2004 California Open

Robo-Pong the Table Tennis
Robot @ Newgy.com

2004 California Open

on the STIGA North American Tour

City Beach, Fremont, CA · Feb. 28-29, 2004

By Alan Williams

The 2004 STIGA North American Tour got off to a rousing start with the California Open. A record number of participants, nearly 300, enrolled in the tournament, eager to compete in the first Tour stop of NATT’s fifth season. NATT staff, sponsor/vendor Table Tennis Pioneers, and the local organizing committee were dedicated to rewarding that loyalty with another excellent competition, deserving of its Four Star rating.

City Beach is a full-service venue, with a restaurant, showers, video arcade and a climbing wall, and passersby were trooping through the tournament throughout the weekend. It was Standing Room Only for the Open Singles on Sunday, beginning with the Quarterfinals, and the spectators were rewarded with great play.

Referee Joseph Yick, assisted by Saul Weinstein, Ken Tien and Yelena Karshtedt reviewed the draws and prepared to officiate over what we knew would be a critical first day of play. With preparations well underway, it came as a shock to hear that City Beach had made an error in their booking calendar, and mistakenly double-booked a portion of the space reserved for the event. Of the 28 tables scheduled for play, 8 would have to be removed for a three-hour portion on Saturday, at the very height of play.

Kudos to Tournament Director Fong Hsu, who not only drafted a schedule to account for this unexpected obstacle, but also personally shepherded Round Robin groups and single elimination matches through the bottleneck and out the other side. Players like Peter Chen and Trevor Runyan, who went deep into single elimination in multiple events, were cooperative and patient in the pinch. The result was that by day’s end on Saturday, all but two of the scheduled matches had taken place. Sunday was smooth sailing. NATT co-founders Richard Lee and Wendy Troy could certainly not have been more pleased with the outcome.


Open Champion Fan Yi Yong Photo by Kingston Gee ©2004	Open Runner-up & U4200 Doubles Champion Barney J. Reed Photo by Kingston Gee ©2004	Open Semifinalist & Under 2500 Champion Tahl Leibovitz Photo by Kingston Gee ©2004	Open Semifinalist Shao Yu Photo by Kingston Gee ©2004

Also pleased with the outcomes were players like Biba Golic, a come-from-behind winner against Michelle Do in Women’s Singles, and Auria Malek, an Open Singles Quarterfinalist and winner of the Men’s Under 22 event. A big smile was also evident on the face of Peter Chen, the imperturbable blocker who came second in the Over 50, losing another classic see-saw battle to David Sakai, and second in the Under 2250, falling to the New Jersey looper Pan Lin. It was also a big tournament for Trevor Runyan, runner-up in the Under 22 Men’s, runner-up to Pan Lin in the Under 18 Men’s, and a straight games winner over Sean Lee in the Under 16!


Women's Champion Biba Golic Photo by Kingston Gee ©2004	Women's Runner-up Michelle Do Photo by Kingston Gee ©2004

With an expanded amount of prize money available, it was Open Singles that commanded the spotlight, however. Since the newly selected U.S. Team was training overseas, there was a wide open field set to challenge the defending California Open Champ and defending STIGA NA Tour Champion, Fan Yi Yong. Coming through the preliminary rounds, qualifiers Yong Ren, Dinko Kranjac, Angela Sun and Hiroyuki Hikawa joined our Top 12 seeds in pursuit of the title.

Group 1 was quickly decided, as Fan did not drop so much as a game in capturing first place. Only Jiachen Wang even briefly challenged Fan, bursting out to a 5-1 lead at one point, but also succumbing in straight games. That left Wang to slug it out with Tuan Le and Yong Ren for the remaining ticket to the Quarterfinals, which he claimed with 4-1 wins over each of them. Tuan Le, whose fighting spirit is an example to others, had to come back from a 3-1 deficit against Ren, winning the last three games to finish third in the group’s most competitive match-up.

Group 2 opened with Shuja Jafar-Ali giving Barney Reed as much competition as he wanted, taking the #2 seed all the way to a seventh game. When Paul David posted 4-1 wins over Dinko Kranjac and Shuja, and Reed ousted Dinko in straight games, all that was left on the line was which player would be the top seed. Although Paul David nicked Barney for the 1^st and 5^th games, Barney took the top slot 4-2, leaving Paul David knowing he’d be placed into a bracket with Fan. Dinko salvaged his respect by winning in the 7^th against Shuja, who despite playing well, came fourth.

