Mark this: that at the U.S.’s first Table Tennis appearance at the Pan American Games in San Juan in 1979, we failed to win a single Gold medal; now, 20 years later, in 1999 at Winnipeg, we won all the Gold medals, swept every event--the Men’s and Women’s Team’s and the Men’s and Women’s Singles. Special congratulations to individual winners David Zhuang and Gao Jun.

Problems, problems, problems

But before I begin to talk in detail about our triumphs at the tables, I want to describe the disruptive problems facing the organizers at the outset of the tournament.

This year, as opposed to others, there were no Men’s, Women’s, or Mixed Doubles. The IOC wanted just four events--those found in the Olympics: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Men’s and Women’s Doubles. But the Latin American Table Tennis Union (LATTU) successfully pressured the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) into including Team rather than Doubles events. Of course the Latino and Caribbean participants weren’t happy to have just four events to play in rather than the traditional seven.

Also, some participants didn’t like the fact that some countries had "privileges"--didn’t have to to try to qualify its Team for the Games (like Mexico--"would have cost $6,000 more to participate in a Qualifier," said one spokesman), while others (like Barbados) did try to qualify but failed. Ironically, some countries who’d qualified their Teams didn’t send them to Winnipeg, so that early complaints about the allotment of only 80 players--40 men and 40 women--seemed at least partially suspect when only 25 women showed.

These differences aside, what did a number of players, coaches, and officials find so questionable at these Games? Answer: the method of ranking the Teams, especially among the Men. LATTU players raised their voices in protest--though not in any communication to the Competition Director Art Koberstein before the Games were to begin. Instead, they strategically chose to speak with their physical presence, assembled en masse, at the Red River playing venue.

Both the IOC and PASO, which all the players were connected to, had agreed that officials of the Canadian Table Tennis Association (CTTA) would be running the tournament and that, since there weren’t any Pan-American Rankings and never have been, ITTF Rankings based on the last (1997) World Team Championships would be used. In which case, among the 12 Men’s Teams present, Canada (World #25) would be #1 (though their brightest star, Johnny Huang, was not playing here). USA (World #32) would be #2 (thus the two North American teams almost certainly could not meet until the final). Brazil (World #45) would be #3, and Argentina (World #58), #4. Cuba, not having played at the ‘97 World’s, would be somewhat arbitrarily inserted into the four round robins, three players in each, "snake system" as #6 (and so would be scheduled to play Brazil).

This seeding system, which in the Men’s would bring out two teams from each of the four round robin pools to play single elimination, did not sit well with most LATTU countries, particularly Brazil and Cuba. They wanted the Team seedings to be based on the results of the last (1995) Pan Am Games (not to say other relevant tournaments--like the ‘98 Latin American Championships where Chile won the Men’s Team’s). This was their perennial point of view and one that, until acquiesced to, had caused havoc at the ‘87 Indianapolis Games.

If LATTU had its way, if, as one might put it, respect were shown for the last Pan Am Games, Brazil (though now without Claudio Kano) would then be seeded #1. And Cuba, Men’s and Women’s Team winner at the weak-field Central American and Caribbean Games at Maracaibo in Aug., ‘98, could argue that, because they weren’t able to go to world-wide tournaments, including the World Championships, they weren’t able to show their real strength, and so deserved a higher seeding than 6th.

When I, representing the President of the ITTF, arrived at the venue (later than expected because Chicago storms had short-circuited my plane connections), the CTTA organizers, having given the LATTU players an ultimatum to play with the ITTF Rankings or be defaulted, were literally only a couple of minutes away from holding them to account. At this point, Competition Director Koberstein later told me, only 4 of the 12 Men’s Teams (Canada, USA, Argentina, with their #1 Men’s seed Liu Song, and Jamaica) and 2 of the 8 Women’s Teams (Canada and USA), along with the Barbados Singles entries, had agreed to play. The others were defiantly at this very moment at a decisive meeting.

Which of course is where I immediately went...to be welcomed by Miguel Delgado whom I knew, and who was in the delicate position of being both ITTF Vice-President for South America and President of LATTU. Shall I say I caught everyone’s attention by speaking in something less than professorial language? Yes, I will say it; indeed, I’ll repeat it. And thus, to make a patient, back-and-forth table tennis story short, both sides, with goodwill, gradually came to a decision. For the first time, play would proceed with seedings based on ITTF World Rankings and with the understanding that both the 3rd and 4th place teams would receive bronze medals.

The key to this decision was the CTTA’s willingness, with the cooperation of LATTU President Delgado and Technical Director Rufford Harrison of the USA, to implement a change in the Men’s Team playing format artfully suggested by Tournament Referee Mike Skinner. Instead of a Single Elimination format following the four initial round robin pools, there would be an additional two pools of four advancing teams each, from which winners and runners-up would play crossover matches to determine the gold, silver, and bronze medal winners.

As for the 8 Women’s Teams, ITTF rankings would be followed--but out of just two pools would come winners and runnerups to play crossover matches for the medals.

All very nice and neat now, huh? No more problems. Uh, not quite--but at least we can get on with the opening matches, delayed six hours.

TIE FORMAT

The format, which would be the same for both the Men’s and Women’s Teams, necessarily involved three players (the maximum any one Team could bring to these Games). A tie was best three out of five matches--with two singles, followed by a doubles, and, if need be, two more singles. Since no one player could play as many as three matches, a tie shaped up like this: A vs. X; B vs. Y; AC vs. YZ; B vs. X, and C vs. Z --which allowed for some deceptive strategy on the part of coaches. Ours of course being, for the Women, Teodor "Doru" Gheorghe and, for the Men, Danny Seemiller.

WOMEN’S TEAMS

Although the men and women shared the four table courts, played ties simultaneously, it’ll be easier for you to follow if I cover, first, the Women’s Team matches, then take up the Men’s.

In Women’s Group A, all ties but one were won 3-0--with #1 seed Canada (World #16) advancing without the loss of a game. The lone exception was the opening "swing" tie, won by #4 seed Chile (World #53) over Cuba, 3-2, in a series of very suspenseful matches.

In the opener, Cuba’s chunky lefthander Madelaine Armas, runner-up to Insook Bhushan in Singles way back in ‘83, 21-19 barely staved off a late rally by Chile’s penhold-attacker, Berta Rodriguez. But, up 20-19 match point in the second, Armas couldn’t clinch it. Then, experience be damned, at 21-all, Armas served off, then pushed her serve return long. In the 3rd, the Cuban, favoring a backhand serve and a "soft" forehand follow, was up 10-8 at the turn, but 13-19 "lost it" to the slight, table-hugging, aggressive Chilean. A big swing match.

Chile’s ‘98 Latin American Champion Sofija Tepez then downed Cuba’s loose-swinging Yolanda Rodriguez in an 18-in-the-3rd battle of sometimes spectacular forehands. Chile 2--Cuba 0.

In the do or die doubles, Armas, familiarly paired with Maricel Ramirez, could use whatever help Coach Carmen Miranda offered (all three had been teammates at the ‘87 Indianapolis Games), especially since it looked like curtains for the Cubans who were down 9-4 in the 3rd to Berta Rodriguez and Silvia Morel. But up 18-15, and faced with a hotly-peppered-in hit by the seasoned Ramirez, the Chileans choked, couldn’t get, couldn’t even contest, another point. Chile 2-Cuba 1.

