I grabbed silver at the Evanston Wyoming Chinese New Year 2008 Table Tennis Tournament

Sponsor Ad: TableTennisStore.US - 1000 XIOM, TSP, JOOLA, CHAMPION table tennis products!

My spirit was not high at all last week. The weather was so depressing in Utah – no sun light and piles of snow – in the last few weeks. The other contributing factor was my lack of discipline. I discipline myself before any tournament – eat less, half’ an hour on the tread mill, take some weights, get fit and prepare mentally. I was not prepared at this time, but I desired to support my club mates who come to play at the tournament. The weather was good on February 9 th, and I did not expect more than that to make a decision the day before.

The Chinese New Year table tennis tournament in Evanston started some 19 years ago. I have been to the Evanston Recreation Center, Wyoming last year for the same tournament. The organizers at the Evanston are very friendly. There is excellent food for all the players from morning to night – anytime you can go and eat. The players receive a T-shirt also.

There are few things as the disappointment factors. They have only few tables in good condition. The players have to adjust very well when they move from one table to another – the flight and the bouncing of the ball vary dramatically. There is no disappointment about the floor. They have rubber floor, and I love playing on it – good traction and never slippery.

The tournament format they follow is a double elimination. It takes more time than round robin tournament format. The tournament started at 10:30 AM with doubles. The qualifications for the Open started at 12:15 PM. The matches went until 8:30 PM.

There were some 30 players in the tournament from the surrounding states of Wyoming. The tournament had some excellent players – Ryan, Byron & Carol, Meg, Dale, Bruce, Bryce, Jeff, Reiner, Gordon, Slodovan – sorry if I’ve missed your name. They were all from the Utah state, between the USATT ratings 1500 to 2100. Merill, the 82 years old man’s enthusiasm can’t be ignored. Merill goes to every tournament at this old age.

The elevation at Evanston is higher than Salt Lake City – at least 2000 feets higher than Salt Lake City. All players had problems with the elevation - at higher elevation, the ball flies faster and travels long. During the practice time with Meg, I found out that the moisture and the elevation are not helping my backhand chop strokes. The quality of the tables contributed some uneven bounces. I have to fix this major issue, so I decided to change the backhand rubber to a lower sponge version. I’m glad my decision was a right one.

The qualification rounds were not tough. With the new long pips on the back hand, it took few games to adjust myself. I had good control of the balls and spin variation to enter the Championship group after two wins in qualification round. In the same tournament last year, I was in group B which is two levels lower than the Championship group.

In the Open, the first match against Dale was not an easy one. My heart was pounding when I started the match against him. It was primarily because how successfully I would be able to handle the floating balls. In the same tradition, like in the Pleasant Grove tournament last year, the match ended up me leading in 10 to 6 in the 5 th game. What a mistake when I thought to relax myself with 4 points in lead. That led to my failure after he came back and beat me. Dale is a player who plays with his brain like his dad. He was successful in picking the right ball to loop to my forehand.

I won 3 to 0 against Carol Davis as well as her husband Byron Davis. I won against Jeff for 3 – 1. The time was around 6:00 PM at that time. I won against Meg for 3 to 1. She is a tough competitor whenever she plays against me. I admire her boldness to hit my cut strokes which is hard and tiring. At practice on Friday, the day before the tournament, she played very well and beat me. I watched her fast push stroke, and I thought that is going to trouble many people including me on that day. We exchange loses and wins often times, and this is just another win for me.

The matches against Reiner and Slovadan were sluggish. Both of them went to more defense posture after watching the spin variation. At the club, Slovadan troubles with his tennis style cork screw service to my forehand. However in the tournament, I was able to return 95% of his tennis style serves. I was prepared how to return those serves. Against both the players the matches went to 5 games. I could see years of maturity in their play against a new comer like me. I learned few lessons after playing against them. One such lesson is looping no spin balls that come from short pips – it takes careful reading of the spin and right racket angle while accelerating the ball to the forward.

Ryan is the highest rated player in Utah. He is tactical and stylish. I love playing against him, but the chances I have are very less at the club. The people asks me about a good player to follow or get some training in this state, I always point someone to Ryan. He is in the tradition of good top spin game.

I have good control against Ryan defensive shots on the table, and I can keep him guessing which ball he can pick to loop. I don’t remember him giving me any top spin shots to my back hand – he may be too cautious. When that kind of play happens from my opponent, I tend to go highly passive. I’m changing that bad habit as to become aggressive and finish the point – that’s where a modern defensive player becomes more dangerous to his opponent.  The dangerous weapon from Ryan was always “loop smash” to my forehand. I was successful in blocking 60% of his loops. The amount of top spin and power in those loops trouble me. I should be successful in cutting those balls from the forehand, and that is the goal for this year.

I’m glad I won a medal. My wife travels with me wherever I go for a tournament. This is an encouragement for her.

I don’t say I was the qualified to win a title next to Ryan. But it happened in a way I was able to grab a silver medal. I take these opportunities to improve my game. Everyone has taught me a lesson.

Sponsor Ad: TableTennisStore.US - 1000 XIOM, TSP, JOOLA, CHAMPION table tennis products!