2001 USA Table Tennis 
National Team Trials
San Diego, California
February 7-11, 2001

Day Three: Friday, February 9:

Both the men and the women played three rounds today. Injuries continued to take their toll – with Shashin Shodhan joining the injury list with back problem. While Todd Sweeris and Whitney Ping were eventually forced to drop out (Sweeris – back injury, Ping – sprained ankle), the rest continued: Chang Jun Gao and Lily Yip with injured shoulders; Shodhan, David Zhuang and Virginia Sung with back injuries; and Allison Seibel with a bruised rib. The injured players had the most trouble in the morning, but as the day went on, most seemed to play better. By the final round, most seemed to be playing at or near normal.

Things started heating up this round as the matches both became more competitive and more important toward the final standings.

Todd Sweeris’ back was no better than the day before, and he was unable to play. However, he still wanted to keep his options open in case he was able to recover enough to play later. In the scoring system for a round robin, a player gets 2 points for a win, 1 for a loss, and 0 for defaulting. The referee made it clear that he had to physically play the match all the way through or it would be considered a default. So, since he couldn’t really play but didn’t want to default, he arranged a simple procedure in his match against Eric Owens: when Sweeris served, he’d just throw the ball up five times in a row and catch it. When Owens served, Sweeris would put his free hand on the table, and Owens would simply catch the ball. Since Sweeris’ free hand was on the table during the point, he’d lose the point. The two completed the best of five match in three minutes, with Sweeris getting one point each game – Sweeris didn’t want to lose at zero!

In a match that could have become a spoiler match, 0-4 Lee McCool played his practice partner, 3-1 Barney J. Reed. The split the first two games; in the third, Reed led 20-16, but McCool scored six in a row. But Reed won the next two to win, -19,19,-20,16,11, and go to 4-1.

In another big match, Shashin Shodhan won the first two games easily against Ashu Jain. But Jain won the next two easily. Shodhan recovered and won the match, 16,8,-17,-10,16.

4-0 Mark Hazinski had a scare against the 0-4 Tahl Leibovitz. When the two stand next to each other, it looks like Ivan Drago and Rocky Balboa in Rocky IV. In this case, "Rocky" almost pulled it out, leading 10-8 in the third after splitting the first two games. Somehow, now that he was seemingly out of the running, Leibovitz was letting loose, making shots all over the place. However, "Death from Above" scored the next seven in a row. In the fourth, Leibovitz came from behind to tie it at 16-all. However, Hazinski went on another run to win the game and match, 19,-14,17,17 – a match that was much closer than the scores show. While many players rip into all their loops, Leibovitz loops at all speeds from both sides, and throws in chop blocks, sidespin blocks, chops, inside out shots, and just about any other shot you can (or can’t) imagine. Then, just when you expect another sidespin or off-speed shot, he’ll loop kill five balls in a row. (If you push to his backhand, he sometimes gets into a rhythm where he simply doesn’t miss.)

In other matches, David Zhuang d. Nison Aronov, 10,13,16; and Brian Pace d. Loc Ngo, 18,19,12.

Sweeris finally had to drop out of the tournament, and so defaulted to Ashu Jain. His three matches stood, so Brian Pace, Nison Aronov and Loc Ngo all had losses against him, while the other eight players would all get wins against him. This was somewhat controversial due to rules that were somewhat contradictory, and it had to be ruled by the referee whether his three wins would stand.

Mark Hazinski’s run of 13 straight wins (including eight in the preliminaries on Wednesday) finally came to an end against David Zhuang. Both were 5-0 coming in, and Hazinski had pulled off four upsets. But Zhuang’s a level above the competition here, and he wins easily, 12,16,13.

Tahl Leibovitz continued his hot streak, this time ripping winners from all over the place to defeat Shashin Shodhan, 15,9,-17,15. (In game three, Shodhan led 10-2 and 13-7, then Leibovitz tied it at 16-all before losing.) This hurt Shodhan in particular, who came in seeded fifth (with five to make the team), but dropped to 3-3 after this match.

