Site Products
Kanak Jha and Amy Wang book Buenos Aires places

Kanak Jha and Amy Wang book Buenos Aires places

(by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor)
Kanak Jha and Amy Wang book Buenos Aires places
The youngest United States athlete to participate in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Kanak Jha booked his place in the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games by emerging successful at the North American Continental Qualification Tournament staged in Las Vegas on Sunday 17th December.

Success on home soil, it was the same in the counterpart Women’s Singles event; Amy Wang emerged victorious.

Just one place available in each of the Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles events, a knock-out event, single elimination, was the order of the day; there was no room for error.

A straight games win over Xie Tianming (11-5,11-2,11-6, 11-4) gave Kanak Jha the ideal start; he followed with success against Luc Sicard in a similar vein (11-9, 11-4, 11-9, 11-5) but then when facing a third American at the semi-final stage, he found life much more testing. He needed to full seven games to overcome Nikhil Kumar (11-4, 10-12, 5-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-4).

Testing times but a place in the final booked, he beat Canada’s Jeremy Hazin in a more comfortable manner to reserve his Buenos Aires invitation (11-7, 11-3, 11-6, 11-2).

In the opposite half of the draw Jeremy Hazin had doused the hopes of the United States by beating Edward Ly (11-9, 11-6, 11-5, 4-11, 6-11, 11-5), Jack Wang (11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 12-1, 14-12) and Victor Liu (11-8, 11-7, 11-9, 11-5).

Third place finished in the hand of Victor Liu; he beat Nikhil Kumar in six games (11-9, 1-12, 11-3, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6).

Impressive from Kanak Jha, it was even more impressive from Amy Wang, she was never extended the full seven games distance.

Facing fellow Americans, she accounted for Laura Lai (11-5, 11-1, 11-4, 11-5), Benita Zhou (11-6,11-7,11-6, 11-5), Grace Yang (11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-9) and Crystal Wang (11-9, 8-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-7) to reserve her invitation to the Argentine capital city.

For full article, please click here

Latest News

Geovanni Coello – Short Game to Open Play

September 2, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Geovanny Coello is working with his student on executing a… Read More

MLTT is back in less than a week!

September 2, 2025
(by: Major League Table Tennis) Opening Week Is Around the Corner — Sep 5–7 It’s been months in the… Read More

That One Good Block

September 2, 2025
(By Larry Hodges) The stronger the player, the more predictable their attacking shots tend to be. Why? Because… Read More

Contact the Ball Earlier

September 1, 2025
Robot plays short backspin to Backhand, Jhon Backhand push to long Backhand, robot plays very spinny topspin to… Read More

Jonathan Pino – Falkenburg

September 1, 2025
(by: Bowmar Sports) In this Butterfly Training Tips, Jonathan Pino is executing the Falkenburg Drill https://youtu.be/BRcvQsyegPo Stay “In The… Read More

US Open Teams Championships: Drama, Determination, and Destination

September 1, 2025
(By Steve Hopkins) Labor Day weekend in Myrtle Beach saw more than the typical sun, surf, and seafood —it… Read More

WAB CLUB FEATURE: EC Sports Table Tennis

August 31, 2025
(By Steve Hopkins) EC Sports Table Tennis was founded by 1996 Olympian Amy Feng to spread the joy of… Read More

Pan American Youth Championships Recap

August 31, 2025
(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT) The ITTF Pan American Youth Championships 2025 finished on Sunday in Rosario, Argentina. … Read More
View All News

Get the latest from Butterfly

Stay “In The Loop” with Butterfly professional table tennis equipment, table tennis news, table tennis technology, tournament results, and We Are Butterfly players, coaches, clubs and more.