In the 4th match, Yolanda Rodriguez, up 1-0 and 20-19 match point in the 2nd, smacked in what looked like the much needed Cuban winner, but Chile’s Rodriguez was there to deuce it with an instinctively-positioned, rocketed-back block. When, from 21-all, Yolanda missed two flailing forehands, on they went into the 3rd. But the Cuban, tight white band over her right knee, was a fierce and fearless swinger, and finally, up 20-19 and needing one last winner, she served and followed with a cross-court forehand that kept Cuba alive.

But only for the moment. For when Ramirez, the current Central American and Caribbean Games Champion, lost the first at 19 to Morel, she couldn’t recover, and Chile had withstood the Cuban comeback to advance with Canada to the crossovers .

In Women’s Group B, all ties but one were won 3-0--with the #2 seed U.S. (World #25) advancing easily, winning 18 of 19 games, including a 21-2 win over Brazil’s Eugenia Ferreira by our former World Women’s Doubles Champion Gao Jun (here known on the draw sheets as Chang, Jun G.). Someone watching this 21-2 game (in which Gao served off) asked me, "Tim, are you keeping point by point coverage of this match?" And then added, "The Brazilian girl has no way of scoring."

But #3 seed Brazil (World #41) had little trouble advancing. They were able to shut out the Dominican Republic, host for the next Pan Am Games in 2003, when Ligia Silva, having lost the first 23-21, 23-21 reversed herself just in time to beat Brigida Perez (who, I couldn’t help but notice, was wearing one black sock, one white one).

Crossover Matches

Canada, coached by their 10-time Closed Champion Mariann Domonkos, gave up only 56 points to Brazil. Former World Women’s and Mixed Doubles Champion and Singles runner-up Li Geng led the way, one-upping Gao with a 6 and 2 victory over Ferreira, the Brazilian #2.

Against Chile, the U.S., too, won comfortably--though again Amy Feng and Tawny Banh were extended to 3 in the doubles. This after being up 1-0 and 19-15 in the 2nd. Whereupon Amy’s serve-off-and-smile reaction eventually had to give way in the 3rd to whispered strategy suggestions to a tensed-up Tawny.

Final

Cheering our U.S. Women’s Team on in the 9:00 p.m. final--unfortunately a final, because of media commitments, played simultaneously with that of the Men’s Team--were the USATT’s new President, Sheri Soderberg Pittman; her flag-waving Minnesota friends, Greg Miller and Len Witz, our ubiquitous, ever playful Sports Science Official, Dr. Michael Scott; his fellow International Umpires, Tom Miller and Aly Salam; and Dell and Connie Sweeris, who, undoubtedly more than the others, were watching #201--he whom, globally, table tennis newsletters and web-sites were proudly pronouncing, "Highest-ranking CPA world-wide."

The surprise Canadian strategy, in playing Li in only one singles match, was to give up the sure Li over Tawny win for the sure Li/Petra Cada doubles win, and allow the favored Chris (whom I’d heard at the recent U.S. Open had beaten two 2550 players) the chance to play and defeat Tawny.

Canadian Champion Geng was certainly ready for U.S. Champion Gao, for just before the match, in a hallway outside the playing area, she was stretching and shadow-stroking. In the 1st, from 11-all, Li moves convincingly ahead, is up 16-12 with a forceful backhand picture-book thrust. Good counters bring Gao to 16-15, but then she falters: Li’s at 20-15 game point. Despite beating Geng for the first time at the recent U.S. Open, Gao said she had no confidence against her. However, maintaining her composure, not forcing but maneuvering the ball, Gao wins 5 in a row to deuce it, then, after again being down match point, finally, 23-21, sweeps in a winning forehand.

But, as if unflustered by this abrupt turn, Geng, 21-11, wins the 2nd with ease. In the 3rd, after giving up 8 out of 9 points through the mid-game, Li is down 17-15. Then--controversy. Geng returns a ball she thinks hit. Gao walks slowly, unconcernedly back, to pick it up. As she’s about to return to the table, she hears Li’s claim, appears absolutely astonished, says quickly, emphatically, "No, no, no"--and is supported, to the concern of the Canadian bench, by the umpire. Down 19-15, Geng may be dispirited, but she doesn’t quit; still she can only get to 17. U.S. 1--Canada 0.

"Tawny--where’s she going? Everyone’s waiting for her on court." Off Banh jogs. To the Women’s Rest Room? If so, certainly not to rest. A case of nerves? "Don’t worry" comes a reply. "Once she gets into battle she’ll be alright." In the 1st it’s 5-all--and Chris’s pips, and the sticky stuff on the other side, don’t seem to bother Tawny. She’s screaming after every point, but that’s because...up 12-6...she’s winning them. Careful, Tawny, don’t push that ball--you’ll pop it up....Banh’s momentum rushes her to a 21-17 win.

As the match continues, Tawny is handling Chris’s defense with patient push-roll-drop-crack! efficiency. But in the end game she makes that fatal error: Don’t push that one, Tawny! But she does, loses the 2nd at 19.

In the deciding 3rd, Tawny’s up 15-11....But then Chris is more and more attacking, and it’s 15-all...18-all. No, Tawny, don’t! Pop-up--and Tawny’s 19-18 down...20-19 match point down. Then ERUPTION! The Men’s Team tie is already over--the winners are ecstatic, are jumping around. Easy! Easy! Fortunately Tawny’s not lost her concentration. Deuce!...Deuce again! Long-point hits and returns. And now--would you believe it?--another wrong push, another pop-up, and Tawny’s 22-21 down....Then again at deuce!...Then ERUPTION! You thought the Men in concert were excited? Tawny’s just won--and is she on a pogo stick! Hopping--no flying--around the court, she’s so comically happy! U.S. 2--Canada 0.

It’s hopeless for Canada now, for all have psychically agreed that Chris has no chance against Gao. Still, in the doubles, Li and Petra try to be professional. But their hearts aren’t in it--they lose 2-1. So, GOLD for the U.S. Women’s Team.

MEN’S TEAMS

Of the 12 ties in the Men’s A-D Group round robins, all were 3-0--except for #1 seed Canada’s ultra-precarious 3-2 win over Puerto Rico in which every match went the full three games. Canada was handicapped--not by their Coach, Nikolai Novikov, for many years Coach of the Soviet Union’s medal-winning Teams (one star player he raised was former European Champion Valentina Popova), but by the absence of not only Johnny Huang but their current Closed Champion Hai Tao Geng (Li’s brother), their current Youth Champion Kurt Liu, and other top players Carl Xuan and Dennis Su, winner of the ‘98 Portuguese Open at Madeira, all of whom when the call came seemed to be at work or play elsewhere.

Puerto Rico’s stocky Rene Santiago, 1997 Caribbean Junior Champion, opened with a key 22-20 win that proved the difference in his victory over Xavier Therien who’d spent the ‘97-98 season living and playing in France.

Next up for Canada: Pradeeban Peter-Paul. That’s right, Peter-Paul’s his last name. Why? Because he’s originally from Sri Lanka, and family nomenclature there (Pradebeen was his father’s last name, Peter-Paul will be his son’s first name?) is stretched in a way we in the West, seeing him now readying himself to play--sit and bend to his toes--aren’t used to. His opponent, New York-based David Fernandez who competes internationally for Puerto Rico, soon does a bit of stretching of his own--extends his first-game lead to 18-13. But "Pradee" quickly catches him. At 19-all, David pops up a return and Pradee viciously whiffs. Then, after Peter-Paul deuces it up--via a wonderful curling topspin exchange around the sides of the-table--the respective benches, as in the Santiago-Therien opening match, continue to be a study in contrasts, with the Puerto Ricans clapping and cheering and the Canadians simply watchfully silent. Still, lose this 1st game though Pradee does, he survives Fernandez’s plucky late-game rally in the 2nd, and then in the 3rd spurts to a 13-7 lead that’s insurmountable. Puerto Rico 1--Canada 1.

