2003 Western Open

Robo-Pong the Table Tennis

Robot @ Newgy.com

Western Open on the Stiga North American Tour

Fremont, CA · Aug. 30-31, 2003

By Larry Hodges

Déjà vu … Fan vs. Reed … semifinals … a huge match in front of a huge crowd … and referee Azmy Ibrahim watching from the sidelines. Nope, it wasn’t “Bubblegate” from 21 months ago, the last time these two had played. That time, Fan Yi Yong had been up 3-0 in games and the score was 8-8 when … a bubble on Fan’s racket made it illegal, which led to a default and a very angry Fan and teammates at the 2001 North American Teams.

Don’t get Fan angry. You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.

Fan wasn’t angry here, but he was extremely determined. Perhaps he’d heard Barney’s prediction made to a number of people that whoever won this match would win the tournament. (Not a bad prediction actually, since Fan was the big favorite to win the tournament – and anyone who could beat him would probably win the tournament.)

Fan (rated 2767) wasn’t mean and green, but in this match he probably could have jumped tall buildings in a single bound. Fan, often staring at Barney between points, won his semifinal match with Barney Reed Jr. (2634), 8,7,3,4,1, and moved on to the final. When asked whether there was anything going in this match due to the default from the Teams two years before, Fan said, “I forgive him. He’s a young guy.”

From a purely tactical point of view, Fan had a relatively simple strategy. Keep the ball short, bring Barney in, then loop (usually with backhand) quick off the bounce, either at wide angles or to the middle. He didn’t even have to rip the ball – by keeping Barney close to the table and looping so quick off the bounce, he didn’t give Barney anything to swing at. Barney’s tactical response, other than a yellow card for slamming his paddle on the table? “He didn’t seem to have a game plan,” pointed out coach Carl Danner, who had also pointed out the simple strategy Fan was using. “He didn’t do anything to adapt to Fan’s strategy.”

Barney, 25, was taking it well, knows he needs more experience. He’ll be leaving for Taiwan in a few days to train, and plans to play in five stops in the ITTF Pro Tour – Japan, Malaysia, Germany, Sweden and Denmark. Of Fan, he said, “I had a chance in the first two games. He’s a world-class player – he’s got a winning record against Schlager, and he’s world champion.” Of his own play, he said, “I think I overplayed, tried to go for too much.” He added, “I hadn’t had much good practice in Pennsylvania recently.”

In the other semifinal, India’s four-time national champion Chetan Baboor (2677) had a relatively easy time with Khoa Nguyen (2555), although he does lose two games, 8,8,-9,2,5,-9,1. However, most of the games he wins he wins easily. The two play similar “wide open” styles, often looping from both wings from off the table, but Chetan is steadier, and receives serves a bit better.

Fan vs. Baboor is going to be a heck of a final – but first, the quarterfinals.

Canada’s Xavier Therien (2524) would take the only game off Fan anyone would get this tournament – which, of course, says something about the final. But the match seemed never in doubt as Fan’s quick-looping style is just too quick, 7,5,-9,9,6,4. Or was it? “If I had held that 8-6 lead in the fourth, who knows what might have happened?” Therien said. Therien is getting a reputation for playing up to good players – and down to weaker players. Hence his loss in the semifinals of Under 2500 to 2313-rated Lu Guo Hui, despite leading 3-1 and winning one game at zero.

Sean O’Neill (2469) would win Under 2500 over Hui (fighting off a match point to Yong Ren in the quarterfinals), and would also give Barney a run for his money in the quarterfinals, -10,8,-9,6,8,11,10, with Sean having games points in the last two games, and a 9-6 lead in the last game. Sean had some trouble with Barney’s serves, which were borderline hidden – impossible to really call from an umpire’s position. But while Barney dominated shot for shot, Sean kept him tied up with short receives and ball placement.

