Twelve finals were played today, and several other events were played into the finals. From 6:00-10:30 PM was the 17th annual Hall of Fame Induction Banquet. Inducted this year were Dr. Michael Scott of Washington State, and Y.C. Lee of California. Bobby Gusikoff was given the first annual Marcus Matthews Lifetime Achievement award – made especially apt with the appearance of Matthews, the first U.S. National Champion in 1932 (then known as Marcus Schussheim).

Former Chinese Team Member Chen Xinghua, who emigrated to England in the 1980s and became a member of their national team before returning to China three years ago, is on hand at the tournament and will be doing an exhibition with Men’s Singles top seed Cheng Yinghua of Maryland. The exhibition will take place between the Women’s and Men’s Singles Finals on Saturday, scheduled at 6:00 and 7:00 PM, respectively. Cheng, who is, of course, seeded to make the final, said he will use the exhibition as a warm-up for the final, if he makes it. Chen Xinghua is one of the greatest defensive players in history, and matching his chop game against Cheng’s loop should produced spectacular rallies – but watch for the usual exhibition tricks, including Cheng’s spectacular jumping-on-the-table trick and many others. Men’s semifinals are scheduled at 4:00 and 5:00 PM on Saturday, with the Women’s semifinals scheduled at 11:15 AM and 12:15 PM, also on Saturday.

Under 22 Men's Singles Champion Barney J. Reed.
(Photo by Tong Lee Copyright 1999)
UNDER 22 MEN’S SINGLES
Barney J. Reed of Tennessee just edged out Shashin Shodhan of California in an exciting, nail-biting final, 24-22, 23-21. Shodhan, the 1997 champion, had upset defending champion and top-seeded Keith Alban of Florida in the semifinals, 22-20, 21-8. In the first game, Alban led 20-17, but Shodhan came back to win. In the other semifinal, Reed had defeated Freddie Gabriel of California, 21-15, 21-13.

Under 22 Women's Singles Champion Michelle Do.
(Photo by John Oros Copyright 1999)

UNDER 22 WOMEN’S SINGLES
Top-seeded Michelle Do defeated fellow Californian Jackie Lee in an all-junior final, 18-21, 21-15, 21-6. Do, a member of the 1999 World Team, got better and better as the match went on, while Lee, after playing very well early on, made too many mistakes as the match went on, especially in the third.

Over 40  Men's Singles Champion Cheng Yinghua
(Photo by Tong Lee Copyright 1999)
OVER 40 MEN
As expected, top-seeded Cheng Yinghua of Maryland met second-seeded Rey Domingo of New Jersey in the final. Also as expected, the 2781-rated Cheng (top seed in Men’s Singles as well) won easily over the 2368-rated Domingo, 8 & 3. The scores of Cheng’s matches, from first round through the finals tells the story: 12, 8, 6, 7, 12, 7, 10, 6, 8, 3. (This is with Cheng only playing half-seriously, often lobbing and laughing from the barriers.) Domingo had a battle to get into the final, falling behind 14-11 in the third in the semifinal to chopper Richard Hicks of Indiana before coming back strong to win the third, 21-15. In the other semifinal, Cheng defeated Barry Dattel of New Jersey.

Over 70  Singles Champion Grady Gordon
(Photo by John Oros Copyright 1999)

OVER 70
Grady Gordon of Waco ("We Ain’t Coming Out" as Gordon put it) Texas won the Over 70’s for the second straight nationals, to go with winning Over 70 at three straight U.S. Opens. He defeated Leon Ruderman of California in the final, 21-19, 21-9. Gordon said that he really wants to play George Hendry, 78, the last title-holder in this event that wasn’t Gordon. Gordon lost to Hendry 24-22 in the third in the finals in 1997, but Hendry hasn’t competed since. Look for the profile of Gordon in the March/April issue of USA Table Tennis Magazine entitled, "Chasing George Hendry."

OVER 80
Top-seeded Arthur Chase of Texas defeated second-seeded Henry Rubin of Florida in another nail-biting final, 23-21, 22-20.

Over 40 Women's Singles Champion Xiaoying Liu
(Photo by John Oros Copyright 1999)
OVER 40 WOMEN
Xiaoying (pronounced "Shy Ying") Liu of Maryland defeated Sharlene Wilson of Indiana in the final, 21-18, 21-13. Liu said she had difficulty with Wilson’s style – long pips on the forehand, antispin on the backhand – since she was more of a counter-driver, and Wilson gave her nothing to counter against. However, Liu said she sent to light topspin serves, and got light backspin returns which she either looped or smashed for winners. Wilson had defeated second-seeded Donna Sakai of Maryland in the semifinals, 21-13, 22-20. In the other semifinals, Liu had defeated fellow Marylander Barbara Kaminski, 21-19, 21-16.

OVER 50 WOMEN
Barbara Kaminski defeated sister and fellow Marylander Donna Sakai in another saga of a long, 35+ years rivalry of the former Chaimson sisters. Neither lost a game on the way to the finals, but in the final, Kaminski’s hitting was too strong for Sakai’s blocking, 21-16, 21-14.

