2001 Boston TTC June Open
June 2–3, 2001

The Boston Table Tennis Club June 2001 Open was the first tournament ever held at the Boston Table Tennis Club. About sixty players of all different levels, young and old, turned up. See the photos below. The tournament ran very smoothly thanks to the expertise of tournament director David Marcus.

Saturday was the busier of the two days with almost forty of the players competing. The events ran smoothly with play finishing around 7 p.m.

Eugene Chau defeated his brother Anthony 17, −17, 17 in the Under 12 final. Both boys were quite happy to win trophies in their very first tournament.

George Zavaliagkos, a member of the Boston Table Tennis Club, won the Unrated Event in extremely close matches. First he beat Brad Mongeon 19, 21. Then be beat Dana Cohen 22, 20. And, finally he beat Adam Gussow 20, −10, 19. George must really like cutting things close.

On Sunday, the turnout was lighter with about thirty players. Although originally scheduled for Sunday, the junior events were played on Saturday. This left plenty of tables and time for the Over 40 Seniors to play round robins. Haig Raky’s wicked underspin and smashes were too much for Jim Baird in the final. Haig won 11, 12.

Boston Table Tennis Club club member Wenli Xue played exceptionally well, defeating 2122 Yin Wang 17, −15, 19 and losing to 2184 Wally Green 19, −19, 19. Previously unrated, Wenli will probably be rated in the low to mid 2100s.

Heng-Chuan Kan, rated 2136, from the MIT TTC, somewhat surprisingly reached the final of the Open. Along the way, he defeated #2 seed Wally Green, rated 2184, and #4 seed Art Samek, rated 2159.

At around 4 p.m., two of the six tables were put away to set up a large court so that everyone could watch the finals of the Under 2250 and the Open. Art Samek from the RITTA used very fast play and amazing counter hits to defeat the always fun to watch Wally Green from NY to win the Under 2250. It is amazing that Wally was rated just 1260 only five years ago.

In the final of the Open, Heng-Chuang Kan fought hard against #1 seed Ernest Virgo of Connecticut. Ernest, at 2306, was rated more than 100 points higher than any of the other players. Ernest’s strong and consistent forehand and backhand loops and excellent defensive play ultimately prevailed as he won the final in three games: 17, −19, 15.