Santiago and Juan Revelles don’t win the doubles, but they they force Peter-Paul and Pintea to take them seriously. Canada 2--Puerto Rico 1.

When Therien, impassive as ever, gets off to a 10-4 lead against Fernandez, I spot a couple frenetically waving Maple Leaf flags--but by 3rd-game end it’s enthusiastic applause and "Bueno! Bueno!" from the Puerto Rican bench. Canada 2--Puerto Rico 2

This is 36-year-old Horatio Pintea’s 5th Pan Am Games ("the best conditions, the nicest volunteers ever," he said)--and, though he loses the first to Revelles, he doesn’t so much as blink. As Tom Miller said, "He just keeps working." Adapts. As you’d expect of a Romanian who defected in Greece, emigrated to Canada, married a Chinese wife (Li Geng), and who now runs a Mrs. Vanelli’s Italian Pizza Parlor. Canada 3--Puerto Rico 2.

Puerto Rico also advanced, but was challenged by Mexico, especially in the Fernandez-Guillermo Munoz opener. Down 1-0 and 17-9 in the 2nd to the short-stroke, fast-snap hands of this veteran Mexican, David won 8 straight, then exchanging whiffs and topspin winners eked out a 22-20 win. In the 3rd, it was almost a turnabout--from 20-17 match point down, Munoz got to 19 before looping one last ball long. Said one fellow, "With a match like that, in this tight arena, the small crowd feels big."

In advancing from Group B, the U.S. had no trouble, though Eric Owens lost a deuce game to Colombia’s footstamping Diego Ramirez, then finished 21-16 strong from 16-all in the 3rd. Paul Diaz, outplaying but not outpointing Venezuela’s Ricardo Lizardo, 22, -12, 19, started Columbia on the right track to advancement and his teammates dutifully followed.

From Group C came Brazil, followed by Cuba--with Latin American Doubles Champions Hugo Hoyama and Carlos Kawai being forced into deuce games by, respectively, Cuba’s Ruben Arado and his unexpectedly adept teammate, the unranked, crowd pleasing, pick-hit chopper Renier Sosa.

In Group D, favored Argentina battled it out with Chile--winning in 9 games without using the very formidable Liu Song in a second match. For spectators, the doubles action was best--Pablo Tabachnik/Juan Frery (both lefties) barely escaped Chile’s Jorge Gambra/Juan Salamanca-14, 20, 18.

2nd Round Robins

By Sunday evening the advancing Men’s Teams have been grouped into two round robins (positioned so that teams will not play any team they’ve played before). Inadvertently, though, the schedule does not follow the normal playing order that concludes with ties between the #1 seed and the #4 seed, the #2 seed and the #3 seed. This of course is apt to make for an anticlimax. Worse, in deciding the two crossover teams from each Group, it allows for the possibility of collusion. Highly unlikely of course. But were, for example, the U.S. to beat Chile 3-2 this evening, and lose to Brazil 3-1 tomorrow morning, by afternoon Brazil might decide to lose to Chile 3-2--which would necessitate a medal-deciding tie-breaker, broken of course by matches won and lost. To wit: Chile 5-5; Brazil 5-4; U.S, 4-5.

Canada’s Team Leader Come-Vincent Bernier and Coach Domonkos, and U.S. Team Leader Bob Fox and Coaches Gheorghe and Seemiller persisted in getting this schedule changed--pointing out quite reasonably that one could still play the ties scheduled for this evening and had only to reverse tomorrow’s morning and afternoon ones. So, since that was acceptable to Referee Skinner and Ron Edwards up there at the Control Desk, fine, on with the evening matches.

But where was Cuba? They had a 7 p.m. tie with Canada....Oh, oh, Referee Skinner feels he has to default them--and does. "They’ve defected," someone says humorously. But the humor had a dark side, for the talk of the town, especially when it drew Fidel Castro’s wrath, was the attention given by the Winnipeg Sun to the three Cubans at the Games who had quickly defected. The Sun teased Castro with "a goodwill gesture"--it started a contest: offered a lucky winner free airfare to Cuba and a week’s hotel accomodations there for two if he/she could correctly guess the number of defections that would occur by the end of the Games.

It was no joke to the distraught Cuban Coach when, arriving late with his Team, he pleaded--what with the changes and delays that had plagued the matches at the outset--he wasn’t aware, until contacted, of this tie, at this time, tonight. Sportingly, with the Tournament Committee’s support, Canada agreed to play. But the Cubans were so 6-games out of it they got only 73 points total.

Similarly, Brazil blanked Puerto Rico and Argentina did the same to Colombia.

Meanwhile, the U.S. men found themselves as if on a rickety bridge in the Andes hoping to get safely across. From the other side Chileans wanted to pass through too.

1st match: U.S. National Champion David Zhuang, 2-0, over penholder Jorge Gambra. Backed by the support of a very partisan crowd (members of the U.S. Volleyball Team, looking for something to do, had come to root for us too), Zhuang won what turned out to be the match-deciding 19 first when from 18-all Gambra failed to return two of David’s stratospheric serves.

2nd match: Augusto Morales, another veteran penholder, over Eric Owens, 2-0. Morales was as expert as Gambra in positioning the ball--in this case, blocks and pushes to Eric’s open forehand, as, anticipating incorrectly, Eric moved too quickly left to take up his attack.

3rd match: Morales/Salamanca over Owens/Todd Sweeris, 2-0. Eric, coming off his singles defeat, wasn’t at his best, and the U.S. put up no resistance. Chile 2--U.S. 1.

4th match: Zhuang over Morales, 2-0. Up 11-6 in the 1st, David serves off--yells, "C’mon, wake up!" A rooter in the stands offers David advice, "Just keep the ball in play." He does...his lead is cut to 13-12. So he needs something more--catches Augusto napping with a fast down the line serve, and then, to flag-waving chants ("U-S-A...U-S-A" ), pulls away. Far, far away--with a 7-0 lead in the 2nd...."U-S-A! U-S-A!"

5th match: Sweeris over Salamanca, 2-0. Todd, a 21-8 winner in the 1st and up 8-1 in the 2nd, is hot. "It’s over," says a volleyballer. "Did you ever play that well, Dell?" says a wise guy. U.S. Hall of Famer Sweeris smiles, nods....But motherly Connie is soon saying after very point, "C’mon, Todd." What’s her concern? Todd’s leading, isn’t he?...Uh, yes--13-12!...As this suddenly contested match is coming into the end-game, the ump makes a bad call--against Sweeris. But when Todd gets the match-point ad, the built-up buzz turns into absolute silence. Then a pocket of cheers for the Chilean, for he’s kept at it, blocking, exchanging forehands, to deuce it. However, a net comes at the opportune time for Todd--and, without either team playing a single 3-game match, the U.S. limps away a winner...over World #59.

Monday morning Chile also puts up a fight against Brazil. Morales’ strong 1st-game is an eye-opener for lefty penholder Hugo Hoyama, a 3-time World Cup representative for South America, and he reacts accordingly. One point will tell the tale. Down 19-11 in the 2nd, Augusto serves the ball into his table edge and when it balloons up to clear the net, he cringes behind his racket, can’t dare to look at the sure-to-come explosion. In the 3rd, Hoyama’s down 6-3, up 16-8. ‘Nuff said.

