2003 North American Championships

2003 NORTH AMERICAN TABLE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Balboa Park Activity Center, San Diego, California, USA, April 4-6, 2003

North American Championships: Day Three

Sunday, April 6

By Kathy Chin

It was a picture-perfect San Diego day on the last day of the North American Table Tennis Championships.

Unfortunately the Men’s championship round got off to a rocky start when Khoa Nguyen was defaulted in his first match in the championship round robins (top two advance to semifinals). He told us he knew about the daylight savings time change, but he says he wasn’t aware that the start-time for the event had been changed. Referee Linda Hsing says the correct start-time had been posted all day Saturday and he was given extra time before defaulting. Khoa regrouped and his next match against Canadian Bence Csaba turned into a thriller. It went down to the 7th with Csaba smacking Khoa’s serve down the line at 10-9 to win the match.

In another nail-biter, Canada’s 2^nd ranked player, Pradeeban Peter-Paul, went the full 7 against Mark Hazinski. Peter-Paul jumped out to an early lead, but Hazinski wouldn’t give up and pulled to within one. Down 7-10, Mark fought back and reached 9-10. But incredibly, at that point disaster struck…Mark served into the net, stunning both players and the crowd, and ending the match. We’re told Mark was going for the tie with a heavy underspin serve. However, both advanced to the semifinals - but the loss meant Hazinski had to face top-seeded Johnny Huang in the semifinals, which Huang won easily, 3,1,8,6. On the other side, Csaba defeated Peter-Paul, 9,8,9,8.



Clockwise from top-left: North American Men's Singles Champion Johnny Huang; Runner-up Bence Csaba; Semifinalists Pradeeban Peter-Paul and Mark Hazinski. Csaba & Hazinski photos by Gerry Chua ©2003. Huang & Peter-Paul photos by Kathy Chin ©2003

On the Women’s side, Tawny Bahn kept herself and the crowd pumped up as she ferociously clawed her way to the final. It took 5 games, including a 20-18 3rd to beat Canada’s 2nd-rated Petra Cada. In the final, Tawny faced 3rd-rated Canadian Chris Xu, a steady, get-everything-back chopper. The match went 6 games, including a 16-14 5th. In the 6th, Tawny took an 8-6 lead but Chris came back to tie at 8. They tied at 9, and then Chris won the next two earning the right to compete in the World Cup, 5,-10,9,-7,14,9.

Below: North American Women's Singles Champion Chris Xu; Right: Runner-up Tawny Banh. Photos by Kathy Chin ©2003
Below and right: Semifinalists Lily Yip and Petra Cada. Photos by Kathy Chin ©2003

If you had one of the many camcorders in the house, it was difficult to choose where to aim it…the Women’s final or the Men’s. Canada’s top-rated Johnny Huang faced his countryman Bence Csaba. Their exchanges had us wannabes shaking our heads in amazement. Huang won the first two games at deuce and the 3rd at 9. Csaba could only muster 3 points in the 4th and final game as Huang won, 11,11,9,3. His valiant effort had some fans whispering that Huang better watch out for the youngsters coming up behind him.

Speaking of youngsters, kudos to USA's Adam Hugh and Misha Kazantsev, the first and second place finishers in Cadet Boys. Canada’s Aldrich Leung took 3rd while Canada's Derek Wong came in 4th.

In the Cadet Girls competition, Judy Hugh, down 2 games to none, bounced back to beat Fanni Csaba in five. USA's Lani Lei took 3rd, Canada's Tracy Yuen, 4th. Two boys and girls from each country qualify for the World Cadet Challenge in Malaysia.

U.S. Coach Dan Seemiller felt his players played pretty well although he thinks Canada is a little better on the Men’s side. He said it’s going to take money for the U.S. players to significantly improve.

Thanks to Tournament Director Allen Watson who had to do everything, including driving vans and sweeping floors to get this tournament together and Wayne Johnson for keeping the matches running smoothly.

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