San Diego Open

Balboa Park Activity Center, San Diego CA

November 5^th and 6^th, 2005

This was the season finale, the eighth and concluding tournament on the 2005 STIGA North American Tour, and if we had engineered it we couldn’t have had a more exciting and satisfying conclusion! One hundred and eighty USATT members took advantage of a gorgeous weekend in this beautiful setting, one of the few dedicated table tennis facilities in America.

Play was consistently on schedule, and play was also frequently spectacular. There were several stellar performances that need to be noted, and the foremost has to be that of Jeff Huang, the quickly-improving 14 year old. Jeff was a real workhorse, entering multiple events and advancing deep into the Single Elimination Rounds of all of them. This lefthander racked up an amazing record in his two days of play and has established himself as a leading contender for National honors in his generation. When the results were all in, Jeff had triumphed in three of the Ying-Lo junior competitions, winning the Boys U-16 and U-18, twice defeating Don James Alto, in six games and four games, respectively, and taking a spectacular 7 game match from Carlos Chui in the U-22! Trailing three games to two against the Texas Wesleyan player, Jeff took both game 6 and game 7 by scores of 11-9 to bring a deafening roar of approval from the fans. In addition to his Junior victories, Jeff came second in the highly competitive U-2500 rating event, where only the skill of Ludovic Gombos kept him from an additional title. In the Open Singles Round Robin, Jeff beat Richard Lee and nearly pulled off a great upset of Xavier Therien, leading three games to one before the unflappable Canadian denied him the match. This, my friends, is quite a player. He was frequently able to control play with his backhand placement and has shown great improvement every time we’ve seen him in competition.

It’s always a pleasure to see Kazuhiro Kamada in play! This outstanding chopper posted a nifty seven game win against Tuan Le in the Over 40 before losing to Loc Bao Ngo in the Final of that event. His full court coverage, athleticism and determination were on full display when he won the U-2250, coming back from a 3-1 game deficit to best Tri Dinh, -6,-6,10,-6,9,9,6! Opponents were less thrilled about seeing him, and a crestfallen look usually followed the news that they had been drawn for a Single Elimination match against this skilled defender.

Bill Ukapatayaskul showed himself a hale and hearty competitor in the Sol Feingold Memorial Senior events, finishing second in the Over 50 competition to Dave Sakai, and winning the Over 60 by edging Ragnar Fahlstrom in the single Round Robin.

Adam Bobrow had himself a nifty tournament, too! The high energy Bobrow spearheaded a contingent of USC players and established his leadership credentials by finishing second to Wade Sun in the U-2125, winning the U-2000 outright against Jason Sun and taking first place in U-3200 doubles. He and teamie Jordan Fisher, the U-1250 champion, bested the father/sun combo of Wilfredo and Willy Castillo, 9,-9, 10,-9, 7.

Brana Vlasic showed continued growth as a player, winning the Ying-Lo Women’s Under 22 event over Alicia Wei, and coming through a five-women RR group to meet Elmira Zainabudanova in a well-attended Women’s Final. There, despite taking the first game 11-4, Brana fell to the talented Elie, 3,6,9,5. Two very fit and athletic women in an all-out battle for the title, it made for a great match!

A collective “Well Done!” is also owed to the Alto brothers, John James, Don James, and Earl. These guys are always impressive, both for their play and for their manners. At the San Diego Open, John was second to Derrick Poon in the Boys U-13, while Don found himself blocked twice by Jeff Huang in the U-16 and U-18 categories. Earl James Alto had the victory to crow about (and the check that goes with it!) when he defeated Texas Wesleyan’s Courtney Roberts in a see-saw final for the U-2375. 9,-6, 9,-6, 9,-6, 8 seemed to prove that one side of the table was much luckier than the other. Excellent win, Earl!, and good to see all of you there.