June 10, 2010
The 3 Star 2010 Golden State Open
Open winner Xibo Liu
Photo By: David Kant
by David Kant
Walnut Creek, CA -
May 29-30, 2010
The 36th annual Golden State Open, located at the fine playing venue of the Tice Valley Gymnasium in Walnut Creek, CA, proved to be a great success, with a turnout of 193 players from all over the Bay Area competing on 22 tables.
The tournament was very organized and ran smoothly throughout both days, with few to no late starts and rapid entering and processing of the results, allowing for each event to run with maximum efficiency. This made the tournament the success it was, and so a big thank you goes out to the Concord Table Tennis Club's staff of tournament director, Phil Schafer, Henry Chan, Yau-Man Chan, and the many other volunteers who contributed.
In the past, lighting and A/C were issues for players. The gym was a bit dark, and the A/C was too strong, blowing the ball around (particularly with high lobs). This year, players were happy to see that the lighting had dramatically improved as the facility had increased its lighting in the gym. The A/C though, had gone from one extreme to the other. On the one hand, there was no draft to blow the ball around, but on the other hand, the room became stuffy. This, however, was quite tolerable, making the gym an overall fantastic tournament venue.
As for the Open, the competition was fierce, creating a tense and competitive atmosphere that pervaded the air. After many matches, four players had proven themselves, claiming a spot as a top 4 finalist to compete for the $1,000 cash prize and a special trophy only this year’s winners received. Charlie Smith, a member of the Concord Table Tennis Club and owner of the soon-to-be released company, Blades By Charlie (BBC), prepared laser-engraved blades denoting the event and place. Surprisingly, Weijian Zheng, ranked top seed at 2654 and the favorite to win, was not one of the four finalists. Instead, Hai Long Shen, rated 2492 and the fourth finalist, played like there was no tomorrow and came out with a huge upset, beating Zheng 9, -9, 8, 8.
In this heated final Round Robin, there certainly were matches to remember, as each and every finalist had that winner’s spark in their eyes along with an incredible amount of focus and drive. The first match was between Hai Long Shen and Jiaqi Zheng. Shen is an aggressive mid-distance looper from both sides, while Zheng is a fast, at-the-table flat hitter, who counter-drives, blocks, and smashes with surprising force (and with short-pips on one side). This match-up heated up from the get-go. Loop and smash winners were exchanged evenly in the first three games, Shen winning the first 13-11, Zheng taking the second 12-10, and Shen taking the third 11-8. This was broken in the fourth game, as Zheng took over, dominating with her quick and well-placed counter-drives. Game four went to Zheng, 11-5. But Shen would not have it, fighting back and securing the win, overpowering Zheng with his spinny loops; he took games five and six 11-8 and 11-7.
Although all four finalists, Xibo Liu, Anal Kashyap, Hai Long Shen, and Jiaqi Zheng, each played extremely well, Xibo Liu, the eventual winner, was the one to watch. He is a lefty looper from both sides with incredible power, thus winning all of his matches with ease – all but one of them anyways. Jiaqi Zheng, who placed fourth in the final round robin with a match record of 1-2, was the only one to beat Xibo Liu. This was no easy feat for Zheng. The match started off with an exchange of loop and counter-drive winners, with Liu taking the first game 11-9. Realizing she could not overpower Liu, Zheng played it smart, forcing errors with well-placed blocks and taking game two 11-7. In the next two games, Liu responded by pushing well-placed and spinny balls short, setting up for a fifth ball kill. This proved to be quite effective as Liu cruised through games three and four 11-5 and 11-6. The game score 6-5 and the match score now 3-1, Liu seemed to have the victory in the bag as Zheng’s coach called a timeout. I don’t know what her coach said, but Zheng returned with more determination than ever before. She was resilient! With a calm and quiet confidence, Zheng continued her strategy of well-placed blocks, but this time much more aggressively, either drawing an error or setting up a smash winner as a result. In this way, Zheng pulled off the next two games 11-7 and 12-10. We were now at the final stretch, the seventh game, with the momentum on Zheng’s side. Liu and Zheng both stuck with their dominant strategies, Liu with his short pushes followed by loop winners and Zheng with her at-the-table offensive blocks. Point after point, rally after rally, the battle remained a tie, creating great suspense at 9-9. Then, after drawing an error, Zheng saw her first match point at 10-9. The next point, Zheng was eager to end it while Liu let a little pressure get to him. He opened with a forehand loop, Zheng blocked it, and Liu looped again, but this time sending it long and ending the match! Zheng pulled off a major upset 11-9 in the seventh against Liu.
That wraps up a truly memorable tournament, and I cannot wait to see next year’s competition, both new and returning, in May 2011 as we will celebrate the 37th Golden State Open!
Event Results
Open: 1st Xibo Liu, 2nd Anal Kashyap
U2500: 1st Auria Malek, 2nd Maggie Meng Tian
U2300: 1st George (Chi Ho) Tang, 2nd Joey Juin-Yuan Hu
U2150: 1st George (Chi Ho) Tang, 2nd David Heng-wah Zeng
U2000: 1st Yuta Haguro, 2nd Parminder Dhami
U1850: 1st Parminder Dhami, 2nd John Hanna
U1700: 1st Ananda Krishnan, 2nd Isabel Chu
U1500: 1st Jared Wong, 2nd Adam Nathanson
U1300: 1st Jordan Yee, 2nd Kevin H. Li
U1100: 1st Shruti Prasanna, 2nd Kevin Shen
U800: 1st Shruti Prasanna, 2nd Alan Zhang
U500: 1st Kevin Cheng, 2nd Brandon Quant
Over 70: 1st Peter Chen, 2nd Toon Siong Mao
Over 55: 1st Peter Chen, 2nd Mark Johnson
Over 40: 1st Olaf Surmann, 2nd James Therriault
U18: 1st David Heng-wah Zeng, 2nd Terence Sun
U12: 1st Howard Tong, 2nd Victor Liu
Open Doubles: 1st Pranav Gopal & Avishy Schmidt, 2nd Anthony Chu & Isabel Chu
U3400 Doubles: 1st Jingbin Wang & George Zhao, 2nd Rich Butler & Anil Dhupelia
U2800 Doubles: 1st Nancy Zhou & Kailyn Kong, 2nd Jordan Yee & Kevin Li
| Download the latest Flash Player to view content. |