“Chetan [whom Sean lost to in the preliminaries] teed off against my serves,” Sean said, “but against Barney, my serves were better. In the big points, Barney is predictable – he always goes for the big shot to the most difficult spot, so you can often see it coming. Every game was close – just a point here or there could have made the difference.” He added, “Having Carl [Danner] coach me made the match exciting and fun. It was great to have a coach who can really make a difference.” Some of you may know Carl as the one who recently started giving weekly “Tips of the Week” at www.usatt.org, giving “Dr. Ping Pong,” who had done it for nearly four years, a well-needed break.

Khoa Nguyen and De Tran (2497) – former practice partners before De Tran left California to go to medical school and start his medical practice in New York – had to play each other in the quarterfinals, due to what both considered an unlucky draw. “I’ve never beaten him,” said “Dr. De,” and while he mounted a determined comeback late in the match with his big two-winged loops, the pattern continued, 3,4,5,-8,-9,9,8.

Most thought Chetan Baboor would win easily against Germany’s lefty Benjamin Bator (who was seeded at an estimated 2450) in the “Baboor – Bator” quarterfinal. After all, Bator had lost in the preliminaries to Duc Duong Kevin Au, rated 2211 (but usually a hundred points higher), and had barely advanced out of a three-way tie. But the match turned into a free-for-all counterlooping battle, which seemed to be Bator’s game – and the two played almost even much of the match. However, Baboor, who just a few years ago was ranked in the top 70 in the world, after falling behind 2-3, worked his way back into the match and just pulled out the last three games, -9,5,9,-8,-8,7,9,10.

So we’re into the Final, with a huge crowd gathering. Fan, from Seattle, has his west coast supporters, but a large Indian contingent has come to cheer Baboor on. Baboor takes a quick 2-0 lead – but that’s 2-0 in points, not games. Fan scored the next seven in a row and wins the first 11-4. Baboor goes up 7-3 in the second – but Fan wins 11-9, and he wins the third, also 11-9. In the fourth, Fan leads 10-4, Baboor gets four in a row, but it’s 11-8 Fan. In the fifth, it’s 9-5 Fan, then 10-8 match point. At 10-9, they have the point of the match – an incredible counterlooping exchange. Fan finally misses, so it’s deuce. But it only takes Fan three loops to win the next two points and the match, 4,9,9,8,10. Baboor’s problem in this match is that Fan hits his loops so quick, with such a topspin jump on them, that he seemed never able to get his forehand into play, and spent much of the match just struggling to keep the ball in play. Like Barney before him, he rarely had a ball to really swing at. But get them back he did, and there were many great rallies. The longer the rally, the more they favored Baboor, but there’s only so much you can do when Fan sometimes seems like he can end the point at any time with a quick flick of his backhand loop.

For the tournament, Fan was 6-0 in matches, and 27-1 in games. To be specific, he won at, in order, 6,4,4,6,2,7,3,6,4,8,9,12,7,5,-9,9,6,4,8,7,3,4,1,4,9,9,8,10.

As nice as the points were, how many in the audience knew that both players were rusty? Fan hasn’t had much good practice in years, since there’s no one near his level in Seattle. And Baboor has been quietly going to Thunderbird University in Arizona for the past year, practicing only about once a week with 1800-1900 players (mostly Marco Borrillo) and a table tennis robot. He’s just finished his Master’s degree in International Business (to go with his Bachelor’s in Engineering). Between matches, he’s reading “The Ghost in the Machine.”

The Open was actually made up of three parts. The top twelve had been seeded into the final 16, and a qualifier was held for the final four spots. The final 16 then played in four groups of four, with the top two advancing to the quarterfinals. When all the dust had cleared, the top four seeds had advanced in first, and the four second seeds had advanced in second. Group One had had the closest call. Fan won his three matches easily, but Benjamin Bator, Shashin Shodhan and Duc Duong Kevin Au had all tied at 1-2 – with Bator advancing with a 5-4 record among the three, and Au not advancing with a 6-5 record – that’s how close it was! (Shodhan was next, with a 4-6 record.) Interestingly, of the 24 matches in the preliminaries, Au over Bator was only the upset. And the higher rated player would also win all seven matches after the preliminaries.

