Top Midwest and East Coast Players at 2016 Butterfly Badger Open

(by Barbara Wei)
Top Midwest and East Coast Players at 2016 Butterfly Badger Open
Almost 250 players will descend on Franklin, WI (15 miles from downtown Milwaukee) this weekend to compete in the 9^th annual Butterfly Badger Open. Leading the list of top players in the Open Singles event are Liang Jishan (2638) who finished in 2^nd place at last year’s event, followed closely by player-coaches from the east coast (Wang Yutian (2582), Chen Bo Wen (2563), Qi Wei (2445) and Danny Seemiller (2419)) and challenged by the ever strong Mississippi College Team (Zhang Tong (2582), Zhang Yi Chi (2539), Sun Qing Wei (2525), Li Cheng (2522)). Rounding out the top 10 seeds is former Indian national team member Rajat Hubli (2531) who has impressive wins over some of the top Chinese player-coaches in the US.  With no clear favorite for this weekend’s event, the $3,000 Open Singles champion prize is clearly up for grabs.

Leading collegiate table tennis players/recent alumni from University of Michigan, Lindenwood University, University of Wisconsin-Madison head the top rating events (U2500, U2400, U2300). More than half of the top 8 players in each of those events hails from a university or college campus, with the remaining highly seeded players largely juniors from the Midwest region. A young contingent of competitors at this weekend’s Butterfly Badger Open promises to bring excitement and energy to table tennis in the Midwest.

Live streaming and results will be available on the Butterfly North America website throughout the weekend for those who cannot join in person. Tune in to follow the action at the 2016 Butterfly Badger Open!

Continual coverage of the Butterfly Badger Open and stories about the athletes will be available at ButterflyOnline.com, or via Butterfly North America’s Twitter and Facebook pages. For Live Stream, Photos, & Results click here.