In probably the most spectacular match of the tournament, Nison Aronov, after losing the first two games, nearly lobbed the powerful Brian Pace down. Who would have believed it possible – Pace has, well, way too much pace on his shots to be lobbed down. But Aronov might very well be the best lobber in the country, and between lobbing, fishing and blocking, became a nearly impermeable wall. He pulled out game three at 18, and led 19-17 in the fourth. Pace played four straight spectacular points – Aronov lobbing all four points – to win the match, 13,19,-18,19. This was a particularly important match because the winner would be in a strong position to make the U.S. Team.

In other matches, Eric Owens d. Lee McCool, 19,17,17; and Barney J. Reed d. Loc Ngo, 14,12,17.

At this point, things are starting to shape up. With Sweeris out, there was an additional "open" spot that Sweeris (3-0 at the time of the injury) presumably would have taken. David Zhuang (6-0), Mark Hazinski (5-1), Eric Owens (5-1) and Barney J. Reed (5-1) were looking strongest. Brian Pace (4-2) was looking very strong for the fifth spot. Others in the hunt were Ashu Jain, Shashin Shodhan and Nison Aronov, all 2-4. At 1-5 – but not yet eliminated - were Tahl Leibovitz and Loc Ngo. Lee McCool was pretty much out at 0-6.

David Zhuang lost his first game against a very hot Brian Pace. Zhuang served from down 17-20 in the first, and deuced it – getting Pace to push two serves into the net at 18-20. But Pace then went up 21-20, and then did a spectacular step-around-the-backhand-corner against a quick Zhuang block, and ripped a game-winning loop. The next three games were also close – until the end, when Zhuang pulled away each time. Match to Zhuang, -20,14,16,14

Shashin Shodhan knew that he needed to beat Mark Hazinski to have a realistic chance of making the team – and he responded by playing a spectacular match, looping winners off the bounce and snapping in backhand winners against Hazinski’s best loops. But Hazinski has so much two-winged power that you have to do this just to stay in the match. They split the first two games at 19, then Hazinski won the third at 16. In the fourth, Shodhan led 20-18, but Hazinski scored four in a row to win, 19,-19,16,20

In other matches, Eric Owens d. Loc Ngo; Ashu Jain d. Lee McCool, 18,18,-13,20; Barney J. Reed d. Nison Aronov, 16,15,16; and Tahl Leibovitz d. Todd Sweeris, def.

At this point, David Zhuang (7-0), Mark Hazinski (6-1), Eric Owens (6-1) and Barney J. Reed (6-1) were pretty much locks for the team. Brian Pace was in the lead for the fifth spot at 4-3. Just trailing him was Ashu Jain at 3-4 – with the two set to play at 7PM Saturday. Falling back were Tahl Leibovitz , Shashin Shodhan and Nison Aronov, all at 2-5, and Loc Ngo (1-6) and Lee McCool (0-7). Jain, with upcoming matches with Reed, Pace, Aronov and Ngo, seemingly has the best chance of overtaking Pace. Leibovitz, with upcoming matches with Pace, Aronov, Ngo and McCool, also is in the running – his record is deceptive since he had played all the highest seeds. Aronov has a seemingly harder draw, with matches coming up against Owens, Hazinski, Leibovitz and Jain. Shodhan also has a difficult draw, with upcoming matches against Zhuang, Owens, Ngo and McCool.

Mathematically, only Zhuang has clinched his spot. However, Hazinski, with his upcoming default from Todd Sweeris, will also mathematically be on the team - especially considering Sweeris was already on a flight back to Maryland. Six players can still get as many as six wins, so Owens and Reed need one more win to clinch their spots. Only Loc Ngo and Lee McCool (and Todd Sweeris, realistically) are out mathematically.

Chang Jun Gao’s shoulder was really hurting her this morning – the round was at 11AM on Friday. She struggled against Michelle Do, and was down 19-17 in the first before scoring four in a row. She managed to block Do down to win the match and stay undefeated, 19,13,13.