One player who did not advance out of the preliminaries was Tomek Grubba, the son of Andrzej (former top world-class player from Poland), who was in the U.S. visiting. Seeded at an estimated 2450, he finished third in his group, losing 4-0 to Baboor and 4-2 to O’Neill. He won Under 22 Men over Auria Malek.

There were three double winners in the tournament:

David Sakai, who won Over 40 and Over 50, with a pair of deuce or 9 in the seventh matches to pull out the 40s.
Kevin Phung, who won both Under 18 and Under 16 Boys, and made the final of Under 2125.
Wendy Eav, who won both Under 18 and Under 16 Girls.

248 players competed in the tournament on 28 tables – one less than in the previous NATT tournament here, so as to allow more room between tables – although, as one person complained to the referee, the tables were still too close together. That’s the price we pay in the U.S. – it’s not a big money sport, and with few sponsors, you need the extra tables to support enough events to pay for the tournament. It’s a difficult equation to break out of.

Special thanks goes to North American Table Tennis for running this, the fourth stop on the Stiga North American Tour; to sponsor Stiga; and to the great City Beach facility, whose restaurant still makes the best pizza I’ve ever had. Between matches, players could wander through the facility and watch – or participate? – in a wide variety of activities: rock climbing (their specialty), badminton, volleyball, basketball, bocce ball, foozball, pool, video games, and other activities. Most important, of course, were the numerous table tennis junior, coaching, league and round robin programs offered – it’s got a full-time table tennis center, with head coach Dennis Davis and assistant coaches Rajul Sheth, Michelle Do and Shashin Shodhan. Somewhere at the center, perhaps hanging from one of the ropes in the rock climbing area, might be the kid who, mean and green, may someday lead USA to the Olympic dream.

Open Singles - Final: Fan Yi Yong d. Chetan Baboor, 4,9,9,8,10; SF: Fan d. Barney J. Reed, 8,7,3,4,1; Baboor d. Khoa Nguyen, 8,8,-9,2,5,-9,1; QF: Fan d. Xavier Therien, 7,5,-9,9,6,4; Reed d. Sean O’Neill, -10,8,-9,6,8,11,10; Nguyen d. De Tran, 3,4,5,-8,-9,9,8; Baboor d. Benjamin Bator, -9,5,9,-8,-8,7,9,10.

Open Preliminaries:

Group One: 1^st Fan Yi Yong, 3-0 (d. Bator, 4,8,9,12; d. Shodhan, 2,7,3,6; d. Au, 6,4,4,6); 2^nd Benjamin Bator, 1-2 (d. Shodhan, 10,3,7,5); 3^rd Duc Duong Kevin Au, 1-2 (d. Bator, -6,5,7,8,5); 4^th Shashin Shodhan, 1-2 (d. Au, -4,8,9,-8,11,5).

Group Two: 1^st Chetan Baboor, 3-0 (d. O’Neill, 4,-6,5,5,7; d. Grubba, 6,7,4,11; d. Jafar-Ali, 8,4,6,6); 2^nd Sean O’Neill, 2-1 (d. Grubba, -7,6,8,6,-14,8; d. Jafar-Ali, 6,4,10,4); 3^rd Tomek Grubba, 1-2 (d. Jafar-Ali, -6,-6,8,-7,9,9,6); 4^th Shuja Jafar-Ali, 0-3.

Group Three: 1^st Barney J. Reed, 3-0 (d. Tran, 6,5,4,8; d. Sun, 4,6,-7,6,2; d. Wang, 8,-9,7,4,-5,4); 2^nd De Tran, 2-1 (d. Sun -8,8,9,-7,6,8; d. Wang, 13,-7,11,5,7); 3^rd Angela Sun, 1-2 (d. Michael Wang, -14,5,-5,4,11,9); 4^th Michael Boye Wang, 0-3.

Group Four: 1^st Khoa Nguyen, 3-0 (d. Therien, 10,-9,5,2,1; d. Lu, 7,10,7,-9,9; d. Benedicto, 5,10,-8,6,5); 2^nd Xavier Therien, 2-1 (d. Benedicto, -9,11,8,8,5; d. Lu, 9,4,10,7); 3^rd Voltaire Benedicto, 1-2 (d. Lu, def.); 4^th Lu Guo Hui, 0-3.

