			December 18, 2008

Cadet Boys and Girls to Final Four

By Larry Hodges

Below are the results of the Cadet Boys' and Girls' Team Trials. The top two from each group (in bold) made the USA National Cadet Team. The final order of placement on the teams will be played off tomorrow.

Cadet Boys Group One

1. Michael Landers (NY), 5-0

2. Grant Li (MA), 4-1

3. Anand Engineer (CA), 3-2

4. Tong Tong Gong (MD), 2-3

5. Kerry Xiao (MO), 1-4

6. Brian Chen (CA), 0-5

Cadet Boys Group Two

1. Alexander Yao (MO), 5-0

2. Charles Deng (TX), 3-2 (wins head-to-head over Yamasaki)

3. Luke Yamasaki (OR), 3-2

4. Ethan Chua (CA), 2-3

5. Chendra Lu (TX), 1-4 (wins head-to-head over Nguyen)

6. Justin Nguyen (CA), 1-4

Cadet Girls Group One

1. Lily Zhang (CA), 5-0

2. Anne Deng (TX), 4-1

3. Ellen Hwang (CA), 3-2

4. Charleen Hsien (CA), 2-3

5. Shirly Ho (TX), 1-4

6. Prachi Jha (CA), 0-5

Cadet Girls Group Two

1. Ariel Hsing (CA), 5-0

2. Natalie Sun (CA), 4-1

3. Erica Wu (CA), 3-2

4. Annie Guo (NY), 2-3

5. Judy Yang (TX), 1-4

6. Jasmine Nguyen (CA), 0-5

Men's Singles - To Final Twelve

By Larry Hodges

Format

The top four seeds - Ilija Lupulesku, David Zhuang, Cheng Yinghua, and Eric Owens - were seeded into the Final Twelve. The rest of the draw will be played out to the Quarterfinals. Those eight players will join the four seeded out in the Final Twelve. They will then be divided into two groups of six, with the top two in each group playing crossover semifinals, and then the Final.

Preliminaries

There was one major upset in the preliminaries perhaps the upset of the tournament, as proud coach Samson Dubina of Ohio pointed out. His student, Pierce Scott, rated 1798, upset Konstantin Chernomorskiy, rated 2167, in a tight five-gamer, 3,-13,-7,9,9, to advance to the main draw and the round of 64.

Round of 64

The main item of interest here was the withdrawal of #6 seed (#2 seed in the main draw) Barney J. Reed. He had previously served a suspension for a positive steroids test, and served a two-year suspension (15 months with "time served"). That ended in August this year. Originally, he had drawn a three-year suspension from the U.S. Anti-Drug Agency (USADA), but upon appeal to the International Court of Arbitration of Sports, it was reduced. USADA appealed (the only time they have ever done that, according to Barney), and on Tuesday - the day before the tournament started - the appeal was upheld. Nine months were returned to Barney's suspension, starting from last August, although he had played tournaments since that time. This means he will be eligible again in May of 2009 - but not for these Nationals. Advancing over Barney in this "upset" was Alexander Yao.

There were no real upsets this round, and only one close match. Thor Truelson (2323, MN) had his hands full with Rafael Flores (2124, FL), but came back to win deuce in the fifth, 8,-8,-7,9,10.

Round of 32

Starting this round, matches were best of seven. Once again there were no serious upsets. Of the 16 matches, two went five, three went six, and only one went the full seven.

The main battle, and main "upset," was lefty John Leach's (2354, CO) seven-game, -8,3,11,-7,-11,9,4 over junior Peter Li (2417, MD). Other battles: Mark Hazinski over junior Amaresh Sahu (the Under 2400 winner), 9,-10,3,4,-8,7; Yahao Zhang's comeback win over Barry Dattel, -6,-12,10,6,7,8; and serving maestro and two-winged looper Joseph Cochran over the "retired" power-looping Brian Pace, 8,-8,11,-5,14,6.

Round of 16

The eight winners of this round will all advance to the Final Twelve with the four players seeded out. Six of the eight matches were six-gamers; one went five; only one was 4-0. We'll start at the top of the draw and work down.

Mark Hazinski (2584, TX) d. Yahao Zhang (2410, CO), -5,7,11,-9,7,10.

This was a pure topspin battle. Mark's been going to college, and often seemed erratic. But his relentless two-winged power was too much for the mostly forehand-looping junior.

