US Open Teams Championships: Drama, Determination and Destination

(By Steve Hopkins)

Labor Day weekend in Myrtle Beach saw more than the typical sun, surfing and seafood – it also supplied sports, tension and spotlights.

It is 25 years since the US Open Table Tennis Championships Detroit looked at the center of the table tennis world every fall. This year, USA Table Tennis, in collaboration with Butterfly, brought back the most important event. And after three days of great table tennis in the John T. Rhodes Myrtle Beach Sports Center, the Five Stars, Usatt-Gesanctionated Butterfly US Open Teams Championships was a great success.

Promotion started on Friday with nearly 100 teams, but by Sunday the top division was on the last 8 teams. 888 was the first in group 1 with L-Team in the second, MLTT All Stars Won Group Won Won Won Team Gewo in the second, Major League and Stag iconic Bowlo finished first and second in group 3, and Lytt Banana Boys and Lytt overrated Scrubs who added all-lily.

In the quarterfinals it was 888 above Gewo 3-0-one pattern that would continue to exist for the dominant, top placed 888 team. Lyttc Banana Boys at the top 3-1 with Isaac Vila who won twice and adds Arnav Jain the third point-John McDermott scored the only deer point. Major League defeated Lyttc Scrubs 3-1 with Alexandru Cazacu who won twice and Daniel Goraz added the third point and with Kevin Doyle logged a point for the scrubs.

In the semi-final, both 888 and MLTT All Stars won a great final with many recognizable names 3-0. In the final it was all 888 Table Tennis Center. Hiromitsu Kasahara defeated Koyo Kooyo Kanamitsu with 3-0 to secure the first point, Taeyun Kim moisture from behind to win 3-2 about Jinxin Wang (including a victory of 13-11 last game) to secure the second team point, and Sid Naresh ditched the door with a 3-2 victory over Kai’s title.

The Division 2 title went to Broward TTC 5-4 about deaf stars with Jorge Chavarro who won 3 of his team points and Jonathan Santamaria and Aura Cristina Ocampo, each adding a point for Broward. Broward TTC 2 also won their division with a 5-4 victory that the Division 3 title won at Lonestar Warriors. Broward 2 included Luis Rodriguez, Luis Mejia and Samuel Leon in the final. Team Mavericks had a dominant 5-0 win in the final of Division 4 on Super Smash Bros with Ivan Tsai, Vihaan Desaraju and Yizhou Zhao who make their way to victory. Division 5 went to stage 2 (Tyler Spesick, Zack Guido and Greg Smith all established victories). Division 6 went to Lonestar Lions with Siddarth Siva, Leonid Odinokov and Morris Lo. The title of Division 7 went to Team Kodaty with Pavan, Shriya and Siddarth Kodaty all in the final. And the 8 round Robin division ended with Lytc Paddle Panthers who took the title in a three -way points with second place Finisher Citta West and third place Finisher Wild Backhand Buckaroos. The Paddle Panthers team included Ian Neyman, Ethan Kozac and Aryan Mhanty.

In the end Myrtle Beach saw a lot of great table tennis, 100 fighting teams, 400 players and a top prize of $ 10,000. Full match scores, Team Line -Ups and Division -breakdown, visit the Official results page.

From the grit and the grind of the group game to the rhythm, rallies and roar of the crowd, this weekend Myrtle Beach was more than just a vacation spot – it was a table tennis destination.

Visit Butterflyonline.com for the latter in Table Tennis News and results.