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