March 11, 2009
Timothy Wang at the Texas Wesleyan Open
Timothy Wang
Photo taken at the 2008 U.S. Nationals
By Dad Wang
When we arrived at the tournament site, I noticed that there were a lot of players in the gymnasium. Many high level players were there competing and the atmosphere was very intense, we were glad with our decision to attend. There was one player over 2500 (Mark Hazinski), two players over 2400, six to seven players over 2300 and many players around the 2100-2300 level. Due to the large turnout, the event experienced delays across the board. After the preliminary rounds, Timmy had to wait for 3 hours for his next round.
To make a long story short, he cruised through everybody to meet Hazinski in the finals. Surprisingly, most of the people stayed to watch the match at around 9:30PM. It was a spectacular match with the games going back and forth between Timmy and Mark. Mark took game one 11-8, but Timmy came back to beat Mark on game two at 11-1. The next two games went 1-1. The last game was an all out counter looping extravaganza with Mark prevailing 11-8. It was like Timo Boll playing Ma Long of China. I wish I had taped the match. A lot of spectators commented that they have never seen matches played like that in their entire life. The Texas Wesleyan team members were encouraged to cheer for their team but most of them just stayed silent the entire match. No cheering for either players, only to great points. I have nothing but gratitude for Jasna Reed and everybody at Wesleyan as they took Timmy under their wings and helped him along the way in the last three years since he started attending their tournaments.
Click here to view full results from the March 7th Texas Wesleyan Open.
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