Thiago Monteiro, Brazil’s ‘98 Junior Champion, gives an opening kick, as it were, to Gambra’s ensheathed right knee, or somewhere above, for though the Chilean doesn’t double over, he’s certainly in pain after choking away a 20-15 lead. In disgust at losing 7 straight he flings his racket tableward. In the 2nd, Gambra’s up 16-14, down 19-16...20-18 match point. What a choker. Except now he isn’t. It’s his serve --and there goes his third ball in ("So!"), and then his 5th ball ("So!"). Deuce. Now Whack! and Counter-whack! Gambra’s game. So, who do you like in the 3rd? Especially when the Chilean is throwing up his hands, as if to say, "What is this ball, what is my racket, doing?" Of course, thrusting backhand after backhand in, he’s ahead 14-11....Then once again his hands go up--but this time in 21-18 triumph.

Carlos Kawai’s having some arm-shoulder-back discomfort, but he and Monteiro, after splitting 19 games with Morales and Salamanca, tilt the tie to Brazil. Up 12-3 in the 3rd, really tilt it. Though that doesn’t stop Oswaldo Arce Caro, the dedicated Chilean Team Leader, from shouting himself hoarse right to the 21-13 end.

When Gambra has no chance gainst the "on" off-the-bounce attacker Hoyama, it’s Brazil 3--Chile 1.

The tie that binds the audience this morning, though, is the Argentina-Cuba one. Liu Song, the favorite to win the Singles, is in the process of 15, 19 getting by Cuba’s Ruben Arado, whose hair is cut shorter than a Marine-recruit, when the umpire takes a point from him for cupping his serve. Song asks for the Referee and demonstrates to him what his open-palm serve looks like. "That’s very nice," says Referee Skinner. Which of course settles the matter, even apparently for Liu. "Is that a good umpire?" a spectator asks. "Is that an oxymoron?" comes the response.

Sosa, the Cuban pick-hit chopper, is "Mr. Cool." Coolly, this way and that, he parries Tabachnick’s blows, moves around the ringed court, lands right hands that hurt--wins easily on points.

Francisco Arado looks enough like Ruben Arado to be his brother, or, as if at a secret taping made public, someone recruited him to be. Anyway, they seem to get to know one another better in the doubles--rally to down slap-hands-happy Tabachnik/Frery in 3. Cuba 2--Argentina 1.

"Who won, Mom?" says an uninitiate child at the end of the Liu-Sosa match--as if after Song had won the 21-8 first-game there could be any doubt. Liu’s stiff backhand chop interrupting an opponent’s attack advantage usually lulled the poor fellow into pushing or merely rolling a return which Liu, ever ready to use his forehand and very fast on his feet, then pummeled. But, if you hadn’t watched for a while, something wasn’t clear at the 23-21 end of the 2nd game. They didn’t play a 3rd, so Song won--but how’d it get that close?

With the tie 2-2, Juan Frery needed this last match to insure his Argentine teammates a place in the crossovers, for they had Canada yet to play. But though Frery scored more 3-game points than Arado--that’s Francisco Arado--the Cuban proved, as at the Maracaibo Games a year ago, he knew how to win. Now, if Canada could beat Argentina, Cuba was certain of a medal.

In other morning matches, the U.S. dominated Puerto Rico (in response to Owens’s straight-game win over Fernandez, Coach Seemiller said, "Eric’s thinking. He’s making choices--has learned he can’t serve short all the time"). And Canada again, and again, and again outlasted Colombia--Therein, 19-in-the-3rd, over Ramirez; Peter-Paul, 23-21 in the concluding second, over Diaz; and Therein/Pintea, -16, 19, 30 (sic!) over Diaz/Carlos Alvarado. Amazing--countries you used to take for granted you couldn’t any more.

In the early afternoon, Cuba finished off Colombia without being threatened. As did Chile Puerto Rico.

Now undefeated U.S. vs. undefeated Brazil. Would the U.S. prefer to win or lose this tie? They feared World #35 Liu Song and Argentina more than Canada ("Against Canada we feel we can win all five," said Coach Danny). And it was clear that if Canada lost the tie to Argentina but won so much as one match, it would, in the Cuba-Argentina-Canada tie-breaker, 4-3 finish first to Argentina’s 5-4 close second and Cuba’s out-of-it 3-5 third. It was also clear that if Canada beat Argentina, the U.S. no longer had to worry about Liu Song, for Cuba would be in the crossovers. So, what possibilities were more likely than others, and was it perfectly ethical for the U.S. or any other team to strategically dump a tie?

Surely it was more likely that Therien would be sacrificed to Liu, and that therefore either World #185 Pintea or World #282 Peter-Paul would have the edge over World #377 Tabachnik or World #448 Frery? (That is, if at that level 100 or even 200 places in the World Rankings meant much of a difference in strength.) Also, Pintea was a very experienced doubles player--had, in fact, whether he played with Peter-Paul or Therien, not yet lost a doubles match--so Canada also had a very good chance to win the doubles. Thus it would seem Canada could win at least one match from Argentina and would finish 1st in the A Group, and that, if the U.S. feared Argentina, it had better lose to Brazil in order to play Canada. Perhaps, however, Brazil was thinking the same thing--that it had better lose to the U.S. to play Canada.

Of course if Canada were to lose 3-0, the U.S. had better beat Brazil. Or, from Brazil’s point of view, Brazil had better beat the U.S.

Wow! C’mon--do coaches really think like that? Most assuredly they have at past World Championships. Which is why, as one fellow said, "This system stinks."

Since the Canada-Argentina and U. S.-Brazil ties were played simultaneously, it was quickly apparent when in the first match Peter-Paul beat Frery in 3 that Canada had won Group A.

As it happened, that was the only match against Argentina Canada won, for Liu Song took his expected two with ease, and the Argentines had no difficulty with Pintea/Therien.

Which brings us to the U.S.-Brazil tie--the only one the U.S. had played so far where Zhuang was scheduled to play doubles and only one singles, the 5th rather than the 4th match. But obviously Seemiller felt his options would be better this way. Perhaps, too, he based his decision to avoid a Hoyama-Zhuang encounter on the fact that the Brazilian Coach, Wei Jung Ren, on retiring as a National Team player in China almost a quarter of a century ago, once played with juniors Johnny Huang, Jiang Jialiang, and David, and so knew what they’d been trained to do and not do. Moreover, though Danny said he didn’t want his team too pumped up before the crossovers, he also said, "Todd needed to play some hard matches."

First off was Owens against World #72 Hoyama, and Seemiller’s advice was for Eric to stay away from the Brazilian’s backhand and put balls, occasionally consecutively, to his forehand. Placing the first ball, rather than all-out smacking it, was very important. Up 16-12 Eric’s doing just fine, but then serves up two bad ones which Hugo presciently pounces on....At 19-all, Eric decides on a chop serve and Hoyama angles it away for a winner. Eric looks at his bench. Another serve...another Hoyama winner--21-19. Eric looks at his bench.

In the 2nd, Eric is showing patience...for a while. Then he twice gets aced by Hoyama’s hurtling backhands, and down 18-13 he serves and watches as Hugo rolls a return that passes him into the diamond point on his far forehand. Brazil 1--U.S. 0.

