2015 ITTF North American Championships
Courtesy of ITTF
August 2, 2015 – A quarterfinal defeat in the Women’s Singles event in Markham, Toronto in late July meant that the four years reign of Canada’s Zhang Mo as the Pan American Games champion was over; she was beaten by Brazil’s Caroline Kumahara.
Defeat, the task is now to resign the events of the Atos Arena to history and look forward to the next opportunity to both gain a prestigious title and to secure a successful defense.
The 2015 ITTF-North American Championships will be staged at the Westchester Table Tennis Center in New York from Wednesday September 5th to Friday September 7th; one year ago, when the tournament was held in Mississauga, like Markham a region of Toronto, Zhang Mo won the Women’s Singles title.
Unique
She succeeded in a tournament that is quite unique on the international calendar.
Continental tournaments on the whole tend to differentiate between senior and junior players; one tournament for the seniors, one for the junior members and younger.
Notably the ITTF-North American Championships combines both concepts with eight events being staged over the three day period.
Team events are held for Men, Women, Junior Boys and Junior Girls; singles events are staged for Men, Women, Cadet Boys and Cadet Girls.
A Step to World Stage
At first glance the itinerary may appear somewhat unusual but there is a reason for the organization and for inclusion of events in the junior and cadet age group categories.
The successful outfits in the Junior Boys’ Team and Junior Girls’ Team events will qualify as the North American representatives at the World Junior Championships to be staged later this year in Vendée, France.
Likewise, the successful players in the Cadet Boys’ Singles and Cadet Girls’ Singles event will form Team North America for the ITTF Cadet Challenge to be held in Sharm El-Shiekh at the end of October.
Canada versus United States
The end result is that the 2015 ITTF-North American Championships is a tournament in its own right and a stepping stone to a higher level with players from the United States of America and Canada being the principal protagonists for honors.
Team Events
Notably the Men’s and Women’s Team events will follow the Olympic format of four singles and one doubles with no player allowed to compete in more than two matches; the Junior Boys’ Team and Cadet Boys’ Team competitions will pursue the World Championships agenda of five singles matches should matters advance the full distance.
Prize Fund
A total prize fund of US$ 8,000 is on offer; the closing date for entries is Saturday August 15th.
Contact
Robert Roberts, Tournament Director
E-Mail: rrobert33@yahoo.com
Download Prospectus
Download: Prospectus: 2015 ITTF-North American Championships
