2003 U.S. Team Trials

Women

Chang Jun Gao and Jasna Reed had a lot of fun in their "match," but mostly played exhibition. Much of the match was a backhand-backhand exhibition, with Gao blocking and Jasna ripping backhand after backhand in an attempt to go through it. In between there were lobbing, chopping, and forehand-forehand exhibition points. Both knew they were pretty comfortably on the Team.

The big match this round was Tawny Banh versus Lily Yip. Banh has always had trouble with Yip, since she's about the only woman who plays at her pace. While Gao or Reed can return her shots, only Yip returns as fast as Banh hits them. Banh said it leads to a very nerve-wracking match. "I have to just stay focused, stay calm, and play my game," she said. The rallies were mostly ferocious backhand to backhand rallies, or Yip smashing, or Banh looping forehands to Yip's quick blocking. The two trade the first two games at 5. In the third, Yip's up 10-9, but Banh wins, 13-11. In the fourth, Yip's up 8-4, but Banh races back, scoring five in a row to lead 9-8. Yip calls a time-out - and scores the next three to win. The fifth became the "pivotal" game. Yip leads 9-7, and has games points at 11-10 and 12-11. But after all the deuces, with both attacking all-out, Banh wins 14-12 to lead 3-2 in games. But the two continue to trade games, as Yip leads the sixth 10-9, and wins 12-10 in a series of backhand exchanges at the end. Into the seventh - and the trend of trading games continues. Banh leads 3-0, then at 5-4 runs off four in a row, and wins the match, 5,-5,11,-9,12,-10,5.

Men

Huge controversy would erupt immediately after this round. But first, the round itself....

Lupulesku and Owens had a great counterlooping battle, but Lupi's counterspinning and fishing are simply too much. Every game was competitive, but every time a game was close, Lupi would run off whatever points were needed to win. Match to Lupi, 10,8,7,9.

Zhuang and Nguyen always have great matches. Nguyen has the most picture-perfect form in the U.S., and he's one of the best pure athletes. But his shots are sometimes too predictable, and Zhuang always seems to find a way to win, especially the close ones. In this match, they split the first two games. The next four were all 11-9 - but Zhuang won three of them to win the match, 4,-7,9,9,-9,9. In one game, Nguyen led 9-5, but Zhuang won six in a row.

Hazinski-Wang was pure power looping, but Hazinski's better backhand and better receive won the day.

Adam Hugh's backhand was more dependable against Brian Pace, and he won the first three games. From there on, Pace went on an all-out forehand attack, ending points much more quickly. When he did get pinned down on the backhand, he'd make errors, but he'd also hit or loop in winners. In game five, Pace led 10-9 and 11-10. Hugh backhand looped, and Pace backhand killed it away. In the sixth, at 7-7, In the sixth, the score was 7-7, then 10-7 match point for Hugh. Pace scored two in a row to pulled to 9-10. Then, just as he had done at 9-10 in the fifth against Dan Seemiller at the Cary Open five days before, and as he had done at 10-9 in the fourth the day before against Khoa Nguyen (after scoring seven in a row from down 9-3, but still winning that game), he served into the net to lose, 8,3,9,-9,-10,9. Pace has been trying to adjust to the new service rule (no hidden serves), but still is not comfortable with it, he said.

The match that would lead to controversy was Ashu Jain vs. Shashin Shodhan. The match itself was not the cause of the controversy. Jain won four straight close games, possibly leading to the tense situation that would follow. In the first, Jain led 10-7, and after Shodhan had a 11-10 game point, won 14-12. In the second, Shodhan led 10-8, 11-10 and 13-12, but Jain pulled it out, 14-12. The next two were close all the way, with Jain winning them both 11-9 in the end. After the match, Shodhan refused to shake Jain's hand.

Controversy

After the match, Jain was sitting on the sidelines talking with others when Shodhan came by and listened briefly. He suddenly stepped in and slapped Jain in the face. Jain refrained from turning it into a brawl, but Shodhan was immediately defaulted by the referee from the tournament. Jain, after discussion with others, decided to press charges, and the police were called. The police came in and questioned both, and took down the names of witnesses.

According to Shodhan, Jain had said to him, "Who's the better Indian in the country now?" after the match. (There was a history here that we won't go into.) Shodhan said that you don't say that to someone who's just lost a match. Shodhan said he had never slapped anybody in his life before, but that it was a "subconscious reflex" that came about because he was an intense player. On the way out with the police to be questioned (he was NOT arrested), he said loudly for all to hear, "I'm glad I did it now. He deserved it." Jain declined to comment on Shodhan's accusations, but said that "He is just not worth dealing with, and has issues he has to take care of. Before the match, he said that he would never lose to me." Shodhan offered to shake Jain's hand after he had been defaulted, but this time Jain refused.

The implications of the default are that Shodhan's matches no longer count, just as Priscilla Umel's no longer counted when she was defaulted after three rounds. Shodhan had played five matches: he had won against De Tran and Jiachen Wang (both of whom now had that loss off their record); and he had losses to three players who would no longer have this win on their record: Eric Owens, Brian Pace, and ironically, Ashu Jain.

Current Standings
Note - the matches played by Priscilla Umel and Shashin Shodhan no longer count in the standings, due to their defaults from the tournament, and so their matches have been taken out of the results.
Men			Women
1-2	Ilija Lupulesku	5-0	1	Chang Jun Gao	5-0
	David Zhuang	5-0	2	Tawny Banh	4-0
3	Mark Hazinski	4-1	3	Jasna Reed	3-1
4-5	Khoa Nguyen	3-2	4	Virginia Sung	3-2
	Adam Hugh	3-2	5-6	Judy Hugh	2-2
6	De Tran	2-2	6	Lily Yip	2-2
7-8	Ashu Jain	1-3	7	Jackie Lee	2-3
	Eric Owens	1-3	8	Simone Yang	0-3
9	Darko Rop	1-4	9-10	Moji Kuye	0-4
10-11	Brian Pace	0-4		Amanda Dubina	0-4
	Jiachen Wang	0-4

2003 USA Table Tennis World and Pan Am Trials

Final Twelve - Round Five

Women

Men

Controversy

Current Standings

Men

Women