing in the Austrian League at Langenlois not far from
playing shirts. It was good for me. And I fancy for them. It was as if each
of them wanted to be identified, wanted to be remembered.
Made in Germany
Vienna (and those schnitzels he’s already gotten damned tired of). How
52 USA TABLE TENNIS MAGAZINE • Jan/Feb 2011
Photos pp25-28 by Steve Hopkins
Paddle Palace: North American Sole Distributor for STIGA
USA TABLE TENNIS MAGAZINE • Jan/Feb 2011
53
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