Eric Owens wins National Championships!
Eric Owens wins National Championships!
Press Release:
For Immediate Release:
Houston Native, Eric Owens wins USATT National Championship
Owens, 26, capped an incredible week of table tennis at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. USATT reports record entries of 730 for US Closed and US World Team Trials.
Eric started the week by making the 2002 US World Team, tying for first place. In the middle of the week, Owens and David Zhuang , of North Brunswick, NJ, teamed up to win the Mens Doubles title. He capped it off Saturday in a late night victory over three time champion and #1 seed, Cheng Yinghua of Germantown, MD. In this best of 9 format, Owens crushed the favored Cheng, 5-1. Cheng is a former member of the Chinese World Team. Prior to moving to the US, his world ranking was as high as #5.
Owens had to defeat the 4 time and defending champion, #2 seed Zhuang in the semi finals to reach his rendezvous with Cheng. This marathon match went all 9 games before Eric prevailed in an improbable come from behind 5-4 win (6 in the 5th). He only had an hour of rest before playing the finals. Between them, Zhuang and Cheng have won the title for the last 7 years in a row, usually meeting in the final. Only 6 men have held the title in the last 16 years.
This is Owens' first singles national championship. He previously held the Mens Doubles Championship title in 1998 with Barney J. Reed. Results of this week will move Owens up near #1 in USATT ranking of Olympic Eligible athletes.
Cheng defeated Houstonian, Jim Butler in the other semis 5-3. Butler and Owens are training partners playing out of the Houston Table Tennis Center. Butler was on the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Teams. Eric started his training at the age of 5 in Houston and continues to live here. He has spent considerable time training in China, Sweden, Korea and at the Resident Training Programs at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and USATT National Training Center in Flint, MI.
Owens is a current Pan Am Gold Medalist. After narrowly missing the 2000 US Olympic Team (he was first alternate), Eric took a year off from most competition, fine tuning his physical and mental conditioning. He represented the US at the World Championships in Kuala Lampur in April of this year.
With numerous rule changes in table tennis (40 mm ball, 11 point games, service changes), many questioned whether athletes such as Owens would be able to make the adaptation. That question has now been answered.
For further information, please contact:
Houston 2012 Sport Coordinator, Terry Canup
713-473-1903
canupnet@hal-pc.org
For more information on USATT, please contact:
Margaret Smith 719-578-4583
operations@usatt.org
Eric Owens 2001 US National Champion in Singles and Doubles