Against young Monteiro, Sweeris loses two straight. "The guy put zero pace on the backhand," says Todd. "That messed me up more than anything." Danny, meanwhile, is coming to the conclusion that "We don’t want this order." As expected, though, David and Eric win the doubles. Brazil 2--U.S. 1.

Another tough match for Sweeris. From down 19-15 in the 1st against Hoyama, Todd runs 5 in a row, so that, with the serve, he’s up game point. But the Brazilian finds not only a return but a winning follow....At 21-all, Hugo catches Todd on a serve, and then wins it 23-21.

In the 2nd, Todd, up 20-16, lapses, cautiously allows Hoyama balls to hit, loses 6 in a row. Brazil finishes #1 in the A Group. Which means that--as LATTU had originally pushed for--Canada and the U.S. will play in the semi’s. And, for sure, one LATTU team--either Brazil or Argentina--will be in the final. All is about to end happily?

Semi’s

U.S. vs. Canada. Eric Owens vs. Xavier Therien. The first ball of the match hugs the net, then drops right for Eric. A good sign? But Owens’ serves continue to be suspect. Also, though Eric wants to hit the ball hard for a winner, counters from his opponents are so common that he’s got to be careful that the momentum of his stroke doesn’t carry him out of position. "Spin the ball--don’t try to murder it," Seemiller has said. After Eric loses the 1st, Danny tells him, "Play the forehand and middle, forehand first. And don’t be afraid to serve long." Says teammate Todd, "Get into it, buddy." Eric does. Up 6-4 he does what he doesn’t like to do--serves long. A quick point. "Perfect!" says Sweeris. And after Eric comes off the court a 3rd-game winner, Todd exults, "You gave him three long serves in a row, and you won them all!"

Pradeeban can’t stay at the table with Zhuang, so he’s back lobbing, trying apparently to wear out David’s arm. There are some great exhibition-like points for the maybe 20 outside spectators, so they’re not asking why Coach Novikov--whose long and successful career has been a labor of love, and who often appears to be, and perhaps has cause to be, melancholic--played current Canadian Closed finalist Peter-Paul in that singles/doubles position. However, if Owens hadn’t come through....As Danny was to say later, after Owens/Sweeris had secured the doubles in 3, Eric’s start-off win over Therien "changed the color of our medal."

Brazil vs. Argentina. It was a foregone conclusion that the first two matches would be split--Hoyama over Frery; Liu Song over Monteiro. The doubles was key--and after Brazil’s Kawai got in a fall away shot that sent him tumbling on his rear, it was 11-all in the 3rd. But then the Argentines outscored the Brazilians 10-5 to take a 2-1 lead.

Last September in the South American Championships in Asuncion, Hoyama scored a (-19, -13, 21, 17, 12) brave and brilliant win over Liu. But here Hugo’s 1st-game rally from 19-15 down was stopped by a net/edge. In the 2nd, down 7-1, he never could catch up. Behind 18-14, he lashed out, lined a drive that, like his chances, went sailing over the table without any upward trajectory.

Final

U.S. vs. Argentina. A strange 5-match final. Every one of them 2-0--but none of them closely contested. The real scare for Seemiller came when he saw the playing order the umpire handed him. It was NOT that which before he’d checked and re-checked...was it? Not to worry--Chief Umpire Darek Mikita would agree that Danny’s submitted order had been correct. Interestingly, this order was the same one that Danny had said earlier he’d learned not to use again--it kept Zhuang away from Liu Song as it’d kept him away from Hoyama in the Brazil tie. This time it was a perfect team effort--with Sweeris giving up only 20 points total to Frery; Owens and Zhuang 25 to Frery/Tabachnik; and Zhuang 26 to Tabachnik. We looked good, had reason to celebrate, and we did. CTTA Coordinators--the Szajkowskis, father and son--were always guiding us to restaurants, helping us with transportation, and now, with President Pittman and Umpire Aly Salam leading the way, our victorious Teams and their entourage enjoyed a midnight supper and some modest merrymaking at a downtown hotel.

WOMEN’S SINGLES

Current ITTF Rankings "snake" the 25 women into 6 pools, from which 12 players will emerge--the top 4 seeds to receive byes, the other 8 to begin single elimination matches. There are no surprises in the early pool play. Venezuela’s Fabiola Ramos--5-game runner-up to Chili’s Tepez in the ‘98 South American Championships, here 12th in ranking and so in Gao Jun’s round robin--survives a deuce-in-the-3rd desperation match with Brazil’s Ferreira. But as Fabiola is not fabulous but merely good--World #279--it’s easy for her to lose to Chile’s Berta Rodriguez, World #289. Then, in 6th seed Tawny Banh’s pool, Cuba’s Yolanda Rodriguez (World # 197) is upset in 3 by Brazil’s Ligia Silva (World #352). Back in ‘91, Yolanda won two silvers and a bronze in these Games, but in ‘97 Silva was Latin American Youth Champion. So what’s 150 or so World Ranking places to youth on the move? The Brazilian #1, 5th seeded Lyanne Kosaka, falls to Cuba’s 8th seeded Maricel Ramirez, both of whom in advancing put down challenges by current and many-time Caribbean Champion Kibibi "Kim" Moseley.

In Amy Feng’s round robin, against Chile’s Silvia Morel, who’d played very well in the Iberoamerican Championships in Valencia last October, Petra Cada, ‘99 Canadian Closed finalist, had rallied to win the 1st from 18-14 down, lost the 2nd, then advanced by winning the 3rd 21-8. You might say Petra’s passive/aggressive? Sometimes, as in her 8th’s match with Cuba’s small-boned spinner Ramirez, in which she was down 2-1 before winning, and in her quarter’s match with teammate Chris Xu, in which she dropped the first game before patiently allowing poor Chris on the average only 9 points a game, Petra seems to have to force herself to "work." Perhaps this is because, at 6’1," she has such a long reach that she’s content to swat her powerful flat-hit forehand flat-footed?

Anyway, Cada did as well as she coulda, for Gao Jun awaited her in the semi’s, and what Gao had done to "soft" Kasaka was not apparently what Chile’s Tepez wanted to have happen to her, hence her lack of effort against the Brazilian in the 8th’s. Was Cada, uh, petrified out there trying to get to double figures, while the audience again and again was trying to figure out if they should clap at what they were seeing? "No," said Petra, who has a reputation for being frank and outspoken. "And, no, I don’t think I embarrassed myself out there on court."

You can bet that Tawny, who’d screamed "Yes!" and "Yes!" at Berta Rodriguez, wasn’t sluggish against 3rd seed Feng. Hadn’t Doru being telling her, "You must move!" And, exhorting herself to play, move she did--so much so that the umpire gave her a warning for being too excited. Oxymoronic, huh? Next thing you know umpires will soon be patrolling the stands searching for offenders, and pleased when they find them? But when Amy, up 20-19 in the 1st, flicked in a hard backhand winner, Tawny’s one opportunity went with it.

Meanwhile, Armas to Silva to Geng set up a Li-Amy semi’s.

For this match Doru was just off court. But where was Li’s coach? Perhaps she didn’t want one? Was doing fine all by herself? Up 12-3...21 14, she must have heard the applause--noted the Canadians distanced in the stands. The second game, however, was tight....until down 14-13 Amy served into the net. This seemed to break her concentration, for a flurry of errors followed, and she again lost 21-14.