In a spectacular match, Jasna Reed defeated Tawny Banh, -19,16,16,17, in a battle of the second and third seeds. In the fourth game, Banh led 10-4, but lost four in a row before calling a timeout. It didn’t help this time – she was soon down 16-13, and Reed held that lead to the end. It was a vintage match of a European style shakehander – Reed – versus a Chinese-style shakehander – Banh. How are they different? Banh, with pips on the backhand, plays close to the table, bangs her backhands out extremely quick and fast, and loops from close to the table over and over. Reed, with inverted on both sides, will play from all over the court at all speeds.

Virginia Sung, still struggling with her back injury, came back after a bad first game to win against Allison Seibel, -10,13,15,6

In other matches, Lily Yip d. Whitney Ping, def.; and Simone Yang d. Jackie Lee, 10,18,13.

Chang Jun Gao’s shoulder was beginning to loosen up, but she was still hesitant to really smash her forehand. Her blocking was enough against Simone Yang, 12,12,9.

The best match this round was Michelle Do’s upset of Lily Yip, a battle of extremely fast rallies. Do won the first two games, and led 14-8 in the third – but the experienced Yip fought back to win that game at 19, and the next one at 15. In the fifth, at 5-all, Do ran off five in a row on her serve, and held that lead to win the match, 20,10,-19,-15,14.

In other matches, Jasna Reed d. Allison Seibel, 17,7,17; Virginia Sung d. Jackie Lee, 10,8,13; and Tawny Banh d. Whitney Ping, def.

In a battle of sore-shouldered players, the mostly-blocking Chang Jun Gao defeated the still-hitting Lily Yip – often wildly hitting – at 9,17,5.

The best match this round was Virginia Sung versus Simone Yang in a match where the winner nearly had a lock on making the team – while the loser would still be favored to make the team. Most of the match had Yang mixing in pushes and steady loops, while Sung would sometimes push or chop every ball, and other times loop all-out. Especially impressive were Sung’s counterloops – she rarely missed, and it became dangerous for Yang to loop to Sung’s forehand. It was also dangerous to push her serve back, as Sung would sometimes serve and loop winner after winner. Chopper Sung won the first and third easily; Yang won the second easily. In the fourth, Sung served from up 19-16 – and lost all five! On to the fifth. But first…

…knowing I had some time before they would be into the fifth game, I walked to the control desk (100 feet), got online on my computer, typed in the results of the other matches played that round, uploaded them, did a short one-paragraph write-up of that round (including the Sung-Simone match, leaving a blank for the winner), checked email, answered two emails, read several notes on the table tennis newsgroup, received a phone call, made a phone call, and then suddenly realized I’d forgotten about the ongoing match! I rushed back…

…and the score in the fifth was only 6-4!

In the fifth, Sung led 11-7, but lost the next five. Then, down 13-16, Sun ran off six in a row to lead 19-16. Up 20-17 – expedite was called! (Roughly speaking, if a game takes longer than 15 minutes to complete, expedite is called, where players alternate serves, and the server has 13 shots to win the point, or the receiver wins the point.) But they only played one expedite point – a nice one, with Yang hitting all-out, but missing on about the eight hit. Match to Sung, 9,-10,15,-19,17

In other matches, Jasna Reed d. Jackie Lee, 11,13,15; Tawny Banh d. Michelle Do, 9,11,16; and Allison Seibel d. Whitney Ping, def.

At this point, the top four spots are pretty much locked up by Chang Jun Gao (6-0), Jasna Reed (6-0), Tawny Banh (5-1) and Virginia Sung (4-2). Simone Yang (3-3) is also looking very good. At 2-4 were Lily Yip and Michelle Do. At 1-5 were Jackie Lee and Allison Seibel, while Whitney Ping (who actually only played one match before defaulting due to her sprained ankle) was 0-6.

Mathematically, Gao and Reed have clinched their spots. Tawny at 5-1 still has to win one more to do so – with three rounds to go, seven players could still get five wins. Only Whitney Ping (already out with her sprained ankle) is mathematically out.

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