Tournament Archives 2006 Tournament Results 2006 Berkeley Open | 2006 Berkeley Open |
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| Friday, 15 September 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Stefan Feth roared through the competition like a golden bear while playing the 2006 Berkeley Open. He defeated Khoa Nguyen 4-0 in the finals to claim the right to be called the 2006 Berkeley Open Champion!
Read More for the tournament article and results! Berkeley Open It is always a pleasure to be involved with the University of California, Berkeley, their table tennis club and their liaison Yau-Man Chan! This was the second event in 2006 that NATT operated in the Recreational Sports Facility and the volunteerism and eager cooperation they provided was invaluable to the tournament’s success. In exchange for use of the hall, NATT made donations to the Board of Regents that pay for the student’s use of that same room for the entire school year. It seemed like a fair deal for both parties.  Photo By Kingston Gee Sponsored by Table Tennis Pioneers, Senoda and Gerflor, featuring the Ying-Lo Junior Competitions and Sol Feingold Memorial Senior categories, the Berkeley Open had an outstanding array of table tennis talent on display. Local pride was very much in evidence as Milpitas loyalist Bruce Liu pointed to his home club’s dominance in rating events, while Rajul Sheth’s India Community Center kids dominated junior and beginner categories. With all the active programs and clubs in the region, it was an honor to provide a well-organized competition for them all. Much of the pre-tournament ‘buzz’ focused on a potential rematch in Open Singles between Barney Reed and Stefan Feth, since Barney had upset Stefan at July’s Sacramento Open. Added into the mix were Ben Johnson, Khoa Nguyen, Freddie Gabriel, Misha Kazantsev and the New Yorker, De Tran. It seems that everytime I turn around there is another fresh face for me here, some great player newly arrived that I have not seen before. It wasn’t Larry Bavly, who made the trip all the way from New Jersey in quest of fresh opponents and was the Over 40 finalist, losing to Rudy Miranda. Here the player ‘new to me’ was Zheng Jiaqi, Women’s Singles Champion by virtue of a four straight trouncing of Nan Li and U-22 titlist over Jackie Lee. Jackie, by the way, not only a great player but also a personable and engaging young lady, is near the end of her studies at UC Berkeley and expects a degree in Architecture in the near future. It’s impossible not to wish her the best. The Open Singles Round Robin Groups were extremely competitive. Of all the qualifiers, Zheng Jiaqi came closest to reaching the Quarterfinals, finishing third in her group, where Ben Johnson, by virtue of a 7 game drama over Freddie Gabriel placed first. Freddie defeated Loc Bao Ngo and triumphed over Jiaqi 11-9 in the seventh to add his name to the Single Elimination bracket. Khoa Nguyen had a perfect 3-0 record for his RR, but a three way tie for second between De Tran, Nan Li and Qualifier Philip Lim required a quick trip to the Ref before De Tran’s 6/5 game record gave him the narrowest of nods. Like Khoa, Barney posted a perfect 3-0 and it took everything Misha Kazantsev, the U-22 and U-18 champion, had to hold off a determined Shashin Shodan 15-13 in the seventh game to secure his spot in the Quarters. Stefan Feth was also 3-0 in his group, although a 4-2 win over Auria Malek was no walk in the park. Malek could not hold his #2 position however, as rapidly evolving Jeff Huang put a four game loss on Auria and jumped up into the Quarterfinals himself. Spectators were treated to outstanding matches in the event on Sunday. Barney beat Freddie 8,10,5,10 in their Quarter, while Khoa demonstrated that Jeff Huang still had some things to learn, 6,12,7,6. Stefan Feth showed his World Ranked status in four over De Tran, 8,8,6,5. Misha Kasantsev and Ben Johnson, however, provided the most drama. Things appeared to be all Ben’s way as he won the first three games by increasing margins, 10, 9 and 4. Misha wasn’t going away so easily though and to the delight of the onlookers broke back with three games in a row of his own, 9, 9, and 8! The decisive game gave us more of the same attacking and topspin battle, with Ben Johnson prevailing 11-8 in the seventh. Wiping the sweat away afterward, Ben was beaming and said ‘This is what I play for. That was fun’. Okay, I guess you have to be a bit perverse to play this sport anyway. In the Semifinals, Khoa and Barney got off to a good start, but a bad ending, splitting the first two games, 11-6 for Khoa and 11-3 for Reed. A hard fought third game landed in Khoa’s column 14-12 and gave him a pivotal turning point. Somewhere in the fourth game, which he lost 11-5, Barney claimed that a service let had occurred, but the umpire indicated nothing. Barney then appealed to Khoa who said it was good so far as he saw it. Barney’s belligerent streak emerged, but certainly didn’t play well with the onlookers, who now greeted every point Barney won with stony silence and were enthusiastic for Khoa as he closed the match out in five games. Ben Johnson gave Stefan a good tussle, taking game four in the other semifinal, but Stefan Feth had too many tools for Ben to hang in. Feth made the final with his 5,9,9,-8, 6 victory. The Open Singles Final saw Stefan turning back all of Khoa’s proposed solutions and a straight game victory, 5,8,5,8. It was definitely Stefan’s “A game” on display and while Khoa’s partisan backers graciously acknowledged the skill on display, there wasn’t much dramatic tension involved as Stefan added the Berkeley Open title to the Western Open honors he won in the spring. Consummate professionals, the two men shook hands postmatch with smiles. “It’s not easy doing what I’ve been doing,” Stefan explained later. “I am not in world class training anymore, yet everyone expects me to win. If I lose, everyone asks ‘What is wrong with me?’ but if I win everyone says ‘So What?’ I cannot win rating points but I can lose them yet I go out and risk my reputation and my dignity and keep playing the tournaments. I worry that perhaps people will not know how well I have played. Do you think I get credit for matches that I win?” I suppose Stefan has a very good point, it is hard to be the favorite. But if you can face De Tran, Ben Johnson and Khoa Nguyen in succession and only lose one game in the process, then you should be able to hold your head up as Berkeley Open Champion.  Photo By Kingston Gee
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