22nd March 2015 – 33 players participated in this weekends first ever USA Table Tennis sanctioned event at Smash Table Tennis in Sterling, Virginia. Players were initially placed into group of 3 to determine their bracket for the main championships.

The youngest player was Tiffany Ke from Maryland aged 10 and oldest was Tom Norwood from Virginia aged 72. Competitive table tennis is a sport you can play and enjoy at any age.

Tiffany Ke, Aged 10 from Maryland. Competing in the Open division

Results

In a the division C final Michael McCormack came back from 2 games to 1 down to defeat local club member Ajay Rajani 7-11, 11-8, 13-15, 11-8, 11-6. In another hard fought match, Gordon Lee defeated 13 year old Max Labell in four sets to win the division B final 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6. All four finalist received a trophy, XIOM paddle, XIOM paddle case and XIOM ball holder.

The top 4 seeds contested the semi-finals for the open event. In the first semi-final and a battle of fast forehands, Bojun Zhangliang defeated Allen Lin 4-1. At one game all and with Allen leading 7-3 Bojun stepped up his game to come back and take the game 11-8 and then next 2 games 11-6, 11-7. The second semi-final between Toby Kutler and Nam Nguyen saw 4th seed Toby defeat Nam 4-0. Toby had defeated the top seed Bojun in the group stage and was simply on fire in this encounter. With Toby serving and looping consistently from both backhand and forehand, Nam was unable to find his typical form and timing which allows him to crush heavy topspin balls.

In the final Bojun put on a brilliant display of power speed looping. There were some excellent fast paced rallies between the 2 finalists but in the end Bojun was able to elevate his game for the final and avenge his group defeat by Toby and take home the trophy and prize money.

Open Champion – Bryan Zhang
Open Runner Up – Toby Kutler
Open Semi-Finalists – Nam Nguyen and Allen Lin

Class B Winner – Gorden Lee
Class B Runner Up – Max Labell

Class C Winner – Michael McCormack
Class C Runner Up – Ajay Rajani

Open Winner Bojun Zhangliang with Smash Table Tennis club owner Michael Levene