Des Moines, IA · July 30-Aug. 1, 2004
By Alan Williams
The Amateur Athletic Union’s Junior Olympic Games are truly a ‘big deal,’ with better than 20,000 young athletes competing in more than two dozen sports.This year marked the fourth time that North America Table Tennis (NATT) took on the mantle of competition organizers for the Table Tennis events.Every year the AAU selects a different city to host, and now plans to rotate the competition between five semi-permanent locations.
Credit certainly has to be extended to local organizer Steve Cunningham, who worked very hard to fulfill every possible need the competition would have.Likewise, a tip of the hat goes to Oklahoma’s Larry Kesler, who acted as the Tournament Referee, presiding over just short of 70 enthusiastic young table tennis players.
Butterfly once again lent their invaluable support by providing the equipment and setting the hall.Chris Burner and Edwin Langston manned the equipment booth and represented Martin-Kilpatrick with great professionalism and personal charm.
But it is coaches who are most fundamental to the event.For the most part, participants arrive as part of a team, shepherded by some of the leading coaches in the country.From both the quality of the play and from the good sportsmanship of the athletes, it’s obvious that these people are doing a great job.Mitch Seidenfeld brought a large and successful crew from Minnesota.Ralph Presley drove 17 hours to deliver the Atlanta contingent to the playing site, a sprawling high school complex.Bill Lui, Dan Seemiller, Larry Hodges, Zhang Ping, you didn’t have to look very far to see some of the best instructors and mentors working in Table Tennis today.
Play on Friday began with the Junior Olympic titles, on Saturday it was the US Junior National titles being contested, and on Sunday, the tournament concluded with the AAU Junior Teams competition.This competition is, in many ways, the staging area for future National champions and Olympians.Certainly an AAU Junior Olympics medal or USA Table Tennis Junior National title makes a great resume-builder, too.What college entrance board could fail to be impressed?
What is truly impressive is the way these young athletes conduct themselves, with grace and dignity, high-spirited fun and smiling dispositions.It is a serious competition, but compared to an adult event of the same size, far fewer ‘courtside conflicts.’As part of the tournament staff, I have to say that it is heartwarming to see young ladies and gentlemen like the Madison sisters, Ione Chan, AJ and CJ Brewer mount the medal stand.
There are also lessons to be learned here, sometimes, painful ones.With many of the top juniors training overseas, on trips to China and Europe, the ranks were somewhat thinner than in previous years.This only created a large opening for Misha Kazantsev, or as Larry Hodges was fond of calling him, ‘the 800 pound gorilla’ of the event.Misha enjoyed a substantial ratings bulge over his next nearest competitor, and was the pre-tournament favorite in the medal count.But that’s why the matches are played, people! Thomas Yost took advantage of Misha’s happy-go-lucky attitude in the U-22 category, derailing him in the semifinals and relegating Misha to Bronze.Misha had been sailing through the competition, but Thomas is becoming famous for giving some very highly rated people a tougher match than they expect!Even Razvan Cretu was in danger of dropping a match to Yost at the ACUI’s a few years ago. With this, his only loss of the weekend, Misha lost a chance to sweep first place in the Junior National U-16, U-18 and U-22 events.It’s not always easy to learn that there is a time for fun and a time to be serious.
It certainly was not a serious moment when Richard Lee decided to have the ‘Parade of Champions’ tournament.This is basically a chance for the youngsters to blow off steam, do something a ‘little different,’ the World’s Fastest Single Elimination Tournament.Players formed two lines set off to play ‘matches’ of a single game to three points.The winners returned the clipboards and got back in line, while the losers became the audience.In little more than twenty minutes a Champion was decided, with Gordon Cochran emerging victorious (over Dan Seemiller, Jr.) and taking the Butterfly tee shirt in this winner-take-all melee.
There is another singular award at the Junior Olympics, the Joel Farrell Memorial Award.It is annually presented to the player who delivers an outstanding performance on the court, coupled with good sportsmanship.With a total count of four Gold’s and two Silvers, it was impossible to dispute the performance aspect this year’s winner attained.Coupled with her excellent manners and integrity, charm and the respect she showed both to her opponents and for herself, Atha Fong is a worthy recipient of this prestigious honor.In addition to her trophy, her name is now to be engraved on the plaque of previous winners at AAU headquarters.
Next year’s AAU Junior Olympic competition takes place in Mandeville, LA.Any junior, any adult who works closely with juniors, would be well advised to plan now to attend.Well-organized, well attended, highly regarded, it is, beyond doubt, the single best Junior competition in American sports.