Group 3 had the distinction of containing both of the women to reach this stage, the seeded Biba Golic and qualifier Angela Sun. The group began with Shao Yu defeating Kevin Au, 4-1. Shao looked sharper at this tournament than I have ever seen him, his forehand being especially notable for power and improved consistency. It showed in his results. Angela Sun entered the court against Biba Golic knowing she needed this match to have a hope. Using her penhold pips-out attack and block, she managed to upset the shakehander, 10,-7,4,12 (!) and 7. After facing Shao Yu, however, Angela was quickly 1-1 in the group. Biba evened her record as well, out-steadying Kevin Au 4-2 in a closely fought six-gamer. So Angela, if she wanted to advance, knew she had to beat the higher-rated Au also, which she managed with a dramatic 13-11 decision in the 7^th game! Now the pressure was back on Biba to equal Angela, which she nearly did, losing to Shao Yu in a real crowd-pleaser, 4,-9,8,-9,-9,11,7! So it was onto the Quarters for Shao and Angela.

Group 4 was the one requiring a calculator to decipher. Tahl Leibovitz did his part to keep things simple by going 3-0, defeating Auria Malek and Courtney Roberts 4-0 and holding off a game Hiroyuki Hikawa, 4-3. But when Roberts beat Malek in 7, Malek beat Hikawa in 5, and Hikawa defeated Roberts in 4, there were three players tied at 1-2 records. Auria’s game record in that trio, 7-5, gave him the up, while Hikawa’ s 5-4 placed him third and Roberts, despite his head-to-head win against Malek, was left to round out the group with a fourth place finish. No one ever said it would be easy, gentlemen!

Open Singles Quarterfinals

Fan Yi Yong vs. Auria Malek

What does it take to defeat Fan, the top-rated player in the U.S.? The answer to that question would earn big money on the open market! Fan’s skill set is so great that he presents a major challenge to every opponent, and the first to get a chance at that puzzle was California’s young hopeful, Auria Malek. Primed to play his best, Malek stood in, spider-legged, low and ready against the defending Champ, but was soon shooting wry looks of bemusement and ironic acceptance to his followers as he fell 7,1,5,8. Fan did give him smashing opportunities in the fourth. They were small consolation as Fan controlled the serve, the serve return, the short game and the attack. Malek was victimized in particular by Fan’s backhand return of serve, which seemingly at will, he could quick-push or flip to either corner for one-shot winners.

Shao Yu vs. Paul David

Paul squandered a 4-point lead in the first game to fall victim, 12-10. After that, he never could seem to get back on track as Shao Yu left no openings. Paul repeatedly played his topspin game to the corners, but Shao Yu was always one shot better, one shot deeper, returning what had looked like winners with more power and consistency than I have seen him show before. Fatigue never became a factor as he quickly wrapped things up, 3,7,6.

Tahl Leibovitz vs. Angela Sun

This was a match of worthy opponents! Angela gave Tahl trouble, backhand to backhand, with punch-blocks that handcuffed her adversary. When Tahl drove a little deeper into that corner, she had more trouble getting the advantage. Leibovitz seemed to be cruising as he led 2-0, by scores of 9 and 4. But Angela became more aggressive, and was able to bring her flat attacking forehand into play to even the match, 10 and 9. Tahl took instruction from his Paralympic Coach, Sean O’Neill, in search of answers. “You have to spin harder, spin harder! When you give her less spin she’s able to drive it forward!” and indeed she had, sending the diminutive New Yorker to the barriers repeatedly. It was no walk in the park, as Tahl hung on to a 4-2 win (8,7) in a match that left both players exhausted.

Barney Reed vs. Jiachen David Wang

Barney looked relaxed and confident against David, perhaps too much so. Despite the 4-0 decision in Reed’s favor, he showed a willingness to let David blow himself out against Barney’s backcourt game. That made for game scores closer than they might have been, as Barney moved forward 8,7,11,8. When he was on the attack, Barney’s severe angles and sharp-breaking loops produced crowd-pleasing rallies and more often than not, points for Reed.