"The court’s so big," someone says, "either of these players could lose their rhythm just going repeatedly to pick up the ball." Up 9-7 Li serves off--loses something...is down 17-10. Doru’s comment that Amy makes points for Li through her errors and that she’s got to concentrate on controlling the ball seems applicable to Li as well. That is, until in the 4th she starts right off accumulating points. Amy’s look turns from boredom to disgust to boredom. Down 15-5, she zips in a backhand. Big deal. At the end there’s a half-hearted attempt to play an exhibition point. Care to give a bronze penny for Amy’s thoughts?

The sold-out final is a looked forward to repeat of Geng and Gao’s Team match. Geng, looking quite composed, the black Magnitude of her pips play carrying her right along, goes up 14-11. But now, though Li has the serve, she doesn’t move; she expects that net-ball she ought to reach for to come bouncing to her? The point and the point and the point, it now seems, is that nothing good is coming her way--especially if Gao is unpredictably placing balls to her wide forehand and making her move. Soon she’s down 20-15, and the game has gotten away from her. She goes over to her empty bench, her back to the court, drinks from a bottle, and stares across at the blank curtains.

In the 2nd, Geng is again up 14-11, but trying to be as aggressive as Gao. Both favor steady backhand-to-backhand play, seeking a point-producing opportunity. When an opportunity of a different kind comes, Geng gets the umpire’s call. Yes, he agrees--her high-up return, on coming down, did hit the edge. Doru gives the umpire a questioning look, starts to rise, sits back. From 18-all Geng’s attack brings her to a 20-18 fist-up cry. A well-played exchange makes it 20-19. Sporting applause, then total silence. When Gao nets a return, Geng’s up on her toes--this is a win worth reaching for. Doru walks over to Referee Skinner, and as a matter of principle protests the umpire’s "edge" call. "It was definitely a side," he says. But, knowing the Referee couldn’t overturn the umpire’s call, he hadn’t wanted to force a scene--he thought it might disturb Gao.

Li is "up," is moving better in the 3rd, is vigorously attacking. It’s her game all the way. Husband Hory brings her water. She drinks in the applause, whistles, cheers.

In the 4th, Geng retains her momentum. She’s up 5-0...11-6, and smiling. Then--how does it happen?--the smiles are abruptly gone. Gao wins 8 points in a row! Now heavy, footstamping applause. The Canadians mean it to mean, "Do something!" But Li can’t--can’t do enough. Up 20-18, Gao serves, follows, passes...into the 5th.

In this last game am I keeping point by point coverage? You bet. And you can too. It’s 5-0 Gao when Geng, with strong backhand-to-backhand play, gets her first point. At 10-1 there’s a burst of applause--the scorer, who’s twice failed to turn the score correctly, has just pointed out that it’s the 5th game and the player-identifying signs need to be switched from one side of the table to the other. The participants having been made clear, the match resumes....13-1. At 15-2 there’s renewed interest...on the part of the spectators. Heavy footstamping. "Do something!"...Geng does. At the 21-2 end she bows slightly to these not quite with it Canadians.

MEN’S SINGLES

Current ITTF Rankings "snake" the 40 players into 10 pools, from which 20 players will qualify for the single elimination stage. In order to form a draw of 16, 8 of the 10 who finish second in pool play will vie in preliminary matches to see which 4 winners will be matched against the top 4 seeds (or any opponent who’s taken over such a seeding from pool play).

From the matches in these pools I see more clearly that every country here, no matter how small, has at least one player who’s capable of upsetting the majority of those in the field. For example, it’s no surprise that Guatemala’s Alejandro Oviedo, World #490, beat Venezuela’s unranked Luis Gomez, deuce in the 3rd. But when Oviedo goes 19 in the 3rd with the 5th seed here, Canada’s Pintea, World #185, that shows he can’t be taken for granted. Similarly, you hardly notice that Abbie Clarke of the Barbados, World #520, wins in the 3rd from Mexico’s Luis Valdes. But when Valdes, World #502, can take straight games from Canada’s Peter-Paul, the 9th seed here and World #282, you realize the vulnerability of almost any player in the field.

There’s no better illustration of that than #1 seed Liu Song’s startling deuce-in-the-3rd defeat by Renier Sosa. This Cuban chopper, who mixes his backhand spin so well that an experienced international like Liu admitted he had trouble reading it, and whose change of pace play included an ever-threatening pick-attack, was...unranked? And this same Sosa was going into the 3rd with tall, powerful Barbadian Robert Roberts who had barely -13, 20, 20 survived Guatemala’s Omar Flores, whoever he was?...Flores? Oh, he’d won the Central American Games in the Honduras in Dec., ‘97.

Nor could our own U.S. players, any more than the Canadians, afford to think, as they might have a decade or two ago, in some "superior" fashion, taking comfort and confidence in today’s paper-rankings. Though Sweeris, the 6th seed here and World #201, advanced, he again lost to Brazil’s Monteiro, World #359.

However, Todd’s teammate Eric (World # 319) proved his strength when, at an unprecedented late hour (his pool wasn’t scheduled to start until 9: 30 p.m.), he beat Augusto Morales, the 10th seed here and World # 289, deuce in the 3rd (after being down 1-0 and 18-12 in the 2nd). "Put every ball high and slow to this penholder," advised Danny. "He’ll let you turn." Amazingly, as if in a wish-fulfilling dream, Eric was also a winner, 23-21 in the 3rd over Barbadian Trevor Farley, World # 506, and 24-22 in the 3rd over Venezuela’s Henry Mujica, World #517. Had anyone ever won three deuce-in-the-3rd matches in an international 4-man round robin like this before?

Single Elimination

The pairings for the single elimination part of the tournament were done scrupulously (as they were for the Women’s). Players had to be separated geographically, for no country was allowed to be in a position to win three medals. Sosa assumed the #1 seed position, and, as Pintea said, that meant someone was going to have the bad luck of getting Liu Song. Hoyama, seeded #2, took the 16th position at the opposite end of the draw--but he was no longer assured of being in the opposite half from Liu. Zhuang, #3, was flipped into Sosa’s half, the 8th position. And Kawai, well Kawai, after losing his first match in the pool to Therien, had retired rather than suffer more pain, risk serious injury--which meant that Fernandez, who’d beaten Therien, took over the #4 seed/9th position in the bottom half of the draw. Now the next four seeded players were drawn in--Pintea into the 13th spot; Monteiro (who’d upset Sweeris), had necessarily to go in the top half, away from Hoyama, in the 5th position; Chile’s Gambra (who’d upset Trinidad’s Dexter St. Louis) went into the 4th position; and Francisco Arado, the 12th. There remained two more first-place pool finishers: Peter-Paul and Pintea had to be in separate halves, and Owens (who’d upset Morales) had to be parted from Zhuang.

The draw was then filled in by those who’d come second in the pool. Of course the three Argentine players had to be separated as much as possible. So...here was the killer. Liu Song had 5 possible positions he could go into, including 3 preliminary ones, which on coming out of, he would face byed players in the 8th’s! He drew not a preliminary position but position 14. Which meant the first unlucky fellow he’d meet was...Pintea; the second, Hoyama.

After a frantic 100 matches in the Singles on a single day, Tuesday, there were now only 30 matches remaining (19 for the Men, 11 for the Women)--and three whole days to stage them in! In fact, after his exhausting late-night play, Owens didn’t even have to show up on Wednesday!

