Los Angeles Open Pre-Tournament Press Conference Highlights Exciting Weekend Ahead
by Barbara Wei

With the 2015 Butterfly Los Angeles Open less than 48 hours away, the LA Open organizing committee invited the local press to meet this year’s headlining players Joo Sae-Hyuk (South Korea) and Hou Yingchao (China) at the annual pre-tournament press conference on Thursday, September 3^rd. Over 10 print and television media companies (including the World Journal, Chinese Daily News, China Press, LA 18 TV, The Korea Times, MBC America etc.) covering the majority of Chinese and Korean constituencies in Southern California, attended the press conference. Local media reporting is expected to help draw over 2,000 spectators to this year’s tournament.

LA Open Committee Chairman, Frank Yeh, opened the press conference by introducing this year’s headlining players. Joo Sae-Hyuk, who had arrived in Los Angeles only a few hours earlier, expressed his excitement over the event and looks forward to competing in both Open Singles and Open Doubles. Also present was Hou Yingchao, former top 10 player in the world, who had spent the week leading up to the tournament visiting local table tennis training centers in the Los Angeles area. Joo and Hou, the top seeds in the Open singles event, will play an exhibition doubles match against 2014 and 2015 US Open Champions and current ICC coaches Tao Wenzhang and Wang JinXin during the Opening Ceremony planned for Saturday, September 5^th. Joining the top 4 players at the Opening Ceremony will be local government officials and community leaders including special guest of the tournament committee California Congresswoman Judy Chu.

Over 320 players from across the US have registered for the 5^th annual 2015 Butterfly Los Angeles Open, a 4-star USATT sanctioned event sponsored by Butterfly with over $32,000 in prize money. Notable names outside of the headlining players include Angela Guan (2015 US Women’s World Championship Team Member), Jiaqi Zheng (2015 US Pan-Am Team Member), Liying Tang (2014 LA Open Women’s Champion) and Bo Wang (2015 Seattle Open Women’s Champion). The tournament begins on Saturday, September 5^th at 8:30 a.m. with Under 18 Juniors and Under 4500 Doubles events; the Open Singles event is scheduled to start at 5:00 p.m. Live streaming will be available on Sunday, September 6^th via Butterflyonline.com for the final rounds of the Open Singles event. To learn more about the 2015 Butterfly Los Angeles Open and/or attend in person, go to laopentt.com. Follow results and live updates via ButterflyOnline.com or Butterfly North America’s Twitter and Facebook pages.

Continual coverage of the LA Open and stories about the athletes will be available at ButterflyOnline.com, or via Butterfly North America’s Twitter and Facebook pages.