Adam Hugh (2500, NJ) d. Nison Aronov (2417, NY), 6,7,-6,-6,8,4.

Despite some nice lobbing points, Adam was a bit too strong in this match. The highlight of the match might have been the expression on Adam's face when he whiffed against one lob - but he'd gladly trade that for the win.

Samson Dubina (2504, OH) d. Joseph Cochran (2424, IN), -7,10,-5,5,5,7.

Joseph's serves challenged Samson early on, but Samson gradually adjusted. Once in the rally, both played strong two-wing looping games, but Samson was a bit stronger and more consistent.

Shao Yu (2562, NY) d. Trevor Runyan (2389, CA), 7,9,-8,6,-8,6.

Has Trevor ever seen a backhand like Shao's pips-out all-out hits? Sometimes it seemed that Shao could cover the whole table with this shot, with quick, slashing backhands, often at improbable angles. After four games, Trevor, a more conventional two-winged looper, seemed to have adjusted, but down 3-1 it was too late. They split the next two games, and so Shao advanced.

Timothy Wang (2370, TX) d. Dan Seemiller (2565, IN), -4,9,8,9,-7,5.

The best match of the round, and the only upset. Timothy took a game to figure out Dan's change-of-pace blocks and sudden loops, but from there on he steadily looped side to side, never overplaying, relentlessly topspinning until the point was won. He seemed to have no trouble with the constant change of pace and direction of Dan's blocks, and his loops to lefty Dan's wide forehand often put him in control. An excellent display of tactics and ball control.

Marcus Jackson (2350, MD) d. Tahl Leibovitz (2452, NY), 8,3,9,8.

On paper, this was an upset. However, with the new ratings after the North American Teams, Marcus came in at 2507, and here he proved the rating was accurate. Marcus is a tall, two-winged looper, and knows how to take advantage of his reach. There's just no safe place to put the ball. Tall players like him are often weak in the middle, but Marcus often covers that spot with his penetrating backhand punch hitting. His serves have also gotten very strong, giving Tahl fits. Tahl had a number of nice backhand points, but Marcus controlled most of the key points near the end of each game.

Niraj Oak (2411, TX) d. Freddie Gabriel (2379, CA), 8,-5,7,9,7.

This seemed an upset, since Freddie's been over 2500, but not according to the ratings. Niraj is one of those players that often surprised strong players with his steady blocking, ball control, and over-the-table game. His attack, when pressed, can be erratic, but once he has an opponent on the move, he picks his shots well.

John Leach (2354, CO) d. Thor Truelson (2323, MN), 6,-6,1,7,-8,9.

The lefty looping John often had hit hands full with Thor and his pips-out backhand hitting, especially near the end. However, in the key points, John's serves and loops often dominated.

The final draw for Men's Singles and USA Team Trials is as follows:

Group One

Ilija Lupulesku (2780, IL)

Cheng Yinghua (2655, MD)

Shao Yu (2562, NY)

Adam Hugh (2500, NJ)

Niraj Oak (2411, TX)

John Leach (2354, CO)

Group Two

David Zhuang (2672, NJ)

Eric Owens (2618, IL)

Mark Hazinski (2584, TX)

Samson Dubina (2504, OH)

Timothy Wang (2370, TX)

Marcus Jackson (2350, MD)

Women's Singles - To Final Twelve

By Larry Hodges

Format

The top four seeds - Crystal Huang (2426, CA), Jasna Reed (2421, TX), Judy Hugh (2393, NJ) and Jackie Lee (2336, CA) - were seeded into the Final Twelve. (Tawny Banh, who earlier won Women's Doubles with Crystal, is not playing singles.) The rest of the draw will be played out to the Quarterfinals. Those eight players will join the four seeded out in the Final Twelve. They will then be divided into two groups of six, with the top two in each group playing crossover semifinals, and then the Final.

Round of 16

Besides the eight seeded out, there were 14 players in the draw. This meant that the top two seeds not seeded out - Anne Deng (2334, TX) and Ariel Hsing (2316, CA) - are seeded into the quarterfinals. These two, and the other six winners this round, will all advance to the Final Twelve.

