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2023 North Carolina State Championships Held at UNCC - Belk Gym

by Bill Englebreth / Charlotte TTC

The 2023 North Carolina State Table Tennis Championships were held October 20-22 at Belk Gymnasium on the campus of UNC - Charlotte. Competition was friendly but fierce between several of the state’s clubs - Triangle Badminton and Table Tennis, Charlotte TTC, Carolina International TTA, Impact TTC, Asheville, TTC, and Cape Fear TTC.

(L-R) Mens’ Singles Semifinalist - Steve Wang, Finalist - Cameron Smith, Champion - Changbo Lu, and Semifinalist - Alan Chu at the 2023 NC State Championships.
(L-R) Mens’ Singles Semifinalist - Steve Wang, Finalist - Cameron Smith, Champion - Changbo Lu, and Semifinalist - Alan Chu at the 2023 NC State Championships.

In Men’s Singles, Cameron Smith of Charlotte TTC took a 2-1 lead over Changbo Lu of Triangle BTT, but Changbo prevailed strongly in the final two games to win 8, -8, -9, 4, 4.


(L-R) Womens’ Singles Semifinalist - Ling Fan, Champion - Rachel Wang, and Finalist - Sarah Zhang at the 2023 NC State Championships.
(L-R) Womens’ Singles Semifinalist - Ling Fan, Champion - Rachel Wang, and Finalist - Sarah Zhang at the 2023 NC State Championships.

Rachel Wang of Carolina International TTA was undefeated in round robin play, 3-0, 3-0 to win the Women’s Singles event.


(L-R) Mixed Doubles Semifinalists - Ling Fan/Steve Wang, Champions - Rachel Wang/Changbo Lu, Finalists - Cameron Smith/Kyoka Kanae, and Semifinalists - Lei Wu/Zhen Jia at the 2023 NC State Championships.
(L-R) Women’s Doubles Finalists - Ling Fan/Amarpreet Kaur, Umpire - Madhu Bhandari, and Champions - Kyoka Kanae/Zhen Jia at the 2023 NC State Championships.

The women's doubles team of Zhen Jia and Kyoka Kanae were also undefeated in round robin play though Ling Fan and Amarpreet Kaur of CTTC managed to take a game from them.


(L-R) Men’s Doubles Finalists - Steve Wang/Lei Wu and Champions - Changbo Lu/Alan Chu at the 2023 NC State Championships.
(L-R) Men’s Doubles Finalists - Steve Wang/Lei Wu and Champions - Changbo Lu/Alan Chu at the 2023 NC State Championships.

Changbo Lu and Tsz Lun Chu were an unstoppable team in Men’s Doubles, powering through the formidable combinations of Cameron Smith / Jay Ntukulu who played so well in the 2022 National Collegiate Championships and Steve Wang / Lei Wu who have dominated men’s doubles in several national senior games competitions.


(L-R) Mixed Doubles Semifinalists - Ling Fan/Steve Wang, Champions - Rachel Wang/Changbo Lu, Finalists - Cameron Smith/Kyoka Kanae, and Semifinalists - Lei Wu/Zhen Jia at the 2023 NC State Championships.
(L-R) Mixed Doubles Semifinalists - Ling Fan/Steve Wang, Champions - Rachel Wang/Changbo Lu, Finalists - Cameron Smith/Kyoka Kanae, and Semifinalists - Lei Wu/Zhen Jia at the 2023 NC State Championships.

Changbo Lu also paired with Rachel Wang to win the Mixed Doubles event, even though CTTC threw four teams at them.

Many thanks to USATT, Christy King and Cannon Vick of the US Performance Center, UNCC, Paddle Palace, host club Charlotte TTC, Rachel Wang and Table Tennis Dreams, and our officials - umpires Madhu Bhandari, Ling Fan, and Harry Karr, and tournament director and referee, Bill Englebreth.
Open Singles Men

Champion - Changbo Lu

Finalist - Cameron Smith

Semifinalists - Tsz Lun Chu and Steve Wang


Open Singles Women

Champion - Rachel Wang

Finalist - Sarah Zhang

Semifinalist - Ling Fan


Mixed Doubles

Champions - Changbo Lu / Rachel Wang

Finalists - Cameron Smith / Kyoka Kanae

Semifinalists - Steve Wang / Ling Fan and Zhen Jia / Lei Wu


Women’s Doubles

Champions - Zhen Jia / Kyoka Kanae

Finalists - Ling Fan / Amarpreet Kaur

Semifinalists - Sarah Zhang / Lauren Ye


Men’s Doubles

Champions - Changbo Lu / Tsz Lun Chu

Finalists - Steve Wang / Lei Wu

Semifinalists - Cameron Smith / Jay Ntukulu and Vitaliy Plugovoy / Elias Gomez
Under 2150 Cameron Smith

Under 2000 David Plugovoy

Under 1850 Elias Gomez

Under 1700 Elias Gomez

Under 1550 Martin Lessa

Under 1400 Frank Zha

Under 1250 Rhea Gupta

Under 1100 Mansoor Ahmed

Under 950 Tripp Roche


Over 60 Men Miguel Roldan

Over 60 Women Ling Fan

Over 50 Men Elias Gomez

Over 50 Women Ling Fan

Over 40 Men Vitaliy Plugovoy

Over 40 Women Amarpreet Kaur

Under 19 Boys Changbo Lu

Under 19 Girls Rachel Wang

Under 15 Boys Jintao Lee

Under 15 Girls Sarah Zhang

Under 13 Boys Jintao Lee

Under 13 Girls Sarah Zhang
Over 40 Women’s Doubles Zhen Jia / Kyoka Kanae

Over 40 Men’s Doubles Steve Wang / Lei Wu

Over 40 Mixed Doubles Steve Wang / Ling Fan