Women: Angela Sun d. Michelle Do, 9,-4,2,8,-10,5.

Under 22 Men: 1^st Tomek Grubba; 2^nd Auria Malek.

Under 18 Boys: Kevin Phung d. Auria Malek, 4,2,-5,8,-10,7.

Under 16 Boys: Kevin Phung d. Trevor Runyan, 5,7,7,13.

Under 13 Boys: H. Gautam d. Justen Yao, -10,2,3,-4,7,9.

Under 10 Boys: 1^st Shin Ikuno; 2^nd Alexander Yao.

Under 18 Girls: 1^st Wendy Eav; 2^nd Atha Fong.

Under 16 Girls: 1^st Wendy Eav; 2^nd Atha Fong.

Under 13 Girls: Colleen Lee d. Sheena Tsang, 6,7,2,5.

Under 10 Girls: 1^st Arial Hsing; 2^nd Crystalyn Plake.

Over 40 – Final: David Sakai d. Voltaire Benedicto, 9,9,9,-9,-8,-5,12; SF: Sakai d. Peter Graves, -8,5,6,7,-10,-5,9; Benedicto d. Samuel Smith, 9,-10,6,10,-4,-7,7.

Over 50 - Final: David Sakai d. Thomas Yeh, -7,7,5,6,-10,8; SF: Sakai d. Suguru Araki, 15,6,10; Yeh d. Peter Chen, -7,7,4,-2,8,10.

Over 60: Guang-Kui Dong d. Chong-Koo Kim, 7,6,3,3.

U2500 - Final: Sean O’Neill d. Lu Guo Hui, 7,5,-5,-7,6,9; SF: O’Neill d. Shashin Shodhan, 1,7,9,-10,5; Lu d. Xavier Therien, 5,-8,-0,-6,9,9,6; QF: O’Neill d. Rong Ren, 4,-5,-8,3,10; Shodhan d. Derrick Poon, 3,6,8; Lu d. Samuel Smith, 10,6,-11,6; Therien d. Michelle Do, 5,10,7.

U2375 - Final: Yong Ren d. Michelle Do, 5,11,9,5; SF: Ren d. Voltaire Benedicto, 8,-9,10,4,6; Do d. Auria Malek, -4,9,11,-5,-5,3,7.

U2250 - Final: Duc Duong Kevin Au d. R. Hari, def.; SF: Au d. Peter Chen, def.; Hari d. Kagin Lee, 13,3,12,8.

U2125 - Final: Sudhish Iyer d. Kevin Phung, -12,9,-9,9,4,7; SF: Iyer d. Bunny Lee, -9,11,-5,9,-9,9,3; Phung d. Trevor Runyan, 6,7,6,6.

U2000 - Final: Trevor Runyan d. Gary Ladd, Jr., 5,-8,9,-9,10,7; SF: Runyan d. George Seicean, 6,7,4; Ladd d. Thomas Tang, 8,-7,8,-5,-4,6,8.

U1850: Bharat Chandra d. Dhadhie Rachmadi, 4,-10,6,5,3.

U1700: Raymond Chiu d. Peter Saurugger, 11,-7,9,-10,7,8.

U1550: Everett Wang d. James Guo, 7,-11,6,5,3.

U1400: Barry Or d. Raymond Yip, 9,10,-5,8,2.

U1250: Haijun Feng d. Justin Htaung, 9,-4,6,-5,7,11.

U1100: Kevin Lin d. Jesse Ellis, 10,6,-9,-9,6,-8,10.

U950: Joseph Wang d. Jessica Yick, 7,-5,9,-15,9,6.

U800/Novice: Lung-Wen Chen d. Kevin Lin, -9,9,8,-7,-9,5,6.

U4200 Doubles: Nelson Yu/Eric Lau d. Michael Boye Wang/Bruce Liu, 10,9,8.

U3200 Doubles: Ming Zhang/Anthon Plake d. Gan Wah Lee/Phil Mark, -8,8,-7,10,9.

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