Some advanced with ease, in particular Connie Chen and Jasmine Nguyen, who both advanced by default. Two juniors advanced: Erica Wu (1982, CA) over Judy Chen (1587, TX), 4,8,7,6, and Lily Zhang (2229, CA) over Diann Darnall (1362, AK), 4,4,2,2. Charlene Liu (2045, MD), who already won Over 40 Women, advanced over Christina Divita (1969, CA) in a -4,2,9,6,-9,3 battle.

The Big Battle of the Round was Heather Wang (2238, MD) versus Natalie Sun (2019, CA). Natalie's coach? None other than Zhang Li, former World Women's Doubles Champion, three-time World Women's Team Champion, and two-time World Women's Singles Finalist. The coaching, or at least Natalie's play, paid off in her greatly improved level. The two battled into the seventh before an exhausted Heather finally prevailed, deuce in the seventh: -8,8,7,-14,-9,4,11. Afterwards, a highly impressed and relieved Heather - between exhausted breaths - said she had to do lots of spin changes to win.

The final draw for Women's Singles and USA Team Trials is as follows:

Group One

Crystal Huang (2426, CA)

Judy Hugh (2393, NJ)

Ariel Hsing (2316, CA)

Heather Wang (2238, MD)

Erica Wu (1982, CA)

Connie Chen (1641, TX)

Group Two

Jasna Reed (2421, TX)

Jackie Lee (2336, CA)

Anne Deng (2334, TX)

Lily Zhang (2229, CA)

Charlene Liu (2045, MD)

Jasmine Nguyen (1791, CA)

Men's Singles - Early Rounds

By Larry Hodges

Format

Preliminaries

Round of 64

There were no real upsets this round, and only one close match. Thor Truelson (2323, MN) had his hands full with Rafael Flores (2124, FL), but came back to win deuce in the fifth, 8,-8,-7,9,10.

Round of 32

Starting this round, matches were best of seven. Once again there were no serious upsets. Of the 16 matches, two went five, three went six, and only one went the full seven.

Under 2400

By Larry Hodges

(Amaresh Sahu)

The most interesting match of the event was probably Jackie Lee's (2336, CA) battle with Raghu Nadmichettu (2385, MD) in the semifinals. It was a contrast of styles: Jackie takes control of the table, while Raghu is a shot-maker. Before the match started, Raghu's racket was tested, and didn't pass the glue test - apparently because he had glued it on originally, though he was using rubber with the built-in glue effect. He borrowed another racket, and the two battled into the fifth. Raghu led 6-3 and 7-5. Too often near the end Jackie blocked Raghu out of position, often looping forehands from the wide backhand, and Jackie would win the point with a sharp block to the wide forehand. Despite losing a couple of points against Raghu's lobbing, Jackie prevailed - helped by a net-winner at 10-8 match point - and advanced to the final, 8,-8,-4,9,8.

However, seventeen-year-old Amaresh Sahu (2363, MD) completely dominated the event, winning every match 3-0. His scores in winning the event were 5,6,3,2,9,5,5,5,4,9,9,11,7,3,7,5,7,2. The only "close" one? The 9,9,11 match with Barry Dattel in the quarterfinals.

Women's Doubles

By Larry Hodges

This was a seesaw match, if there ever was one. The final was between Tawny Banh/Crystal Huang and Jasna Reed/Jackie Lee, all excellent doubles players. Tawny/Crystal won this in 2006, while Jasna has won it three times, twice with Gao Jun, once with Tawny in 2004. Jasna was also a bronze medalist for Women's Doubles at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, twenty years ago. Crystal also won it in 2005 with Whitney Ping.

The down side was that there were only two teams. Originally there was a third, but they pulled out. There are plenty of other women; they just aren't entering, perhaps because of the dominance of the top two - and only two - teams in the two-team Women's Doubles draw.

Tawny is a shakehander with short pips on the backhand. She plays close to the table, hitting backhands and looping forehands without backing up. Crystal is a lefty penholder with pips-out on the forehand, with a reverse inverted penhold backhand. Jasna and Jackie are both inverted shakehands, with Jasna an all-around player who can do anything anywhere on the court, but with an especially good backhand loop and hit. Jackie tends to play closer to the table, hitting backhands, looping forehands, with a steady opening loop from both sides.

It started out as a romp, with Tawny/Crystal winning the first 11-4. Then it was Jasna/Jackie romping, winning game two 11-7, and taking a 9-2 lead in the second.

