$92,000.00 2001 US Open
ITTF Pro Tour
North American Championships
US Paralympic Open
July 2-8, 2001
Monday
$92,000.00 2001 US Open
ITTF Pro Tour
North American Championships
US Paralympic Open
July 2-8, 2001
Monday
Monday was a setup and get reacquainted day. With competition starting Tuesday this year, the time to get this all together was cut short. Butterfly, this year's tournament sponsor was well represented by Richard McAfee today. Tables and courts looked good to Pro Tour Tournament Director Azmy Ibrahim. USATT staffers Margaret Smith and Debbie Doney were among a strong crew readying the player packets for tomorrow's onslaught.
This year we play with the "big ball"!
Sean O'Neill keeps Sheri Pittman "on her toes"
USATT President Sheri Pittman was dashing about conducting business, but found time to show off her three year old son Charlie. She has every right to be proud! Tomorrow, the real fun starts with the North American Championships and World Cup Qualifying rounds. Wednesday the Open itself starts and Thursday brings us the beginning of the Pro Tour. Stay tuned for all of the fireworks!
Morning shown brightly over Ft. Lauderdale today. Dealers scrambled to set up. Butterfly is this years tournament sponsor. However, The Table Tennis Pioneers, Paddle Palace and California Table Tennis had good size booths. One of the featured products was the Power Play! Visual Table Tennis CD-ROM.
Later in the day, the facility was opened to practice for the Pro Tour players and later all entrants. Paralympic competition starts tomorrow as well. Andre' Scott and Mike Dempsey were among those getting ready.
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Wednesday
Thursday
The Pro Tour started in earnest today with the main draw. All the top players were in matches. The Chinese displayed their depth and excellent use of inside out wrist technique. Liu Guozheng, co-number 1 seed, rock solid and a steel physique, is as fast and powerful as any table tennis player.
US players fell like flies. Fan YiYong lost his first round match to Truksa from Slovakia in 4 games, while Eric Owens went down in a tight 5 gamer to Baboor from India. Jasna Reed had an excellent first round win, only to meet Ryu Ji Hye from Korea in the second round. David Zhuang also got to the second round before succumbing in five to Lee Chul Seung.
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Today was a day of near upsets and true upsets in the Pro Tour. The last American fell as Gao Jun Chang lost a tough one in the second round. Asa Svensson battled Ryu Ji Hye for five grueling games before Ryu finally prevailed. Asa had match point in the third, but could not close the upset. Werner Schlager was not as lucky as Ryu. For the second day in a row, he battled back from down two games to none. Only this time, it was Canada's Johnny Huang who pulled it out in the fifth. Meanwhile, Liu Guozheng took a while to find his stroke against The Netherlands' Trinko Keen. However, the biggest upset of the day was little thought of Olga Nemes from Germany taking out World # 2 Zhang Yining of China. Olga has never had such a win before in her career. Back on the men's side, down went #1 seed Chiang Peng-Lung. WOW! Here is a short video of Olga from an earlier round against Denmark's Pia Finnemann. Olga is on the far side.
The final four women are now Olga Nemes, Aya Umemura, Ryu Ji Hye, and Niu Jianfeng. The final four men: Johnny Huang, Liu Guozheng, J-M Saive, and Chuan Chi-Yuan.
While this seems to be a "no contest" situation, in reality, it was not. While the Pro Tour had $22,500 up on the Men's Finals, the North American Championships determines who will represent the continental association at the very high dollar World Cup. Only one player goes, the winner!
Pro Tour players Petra Cada (Canada) and Werner Schlager (Austria)
pose for camera at player party
The day ended with the player party/reception. USATT showcased its top talent in Norm Chiunard, Margaret Smith and Dwight Johnson. There was music and dancing, spirits and food. Homer Brown celebrated his 33rd consecutive US Open! The final words of the event were reserved for the award of the most outstanding umpire award to Joe Helfand.
Sunday
Thanks to all that helped put together this event! If you were at the Pro Tour and wondered why you did not see two time US Olympic and three time World Championship Umpire, Tom Miller out on the main courts, well you just have to ask the USATT "powers that be" about that decision.
See you in Vegas!