Under 2400 Singles Champion Mark Hazinski
(Photo by John Oros Copyright 1999)

UNDER 2400 SINGLES
14-year-old Mark Hazinski of Indiana, scowling down at his opponents from his imposing 6’1" frame, upset a long array of opponents to win the event with his powerful two-winged topspinning game. Seeded 16th in the event and rated just 2185, Hazinski upset seventh-seeded Avishy Schmidt of California in the eighths, third-seeded Barry Dattel of New Jersey in the quarters, second-seeded Peter Zajac of California in the semifinals, and sixth-seeded Lily Yip of New Jersey, a member of the U.S. Nationals Team, in the final, 21-17, 21-11. Mark had led 9-3 in the third against Yip in a match at the North American Team Championships three weeks before, but had lost the match. According to Hazinski’s coach, Dan Seemiller (U.S. Men’s Coach), Hazinski handled Yip’s serve better, and was able to mix up the speed and spin on his loop, looping steadily until he had the right one to loop at full power. He also used a sidespin forehand loop effectively.

Under 2300 Singles Champion and Under 2400 Finalist Lily Yip 
(Photo by Tong Lee Copyright 1999)
UNDER 2300 SINGLES
After losing the Under 2400 final, Lily Yip of New Jersey came back to dominate the Under 2300 event, not losing a game in the event, and defeating fellow U.S. Team Member Virginia Sung of New York in the final, 21-9, 21-11 in a classic match of pips-out penholder hitting (Yip) versus a chopper. The experience Yip, however, rarely loses to defensive players, having played them regularly as a province team member in China.

UNDER 2000 SINGLES
13-year-old Whitney Ping of Oregon, recently back from Taiwan where she’d played on the U.S. Junior Team (along with fellow-event winners or runners-ups Michelle Do, Mark Hazinski and Keith Alban, among others), won the final over James Chan of California, 21-10, 21-14. All of Ping’s matches were relatively easy, except for her 21-18, 18-21, 21-18 win over Renjie Liu of California in the quarterfinals. She had upset top-seeded Ernest De Los Reyes in the eighths, 21-18, 21-14. The fact that Reyes was top seeded with a 1998 rating, while Ping was seeded ninth with a 1976 rating shows the depth of this draw.

UNDER 1400 SINGLES
Gary T. Alcares of California defeated Ly Hien Le of Oregon in the final, 21-16, 15-21, 22-20. In the quarterfinals, Le had defeated Kenton Keading of California after being down match point several times – 21-23, 29-27 (!), 21-14.

Hardbat Doubles Champions Derek May & Brian Masters 
(Photo by John Oros Copyright 1999)
HARD BAT DOUBLES
The top-seeded team of Derek May (GA) and Brian Masters (MD) defeated the defending champions, Ty Hoff (GA) and Larry Hodges (MD), in straight games in the final, 21-15, 21-10. While May and Masters cruised through the event, Hoff and Hodges came back from down match point in the semifinals against Steve Berger and 69-year-old legend Marty Reisman, 21-16, 18-21, 23-21. In the first game, Berger and Reisman led 14-11; in the third, they led 9-4 and 21-20. At 20-20, one of the longest, most spectacular points of the tournament took place, with Hoff and Hodges forced to the barriers lobbing over and over before losing the point and going down match point.

MEN’S SINGLES
The first round of Men’s Singles was played, but there were few matches of note yet. The only upset was 38th seed Lee McCool of Georgia (rated 2132) upsetting 18th seed Terrence Lee of California (rated 2340). Of interest was the return of former U.S. Team Member Brandon Olson of Minnesota to the Nationals after an absence of a decade. He defeated Donald Hayes of New Hampshire in the first round, 21-17, 18-21, 21-11, 21-16.

Seeded quarterfinal match-ups would be Cheng Yinghua vs. Keith Alban; David Zhuang vs. Brian Pace; Todd Sweeris vs. Khoa Nguyan; and Eric Owens vs. Sean Lonergan. Seeded semifinal match-ups would be Cheng vs. Owens; Zhuang vs. Sweeris.

MEN’S DOUBLES
The top two seeded teams in Men’s Doubles each made it into the final without losing a game. The top-seeded team of David Zhuang and Todd Sweeris (NJ/MD) defeated Eric Owens/Barney J. Reed (TX/TN), 21-8, 21-13, in the semifinals. On the other side, the second-seeded team Cheng Yinghua/Sean Lonergan of Maryland defeated Randy Cohen and Shashin Shodhan (LA/CA), 21-14, 21-19. The final will be played on Friday.

WOMEN’S DOUBLES
The second-seeded team of Tawny Banh and Lily Yip (CA/NJ) defeated third-seeds Diana Gee and Virginia Sung (PA/NY), 21-14, 22-20. They will play the top-seeded team of Gao Jun and Michelle Do (MD/CA) in the final on Friday.