Then it was 9-3 . . . 9-4 . . . 9-5 . . . 9-6, and Sean O'Neill, coaching the Jasna/Jackie team, called a timeout. Then it was 9-7 . . .9-8, six points in a row. However, the streak ended, and Jasna backhand killed to win game three, 11-8. (Editor: online score for this game is incorrectly listed as 11:4)

In game four, it was another romp for Tawny/Crystal, 11-4. Between games, U.S. Men's Champion Ilija Lupulesku said that Jasna/Jackie needed to loop more to Crystal's forehand, mostly slow, then follow up with winners.

In game five, the seesaw went into overdrive. Jasna/Jackie took a 3-0, 4-1 lead. Then they were down 4-5. Then it was 5-5, 6-6, and 7-7. This is where nerves came into play.

"I haven't played a tournament in over a year!" Tawny said. Her last one was the Pan Am Games last summer; she skipped last year's Nationals. She very nervously pushed Jackie's next two serves off the end, and a point later Jasna/Jackie led 10-7 match point.

Now it was Jackie's turn to battle with nerves as she misses a loop and two pushes, and Jasna also misses a loop - and now it's Tawny/Crystal up 11-10 match point!

Jackie serves to a nervous Tawny, who pushes it back tentatively . . . Edge!!! Jasna, preparing to loop, can only watch the ball as it and the national title shoots away, 4,-7,-8,4,10 for the U.S. National Women's Champions, Tawny Banh and Crystal Huang.

Thank You to Staff!

By Larry Hodges

(John Miller working on the results)

This is a good time to thank the staff for the mostly thankless task of putting together and running a tournament with 60 events, 86 tables, and 649 players. Do not try this in your basement; these are professionals.

The USATT Staff helped with much of the preliminary work, runs registration, and many other tasks. They are CEO Mike Cavanaugh, and Deborah Gray, Doru Gheorghe, Felisa Huggins, and Joyce Grooms.

The North American Table Tennis Staff (NATT), working with the USATT staff, did much of the preliminary work and runs the control desk. They are the ones to thank if your match is on time. They are Director Richard Lee, and Wendy Lee, John Miller, Tom Nguyen, Mary Palmar, and loud speaker and loudspeaker man Alan Williams.

Volunteers do much of the work at tournaments, and without them, the tournament would dissolve into something resembling chaos. They are the ones who run the remote stations, conflict resolution, and other tasks. They are Yudisne Albano, Deidre Brown, Juan Escobedo, Bob Fox, Joseph Gormly, Michael Harris, Olga Kahan, Stanley Kahan, Leszek Kasowski, Herbert Lau, Ly Le, former junior star Vivian Lee, M.D. (you heard that right!), Deborah Lorenzo, Richard Martin, Marilyn Miller, Sandra Pate, Bastian Rademacher, Jan Trimble, Jinhai wang, Jim Weisbecher, Jessica Yick, and Joris Yip.

The Officials do the most thankless job off all - you try telling someone in a match their serve or racket isn't legal, that they have to change shirts, etc. They are led by Referee Chris Williams (NR), Deputy Referee Larry Kesler (IR), Chief Umpire Roman Tinyszin (IU), Deputy Chief Umpire Dick Evans (IU), and Racket Control Gurus Ray Cavicchio (IR) and Kagin Lee (NU).

Doing the actual umpiring are the Umpires: Kazuko Asanuma, Donald Burgess, Ray Cavicchio, Chinyong Chong, Pat Collins, Valeriy Elnatanov, Yuriy Elnatanov, Dick Evans, EnnanGuan, Irina Hellwig, Fumie Hotta, Linda Hsing, Azmy Ibrahim, Amon Jun, Yelena Karshtedt, Larry Kesler, Lee Kondo, Takashi Kudo, Joseph Lee, Kagin Lee, Bella Livshin, Chandra Madhosingh, Cindy Marcum, Tom Miller, Kurie Murakami, Hideo Nagae, Ken Potts, Nagako Tamura, Kenny Tien, Roman Tinyszin, Bill Walk, Saul Weinstein, Michael Wetzel, Chris Williams, Jeff Wong, and Chi Keung Yick.