Sweeris and and Seemiller did though. "It’s really neat to see Danny working with Todd," says Dell, Danny’s old mentor. Against Ruben Arado, Todd’s ready, is he? First point, he serves into the net. Then, making more errors, is down 7-2. But he quickly fights back...and, up 20-18, receiving serve, he aces Arado with a clever positional return. You’d think Todd would feel good about that--but, returning to his bench, he says, "Something’s wrong with my technique."

Down 17-9 in the 2nd after missing forehands and turning winners into losers, he looks, and is, disgusted. "I don’t know why I’m so irritable," he says. But soon things are looking up. Todd wins the 3rd, is ahead 18-14 in the 4th....Then loses 6 in a row, and, getting to 19, slow-loops off. "I choked that one away," he says. Yes, he certainly did--but, face it. Whom is he going to give an accounting to if not first to himself? The 5th game he finds his balance--wins easily. Comes back to his bench properly chagrined. "I get so disgusted," he says. "And then I get disgusted at getting disgusted."

The most intense of the matches leading up to the 8th’s is the Morales-Munoz one. Down 2-0 and 20-19 in the 3rd, Munoz executes a textbook slow loop and the Chilean topspins it off. Down 21-20, Munoz serves, gets another reprieve--Morales nets his return. Then a two-point breakthrough for Munoz. "MEHICO!" And now, through the 4th and into the 5th, the Mexican is all fists and fire. Morales, blocking and looping, is winning every spirited exchange, but not Munoz’s spirit. Again down match point, Munoz, exorting himself to play, wins a long topspin rally. "MEHICO!" Morales blocks into the net, gives away a point, but gets it back when he ticks the net with a return that throws Munez’s timing off. At deuce, the Chilean’s perfectly placed return catches Munoz off guard, and though he has no chance to get it, he falls scrambling for it. Then rises to loop long. A losing effort, but a valiant one.

Eighth’s/Quarter’s

Top half of the draw. Sosa vs. Alvarado. In the 1st, Sosa’s down 9-3. The Columbian has a long-armed swing that comes in like a wrecking ball. But when Sosa squats and sidespins three serves, Alvarado’s ball misses the mark. Sosa steadies, but is still behind 20-17. He’s cool, though--especially when he picks a backhand in to deuce it up. Then he coolly serves off, and coolly loses the game. He might have lost another, for with games 1-1 he was up 20-18 when, running in to make a backhand pick, he misjudged the ball’s speed or spin, and couldn’t handle it. But then, undeterred, he promptly tried again--this time with a forehand--and scored a winner. Sosa in 4.

Gambra, crowding the table as if he were umbilically attached to it, was forced to 5 by ‘95 Silver Doubles winner Tabachnik, but, undramatically, none of the games went past 16. Gambra did casually spit on the Taraflex floor though, which International Umpire Chandra Madhosingh, off court, saw red at--that was dramatic.

Against the crowd-pleasing Cuban chopper in the quarter’s, Gambra perseverates --endlessly pushes, rolls, waits for an opening. Sosa tries to break this pattern--especially in the end-game 1st, where, like Gambra, he swings for the point. At 20-19 the Argentine penholder aces Sosa--snap-sweeps a backhand through. Sosa’s reaction? A slight shake of the head. On losing the 2nd, he jiggles arms and legs into readiness for the 3rd....Vamos!...Wins it. In the 4th, Gambra’s off to a 6-1 lead and is seemingly content to keep ball after ball in play....Sosa, fist-up feisty, draws within shouting distance, "Yaaahh!" But errors drop him 14-11 back again. Gambra then controls the table until, assured of a medal (it would be his 3rd--his first was in ‘83), he welcomes the on-court embrace of his Team Leader.

Canada’s Peter-Paul is lucky in the 1st: down 20-19, Monteiro serves into the table edge. But then, down 20-18 in the 2nd, the Brazilian, from 22-all, takes the attack, ties it up. Through the remaining 3 games the back and forth play couldn’t be more even. When the match is over and Peter-Paul, as if arbitrarily, is the 22-20 last-topspin winner, each player has scored exactly 100 points.

Zhuang would advance to the semi’s with a routine straight-game quarter’s win over Peter-Paul who could neither stay up to nor go back from the table against him. But David’s earlier Wednesday evening 8th’s match with Dexter St. Louis, who’s played competitively in France for years, is anything but routine. A lefty, Dexter has serves that make it difficult for a right-handed player to see the ball. On beginning them, he habitually bounces the ball by tapping it with his fingertips several times before he palms it--as if petting it, asking it to be true to him when he sends it on its way. Dexter’s powerful backhand follows seem strangers to David--he backs up, isn’t ready to accept them.

It’s 1-1 in games when Zhuang, up 13-12 in the 3rd, protests the umpire’s call that gives a 13-all point to St. Louis. Dexter’s reaction is intense: he goes over to the scoreboard, flips it back to 13-12, says repeatedly he doesn’t want to accept this call against David because "I don’t believe he’d cheat me a point." Play continues from 13-13 with David saying to Dexter, "Forget about it." But perhaps with this outpouring of faith in his fellow man come second thoughts? Intruding thoughts? St. Louis loses this game at 16.

At the beginning of the 4th, Zhuang seems to have the beginning of a leg cramp? "Oh, no!" says Dexter--up 5-2 he’s given one back. But then overpowering Zhuang with his play, as he had the audience with his sportsmanship, the charitably-minded Trinidadian builds his lead to 9-3...14-9...whereupon David can’t go on like this--asks for an injury time-out of up to 10 minutes. Has he merely a cramp (in which case he has to play on or forfeit the match) or some other problem, perhaps a pulled muscle? Referee Skinner (not Dr. Skinner), as if echoing St. Louis’s charitableness, allows the ever-ready physiotherapist from the Games’ support group to work hurriedly on Zhuang--massage him with Ruba 535 and tight-tape his thigh. David continues the 4th game, but at one point he sits on the floor and, as he stretches his leg, asks his bench if he can’t have more time. No, he has to play....On into the 5th.

Though David appears to be suffering, he’s also mobile and off to a 7-2 lead--while Dexter’s racket is on the floor, as if it too is suffering some frustrating pain, no doubt for its owner who’s just missed a point-winner. St. Louis, down 10-5...14-5...can’t get himself together or, as it turns out, his game into double figures. "The worst thing in the world," someone says, "is when the other guy has an injury--it really messes you up." Messes up the judgment of others too--like the umpire of this match, for in the lopsided end-game he yellow-cards Danny (his first ever) for giving "advice."

Well, things aren’t always what they seem. And though, as after the match Dexter is heralded as a great sportsman, and a therapist continues working on David who says his whole left side has tightened, both sympathy and a lack of it vibrate round the hall. When, as will be clear when David plays Peter-Paul the next afternoon, he can with more therapy move sprightly, it seems clear to many that he’d severely cramped St. Louis’s style. (Though had St. Louis wanted to keep warmed-up, focused, with a practice partner during the 10 minutes in question, Referee Skinner said he would have allowed it.) At any event, before the tournament is over, the leader of the Trinidad delegation writes a letter to the ITTF asking for a review of the Injury Rule which he and others feel was unfairly relaxed here.

In the bottom half of the draw, Sweeris gets by Fernandez in straight-games. So will he play Owens or Francisco Arado? Photographers are interested in this U.S.-Cuba match. But Eric is a 3-1 loser. His off-day yesterday turns out to be one today too. He’s won his gold medal and now just can’t concentrate, can’t move, just isn’t ready to play.