Open Quarterfinalist & Under 22 Men's Champion & Under 2375 Champion Auria Malek Photo by Kingston Gee ©2004	Open Quarterfinalist David Wang Photo by Kingston Gee ©2004	Open Quarterfinalist Angela Sun Photo by Kingston Gee ©2004	Open Quarterfinalist & Under 2500 Runner-up Paul David Photo by Kingston Gee ©2004

Semifinals

Barney Reed vs. Tahl Leibovitz

Tahl had played brilliantly all weekend, composed, poised and confident, but he entered this match actually saying, “I’ve already lost.” The source of this discontent was the referee’s ruling that Tahl’s racket was ‘unplayable’ due to a small tear in the rubber near the edge. Forced to hurriedly reshoe his gear, Tahl said he entered the match without a good glue job. Facing Reed, no wonder he felt mismatched! Barney was in high spirits, but Tahl was muttering as game after game fell into Reed’s column. When Barney, fishing from the backcourt, threw up a backhanded sidespin lob that left Tahl lunging and whiffing, he playfully offered his racket to Tahl. It probably seemed funnier to Barney than to his discouraged opponent, but the handshake at the end was sincere from both. Reed by scores of 7,7,5,10.

Fan Yi Yong vs. Shao Yu

Now it was Shao Yu’s turn to attempt to answer the question, “How do you beat Fan Yi Yong?” It would seem that one answer has to include “Do not serve short to the middle.” Serving from his backhand, Shao fell victim to Fan’s ability to disguise his intentions on the return. Balls would rocket to the forehand corner, the backhand corner, or seemingly effortlessly come short with wickedly heavy topspin. In backhand exchanges, Shao was on more even terms, but the shots at his forehand rarely made it back over the net. It’s clear that even at this elevated level, Fan generates more topspin than opponents expect or can handle, especially on his initial attack. It’s a heavy ball. Faced by an opponent with so many options, Shao became tentative, and Fan exploited that apprehension to advance 7,5,6,6.

Championship Match

Barney Reed vs. Fan Yi Yong

Barney had a plan, and it was a dangerous plan in his effort to dethrone the defending champ. “I’m going to serve long, try to open up the looping points, keep him from flipping the serve,” Barney confided when asked. It’s with no irony at all that I say that it worked, even though Barney could not take a game from Fan. At least Barney forced Fan to win in a different way than he had his previous matches. When he could force Fan into a counter-looping game, Barney was very much “in the point,” and shot clean winners into the angles created as Fan gave ground. What was obvious, however, was how devilishly hard it is to force Fan into that type of exchange. “His serve,” Reed said afterward, “is world-class. We don’t often get to see serves that good in this country.” Barney did not aid his own cause when leading 5-1 in the third game; he muffed two serves, and let Fan off the hook, finding only one more point in that game. Fan deserved the hearty handshake and the cheers from the adoring crowd after his 8,3,6,8 victory. Not only had he laid claim to the $2,000 first place money, he had run the table, dropping not a single game in the entire tournament.

Congratulations to the California Open Champion, Fan Yi Yong! And thanks to all the participants, volunteers and spectators who made this a memorable launch to what promises to be a fabulous season on the 2004 STIGA North American Tour!

Open Singles – Final: Fan Yi Yong d. Barney J. Reed, 8,3,6,8; SF: Fan d. Shao Yu, 7,5,6,6; Reed d. Tahl Leibovitz, 7,7,5,10; QF: Fan d. Auria Malek, 7,1,5,8; Reed d. David Wang, 8,7,11,8; Shao d. Paul David, 10,3,7,6; Leibovitz d. Angela Sun, 9,4,-10,-9,8,7.

Women’s Singles: Biba Golic d. Michelle Do, -3,-14,6,5,-7,7,7.

Over 40: Yong Ren d. Voltaire Benedicto, -9,6,-6,8,7,8.

Over 50: David Sakai d. Peter Chen, 9,-8,7,-9,8,7.

Over 60: Guang-Kui Dong d. Irina Borisova, 6,6,3.

Under 22 Men: Auria Malek d. Trevor Runyan, 7,6,10,-14,6.

Under 18 Boys: 1^st Pan Lin; 2^nd Trevor Runyan.

Under 16 Boys: Trevor Runyan d Sean Lee, 7,5,7,5.

Under 13 Boys: Justen Yao d. Justin Htaung, 2,7,4,3.

Under 10 Boys: 1^st Alexander Yao; 2^nd Brian Chen.

Under 22 Women: 1^st Michelle Do; 2^nd Wendy Eav.

Under 18 Girls: Atha Fong d. Wendy Eav, 12,8,9.

Under 16 Girls: Atha Fong d. Alicia Wei, -9,5,10,6.