The Media Staff are USATT Magazine Editors Steve & Marie Hopkins, who did the program book; Steve Reiling (logo creator); Tim Boggan, doing coverage for the senior events for the magazine; Bruce Liu, who created the online Results & Updates page, and puts the results, articles and photos online; Photographers Bruce Liu (him again), Robert Trudell, Gerry Chua, and Michael Wetzel; and myself as writer (with Bruce applying electric shocks whenever I stop typing).

The Tournament Sponsors are Martin-Kilpatrick (Table sponsor), Nittaku/Paddle Palace (Ball sponsor), and Li-Ning (USA Team Uniform sponsor). Without them, there'd be no tables, no balls, and no team uniforms.

The Exhibitors - what would the tournament be like without the rows and rows of venders for our shopping pleasure? - are Martin-Kilpatrick, Paddle Palace, Li Ning, Fine Design, JOOLA, Table Tennis International, and ZeroPong. Support the distributors who support our sport!

The USATT Board of Directors, with 8 of the 9 in attendance, are the ones meeting behind the scenes, working toward developing our sport, as well as all the nitty gritty stuff like budgets, etc. In attendance are Chairman of the Board Peter Scudner; At Large Directors Michael Babuin and Christian Lillieroos; Independent Director Jim Kahler; National Organization Director David Del Vecchio; Club Representative Linda Leaf; and Athlete reps Ashu Jain and Han Xiao.

And let's not forget to thank those 649 players who are competing in the tournament! Without them, there wouldn't be a tournament, and the venue would look a bit empty. Of course, that would make the staff's job a bit easier . . . nah, let's not go there!

If you are at the tournament and see any of the above workers (with apologies to any missed), give them a hand! If they don't react much, well, they are pretty busy - and they probably aren't used to being thanked. So let's surprise them and give them a great, big:

Thank You!!!

Elite Coaches at the USA Nationals

By Larry Hodges

There are dozens of coaches in action at these Nationals - far too many to profile. They are an often untapped resource. Among these coaches are a number of elite "celebrity" coaches, names that need no introduction to table tennis aficionados. Here's a rundown of some of them, with apologies to those missed, as well as to the many other hard-working and successful coaches not named.

(Stellan Bengtsson)

Stellan Bengtsson, 1971 World Men's Singles Champion and long-time coach from Sweden, now living in San Diego. He's coaching roughly 20 players from the San Diego Club and others from around California.

(Zhang Li prepared for Natalie Sun)

Zhang Li, 1979 World Women's Doubles Champion, two-time World Women's Singles Runner-up, and three-time World Women's Team Champion. She's here coaching cadet girls' star Natalie Sun.

(Stefan Feth)

Stefan Feth, former member of German National Team. He's coaching about 15 cadet players from the Bay area and Butterfly sponsored players.

(Carl Danner and Sean O'Neill)

Sean O'Neill, five-time U.S. Men's Singles Champion. He's mostly coaching U.S. Team Member Jackie Lee, as well as cadet star players Alex Yao and Luke Yamasaki.

(Dan Seemiller)

Dan Seemiller, Five-time U.S. Men's Singles Champion, 11-time Men's Doubles Champion, U.S. Men's Team Coach. He's coaching players from the South Bend Club in Indiana, as well as playing.

(Ricky Seemiller)

Ricky Seemiller, many-time U.S. Men's Doubles Champion and U.S. Team Member. He's coaching brother Dan Seemiller, who he's also playing Men's Doubles and Senior Doubles.

(Cheng Yinghua in white sweater)

Cheng Yinghua, four-time U.S. Men's Singles Champion and former member of both the Chinese and U.S. National Teams. He's primarily coaching 11-year-old cadet stars Tong Tong Geng and Nathan Hsu.

(Attila Malek)

Attila Malek, 1979 U.S. Men's Singles Champion. He's coaching 12-14 junior players from his Power Pong club in Fountain Valley, California. He is only playing in Over 50 Men's Singles.

(Han Xiao playing mixed doubles with Jackie Lee)

Han Xiao, U.S. Team member and two-time U.S. Men's Doubles Champion. He's coaching junior stars Peter Li, Amaresh Sahu, Lily Zhang, and Janice Lan, as well as attending USATT board meetings as a player rep. (Han is only playing in Men's and Mixed Doubles.)

(Photos in the slideshow courtesy of Gerry Chua)