Most of the events today were school championships, although there were several rating events completed today as well.

Chen Xinhua, clowning around in exhibition.
(Photo by John Oros Copyright 1999)

Several players were seen trying out some of the trick shots they'd seen the day before in the Cheng Yinghua - Chen Xinhua exhibition just before the Women's Final the day before.  Sidespin lobs from off to the side, lobbing & chopping while sitting or lying on the floor, sitting and standing on the table while rallying - a whole new generation of players are now learning these important shots!

Terese Terranova didn't win Women's Class 3-5 Singles (she lost in final to Jennifer Johnson), but she had fun!
(Photo by John Oros Copyright 1999)
DISABLED EVENTS
A separate writer is doing the coverage of the disabled events, and this write-up will be posted as soon as it is received. The results have been posted on the 1999 Nationals Results page at
http://www.usatt.org/news/99NationalsResults.html

Girls' Junior High School Singles Champion Emily Ping.
(Photo by John Oros Copyright 1999)

GIRLS' JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL SINGLES
Only top-seeded Jackie Lee's (CA) win over Whitney Ping (OR), 15 & 13, in the semifinals stopped an all-Ping final in our game of Pong. In the final, Emily Ping (OR) defeated Jackie in long battle, 18, -19, 18. Emily had defeated Allison Seibel (CA) in the other semifinal, 10 & 16.

BOYS' JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL SINGLES & DOUBLES
Mark Hazinski (IN) added still another notch to his tournament winnings, defeating Auria Malek (CA) in the final, 15 & 17. Hazinski already had won Under 2400 and Under 2200. His rating of 2185 has now officially been launched into cyberspace, never to be seen again.

Hazinski added title #4 by winning Junior High School Doubles with Terrence Lee (CA), defeating Auria Malek (CA) and Vadim Sherman (CA) in the final, 9 & 17.

BOYS' PRIMARY SCHOOL SINGLES
Adam Hugh (NJ), already the Under 2100 winner and top seed here, won the final over John Leach (CO), at 8 & 12. Rated about 400 points higher than the next highest rated competitor in the event, Adam wasn't really pushed, although Jimmy Viet (CA) gave him a good second game in the semifinals before losing at 9 & 15. Leach had defeated Gordon Cochran (IN) in a well-contested semifinal, 8, -20, 16.

Girl's Primary School Singles Champion Laura Xiao.
(Photo by John Oros Copyright 1999)

GIRLS' PRIMARY SCHOOL SINGLES
Until the last game in the final, Laura Xiao (KS) was not challenged, with no one getting more than 14 points against her. After winning the first game in the final against Judy Hugh (NJ), Laura found herself down 17-16. Said Laura, "The first game was easy. But in the second game, she surprised me. I led all the way until she went up 17-16. My heart was beating too fast – I had to calm down. I scored the next two points to go up 18-17. Then I told myself to relax and just win the next three points, and I did." Laura scored the last five points to win the final at 10 & 17. "I was taught by my dad to treat all players like they were very good players, so I would play my best. So even when I played lower rated players early on, I played them like they were 1700 players," said the 1489-rated Laura.

BOYS' ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SINGLES
Top-seeded Andrew Lin (FL) defeated Brian Lam (FL) in the final, 15, -19, 14. Brian had upset third-seeded Anders Truelson (MN) in the quarters by huge scores, and then upset second-seeded James Cole (SC) in the semifinals at 16 & 10.

UNDER 1900 SINGLES
Seishi Onishi (CA) defeated Thangavelu Dhinaker (AZ) in the final at 15 & 17. Both finalists escaped deuce-in-the-third matches early on. Seishi defeated Mark Adelman (AZ) in the first round (16ths) at -19, 0, 25! (The 27-25 in the third is for real, but the 21-0 in the middle game is suspect!) Dhinaker had defeated Mikhail Kazantsev (CA, age 11 or 12) in the 8ths at 14,-23,22!

Under 1700 Champion Yukio Kamizuru.
(Photo by John Oros Copyright 1999)

UNDER 1700 SINGLES
16-year-old Yukio Kamizuru (IN) defeated hardbat player Jim Raymond in the final at 12 & 12. Said Yukio, a part of Dan Seemiller's junior program in South Bend, Indiana, "I struggled in the semifinal – I didn't fight well. In the final, I'm surprised how well I played against the hardbat." Until the final, Jim hadn't lost a game despite the "handicap" of using no sponge.

Under 1200 Champion Sergey Gutkin.
(Photo by John Oros Copyright 1999)

UNDER 1200 SINGLES
10-year-old Sergey Gutkin (CA), a student of Bill Lui and Avishy Schmidt, defeated Henry Han (CA) in the final, 16 & 16. Gutkin, who would be wealthy if his energy could be bottled and sold, attacked all-out throughout the match. Said Gutkin of the final, "I looped spinny to set up the shot, then smashed." Henry, who after a bye and two consecutive defaults, found himself in the semifinals against Lewis Chan, winning at 18 & 13. Gutkin had barely defeated Gene C. Pool (MI) in the semifinals, -19, 21, 6.

UNDER 1100 SINGLES
Gene C. Pool (MI), after losing so close in the Under 1200's, mostly dominated the U1100's, not losing a game. In the final, he won two straight close games against Levy Klots (CA), 19 & 18.

OVER 40/UNDER 1600
David De May (WA) got stronger as the competition went on, and won the final over Jose Bulatao (CA) at 11 & 12. He'd had a relatively close 20 & 18 semifinal match against Steffen Plistermann (WA), who had taken out second-seeded Alex Bisso (MT) in the quarterfinals at 18 & 11.

UNDER 1400 HARDBAT
This event was actually played on Wednesday, but the results were not posted then. Larry Garland (MI) came back from a bad first game to win the next two games easily in the final over Tim Wright (AZ), -12, 12, 9.

Santa Clause and her raindeer. (Actually, Terry & Sue Canup in disguise.)
(Photo by John Oros Copyright 1999)