For Immediate Release-January 24, 2000
For more information contact Vicki Ulrich at 719/578-4583 ext#3286
THE ROAD TO ROCHESTER
Sixteen Advance to North American Olympic Trials
HOUSTON, TX-Action wrapped up Saturday at the USA Table Tennis Olympic Pre-Qualifying Event at the Houston Table Tennis Club. Many players who were assured of advancing to the Olympic Trials in Rochester in April defaulted their remaining matches in order to preserve energy and avoid injury.
Eight men and eight women will compete against Canada on April 5-9 to send the top three men and the top three women to Sydney. The USA has already qualified one woman to play in Australia, Jun Gao Chang of Maryland. Due to her world ranking, she was declared exempt from qualifying tournaments and given an automatic berth to compete in the 2000 Olympics.
The final tournament standings are futile since all records of play in Houston are wiped out and all those competing in Rochester do so with a clean slate. Listed below are the eight men and eight women who will contend in Rochester in April (in alphabetical order).