How about Todd? In the 1st he’s up 17-16, then serves into the net and can’t get another point. In the 2nd, he’s a 21-16 winner. Says to his bench, "I can beat this Cuban backhand to backhand." Arado, shirt sleeves curled up to his armpits, giving him a recruited skinhead look, rallies from 19-17 down in the 3rd--wins it at 19 when Todd tries a low percentage flip return of serve. What to do? Danny asks him to ease up on his long serves and play more to Arado’s forehand and middle. Right away, though, Todd, down 9-2, is making too many errors. But then, as a pocket of cheering Cubans urges him to make more, he pulls to 9-8...only to see Arado execute a perfectly placed return that stops his momentum and drops him 14-8 into the hole again....Several points later, Todd serves off...and, 20-13, it’s the pits.

For the three (-17, -14, -19) games Chance allots him, Pintea’s strategy is to serve fast to Liu’s backhand to keep him from attacking. Usually the Argentine’s first return doesn’t have much bite, but his second one does. Whatever--there aren’t many rallies.

Liu and Hoyama, the #1 and #2 seeds, then play in the quarter’s--and in this match, says Seemiller, "There’s more looping than the average player will see all year." Liu has to be very quick against Hoyama’s off-the-bounce attack--an attack that at 22-all in the 1st sees him loop two balls long. Though Liu whirls into his serve like a discus thrower, or rather someone half that size mimicking him with a fierce look and a frisbee, it was Hugo, up 19-7 in the 2nd and 14-6 in the 3rd, who seemed to be catapulting the ball....

Nor is the 4th close--Hoyama, who reached the last 16 at the ‘96 Olympic Games, gets 8. What causes this turnaround? The fact that Liu keeps chopping the ball so close to the back edge? Or that, defending from his backhand, Song has a better angle at the table to start and sustain his forehand assault? Anyway, what an awful start for Hugo in the 5th--he’s down 7-0....Then 9-7. Then--missing an easy topspin and throwing his racket to the table--12-8. More swings: 14-9...19-16. Down match point 20-17, the Brazilian goes for another big ball, misses, remains head down over the table.

Semi’s

Zhuang vs. Gambra. "He couldn’t get through you in the Team’s, so no need to be too aggressive," Seemiller says to Zhuang whose thigh remains tightly taped. In the 1st, David, up 5-2, seems to be momentarily testing his legs, moves them up and down like pistons, while Don Rackey, the USOC gymnastics trainer who after working with David has attached himself to our Team, approves....David has to be more aggressive. Why? Because Gambra’s not missing anything and has run the score to 10-6 his favor. At 13-all, David gives Jorge a spinny serve--and Jorge aces him down the forehand line....Down 18-16, David anticipates Gambra’s hard-hit ball, turns it into a winner of his own....Down 19-17, David stretches, makes a winning get....Down 20-19, he serves and Jorge nets the return. "Whooh!" says David. Gambra serves, misses, then nets another serve return. Seemiller points out that Gambra handles topspin well, so why not give him more backspin? Why not indeed? David wins the next game at 9. Although the 300 or so spectators seem slightly more partial to Gambra than Zhuang, when, at 9-all in the 3rd, David scoops up a net ball and curls it round the net post for a winner, the crowd applauds mightily. At an 11-all moment of silence, a child’s voice cries out, "Go Chee-lay!" But David, free and easy, wins the game at 14. He waves to the spectators as he leaves the court and they applaud.

Liu vs. Arado. It’s 10-1 in the 1st! But what did you expect when World #35 meets World #246? Uh, it’s Arado who’s leading 14-3. His caroming counter-block has just aced Liu before he’s finished his wind-up follow through. Still, the Argentine’s footstamp serves are intimidating. And how well he mixes his shots. But Liu’s getting killed, right? Not exactly. It’s 16-14....And, yes, Arado, though never reluctant to attack, is fortunate to get 22 points to win this game. The next three he’ll average 11.

Final

Two years ago Zhuang had played a practice match with Liu in Taiwan when Song was coaching a bank team there, so their games are known to one another. Still, stiff-looking backhand chop, chop, chop from Liu--then very quick dance-like-steps and the flash of a forehand going by. David looks astonished--as if he has no chance against such a winner. Then Liu shows him something else--as one fellow says, "The highest, softest loop I’ve ever seen"...which David sends three feet off the table. Add to that David chastising himself for swinging at a bad ball--and is this a match he’s going to win?...Maybe, for Liu, marvelously entertaining to the spectators though he is with his backhand defense and any-second forehand attack, is not so unpredictable to the experienced player facing him. Against St. Louis’s up-to-the table barreling one-ball backhands David hadn’t control, but against Liu he quickly adapts, has time to correctly anticipate Liu’s fast positional changes. From 6-4 down, Zhuang’s 15-8 up. Then forehands aplenty--and, such is the turn of events, Zhuang’s down not one but two game points. But at 21-all David makes a fine wide return of serve that catches Liu, and--"Yeahhh, let’s go!"--wins the first fist-up.

In the 2nd, it’s the usual backhand chop, chop, chop--interspersed with the lefthanded Liu’s gradual glide left to take forehand control, often thwarted by David’s equally quick block or counter forcing him back again. At 9-7 Zhuang, Liu, forced right, manages to stab back a ball from behind his back, but, high though it is, David misses it, then sinks slowly under the table. "Yeahhh!" yells Song....Down 17-14, Liu surprises David with a down-the-line serve, then bangs in David’s too soft return, then sends David lurching for the ball so that it’s too much of a stretch for him to recover. Again, fearless forehands abound, are accompanied by the combatants’ staccato cries and the spectators’ passionate applause.

At 22-all, David roars to self, "C’mon now!" A mild outburst that Umpire Darek Mikita feels warrants, in the heat of battle, not a verbal calming but a yellow card. Which I think is idiotic--and in a moment you’ll see why. Now comes the most exciting point of what is turning out to be the great climactic match of the tournament. A long exchange--shots of every description--ends when David misses a beautifully disguised drop, knowing even as he strokes the ball he’s hit it too tentatively, and so instinctively follows up by swatting it 30 feet into the barriers. Mikita is no idiot. He does not see red--reach for his gun that will kill the game and the all-too-rare intensity of the hundreds of spectators. Better in lieu of a card, a net wins 24-22 for the Argentine.

It’s just a fantastic match. Makes you think Table Tennis is a wonderful sport. Wouldn’t all those watching want to see an instant replay of point after point? What am I saying? That’s what they’re getting now in the 3rd. Zhuang’s started to hit more to Liu’s forehand. If Song counters, David can block to his backhand. "C’MON!"... "YEAHH!" Unbelievably it’s deuce again. David must have decided he’s got to hit the ball harder. He does--wins 22-20.

A change of shirts for the 4th, but no change of pace. Liu continues to be a study in fast footwork. And he’s so tenacious. Once he’s in forehand position, which is often, he keeps swinging. But then, leading all the way, up 20-19, Liu fast-steps into forehand position and...and hesitates, chooses not to smack the ball in hard but to softly roll it. A fatal mistake--for, despite losing that point, he now strangely repeats his tenuous play and loses this 4th and final deuce game 22-20. David is, finally, the winner.

Smiles, embraces, handshakes, animated evening talk, mild revelry. Not much time to relax though after this grueling week--David and his supportive teammates have a flight to Amsterdam to catch. But regardless of what awaits them in the Eindhoven whirl to come, they are all now a part of Pan-Am history--are already travelers in the realms of gold.