Under 10 Boys
1. Maryland
2. California
Under 12 Boys
1. Maryland
2. Minnesota
3.Georgia
Under 14 Boys
1. Maryland
2. Indiana
3-4. Minnesota
3-4. Indiana
Under 16 Boys
1. California
2. Illinois
3-4. Minnesota
3-4. California
Under 18 Boys
1. Minnesota
2. Indiana
3-4. Indiana
3-4. Georgia
Under 22 Boys
1. Minnesota
2. Georgia
3.California
Under 12 Girls
1. California
Under 14 Girls
1. Maryland
Under 16 Girls
1. California
Under 18 Girls
1. Minnesota
Under 22 Girls
1. California
Under 10 Boys
1. Justin Kung/Vikash Sahu (MD)
2. Yevgeny Akhmetov/Christopher Brewer (CA/IN)
3.Eric Johnson/Emory Jiang (MN/CA)
Under 12 Boys
1. Devin Zhang/Charlie Sun (MD)
2. Nathan Kung/Spencer Lane (MD/TN)
3-4. Jose Barrow/Edmund Lee (GA)
3-4. Dravion White/Ricardo Merl (GA)
Under 14 Boys
1. Marcus Jackson/Yahao Zhang (MD/CO)
2. Amaresh Sahu/Andrew Lin (MD/FL)
3-4. A.J. Brewer/Shelby Lane (IN/TN)
3-4. Joel Roberts/Noel Roberts (MN)
Under 16 Boys
1. Misha Kazantsev/Trevor Runyan (CA)
2. Jimmy Pappadeas/Stanley Cheung (MD/CA)
3-4. Jonathan Lo/Patrick Yee (IL)
3-4. Vanck
Zhu/Andre Khailo (MN/IN)
Under 18 Boys
1. Andrew Knips/Nathaniel Curran (MN)
2. Dan Seemiller Jr./Kevin Schulz (IN/IL)
3-4. Wayne Luan/Charles Lin (IL/NY)
3-4. Gordon Cochran/Joseph Cochran (IN)
Under 22 Boys
1. Joseph Podvin/Kristopher Sabas (MN)
2. Scott Fuller/Aldis Presley (GA)
3.Andre Benton/Edward Miller (GA)
Under 12 Girls
1. Serena Banh/Ione Chan (CA)
2. Kristy Han/Jennifer Blaha (TX/CA)
Under 14 Girls
1. Leona Madison/Rachel Madison (MD)
Under 16 Girls
1. Sarah Zheng/Jessica Yick (FL/CA)
Under 18 Girls
1. Nancy Chen/Weiyi Mu (MN)
Under 22 Girls
1. Kyna Fong/Atha Fong (CA)
Under 10 Boys
1. Yevgeny Akhmetov (CA)
2. Justin Kong (MD)
3-4. Vikash Sahu (MD)
3-4. Christopher Brewer (IN)
Under 12 Boys
1. A.J. Brewer (IN)
2. Devin Zhang (MD)
3-4. Charlie Sun (MD)
3-4. Nathan Kung (MD)
Under 14 Boys
1. Yahao Zhang (CO)
2. Andrew Lin (FL)
3-4. Marcus Jackson (MD)
3-4. Amaresh Sahu (MD)
Under 16 Boys
1. Misha Kazantsev (CA)
2. Trevor Runyan (CA)
3-4. Nathaniel Curran (MN)
3-4. Joseph Cochran (IN)
Under 18 Boys
1. Kevin Schulz (IL)
2. Gordon Cochran (IN)
3-4. Charles Lin (NY)
3-4. Andrew Knips (MN)
Under 22 Boys
1. Joseph Podvin (MN)
2. Thomas Yost (OH)
3-4. Kristopher Sabas (MN)
3-4. Aldis Presley (GA)
Under 12 Girls
1. Serena Banh (CA)
2. Leona Madison (MD)
3-4. Kristy Han (TX)
3-4. Ione Chan (CA)
Under 14 Girls
1. Nancy Chen (MN)
2. Rachel Madison (MD)
Under 16 Girls
1. Atha Fong (CA)
2. Sarah Zheng (FL)
3.Jessica Yick (CA)
Under 18 Girls
1. Weiyi Mu (MN)
Under 22 Girls
1. Kyna Fong
(CA)
Under 10 Boys
1. Justin Kung (MD)
2. Vikash Sahu (MD)
3-4. Christopher Brewer (IN)
3-4. Eric Johnson (MN)
Under 12 Boys
1. A.J. Brewer (IN)
2. Devin Zhang (MD)
3-4. Charlie Sun (MD)
3-4. Nathan Kung (MD)
Under 14 Boys
1. Amaresh Sahu (MD)
2. A.J. Brewer (IN)
3-4. Joel Roberts (MN)
3-4. Shelby Lane (TN)
Under 16 Boys
1. Misha Kazantsev (CA)
2. Trevor Runyan (CA)
3-4. Joseph Cochran (IN)
3-4. Marcus Jackson (MD)
Under 18 Boys
1. Misha Kazantsev (CA)
2. Andrew Knips (MN)
3-4. Kevin Schulz (IL)
3-4. Trevor Runyan (CA)
Under 22 Boys
1. Trevor Runyan (CA)
2. Thomas Yost (OH)
3-4. Misha Kazantsev (CA)
3-4. Joseph Cochran (IN)
Under 12 Girls
1. Leona Madison (MD)
2. Serena Banh (CA)
3-4. Kristy Han (TX)
3-4. Ione Chan (CA)
Under 14 Girls
1. Serena Banh (CA)
2. Nancy Chen (MN)
3-4. Kristy Han (TX)
3-4. Leona Madison (MD)
Under 16 Girls
1. Sarah Zheng (FL)
2. Atha Fong (CA)
3-4. Jessica Yick (CA)
3-4. Serena Banh (CA)
Under 18 Girls
1. Atha Fong (CA)
2. Sarah Zheng (FL)
3-4. Jessica Yick (CA)
3-4. Nancy Chen (MN)
Under 22 Girls
1. Kyna Fong (CA)
2. Atha Fong (CA)
3-4. Jessica Yick (CA)
3-4. Sarah Zheng
(FL)
Atha Fong (CA)
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