(By Steve Hopkins)
Labor Day weekend in Myrtle Beach saw more than the typical sun, surf, and seafood —it also delivered sports, suspense, and spotlight.
It’s been 25 years since the US Open Table Tennis Championships seemingly made Detroit the center of the table tennis world each Fall. This year, USA Table Tennis in cooperation with Butterfly brought the premier event back. And after three days of great table tennis at the John T. Rhodes Myrtle Beach Sports Center, the five-star, USATT-sanctioned Butterfly US Open Teams Championships was a great success.
Action started on Friday with nearly 100 teams, but by Sunday the top division was down to the final 8 teams. 888 finished first in Group 1 with L Team in second, MLTT All Stars won group two with Team Gewo in second, Major League and Stag Iconic Bowlo finished first and second in Group 3, and LYTT Banana Boys and LYTT Overrated Scrubs added a pair of all-Lily Yip teams to those making the Playoffs.
In the Quarterfinals it was 888 over Gewo 3-0 – a pattern that would persist for the dominant, top-seeded 888 squad. LYTTC Banana Boys topped Stag Iconic 3-1 with Isaac Vila winning twice and Arnav Jain adding the third point – John McDermott scored the lone Stag point. Major League defeated LYTTC Scrubs 3-1 with Alexandru Cazacu winning twice and Daniel Goraz adding the third point – and with Kevin Doyle logging a point for the Scrubs.
In the Semifinals, both 888 and MLTT All Stars won 3-0 setting up a great Final with a lot of recognizable names. In the Final, it was all 888 Table Tennis Center. Hiromitsu Kasahara defeated Koyo Kanamitsu 3-0 to secure the first point, Taeyun Kim fought from behind to win 3-2 over Jinxin Wang (including a 13-11 final game victory) to secure the second team point, and Sid Naresh closed the door with a 3-2 win over Kai Zhang to secure the third team point and the title.
The Division 2 title went to Broward TTC 5-4 over Deaf Stars with Jorge Chavarro winning 3 of his team points and Jonathan Santamaria and Aura Cristina Ocampo adding a point each for Broward. Broward TTC 2 won their division as well with a 5-4 win securing the Division 3 title over Lonestar Warriors. Broward 2 included Luis Rodriguez, Luis Mejia, and Samuel Leon in the Final. Team Mavericks had a dominate 5-0 win in the Finals of Division 4 over Super Smash Bros with Ivan Tsai, Vihaan Desaraju, and Yizhou Zhao sweeping their way to the victory. Division 5 went to Stadium 2 (Tyler Spesick, Zack Guido, and Greg Smith all logged wins). Division 6 went to Lonestar Lions with Siddarth Siva, Leonid Odinokov, and Morris Lo. The Division 7 title went to Team Kodaty with Pavan, Shriya, and Siddarth Kodaty all playing in the Final. And the Division 8 Round Robin ended with LYTTC Paddle Panthers taking the title in a three-way points tie with second place finisher CITTA West, and third place finisher Wild Backhand Buckaroos. The Paddle Panthers squad included Ian Neyman, Ethan Kozac, and Aryan Mohanty.
In the end, Myrtle Beach saw a lot of great table tennis, 100 battling teams, 400 players, and a $10,000 top prize. Full match scores, team lineups, and divisional breakdowns, visit the official results page.
From the grit and grind of the group play to the rhythm, rallies and roar of the crowd, this weekend Myrtle Beach was more than just a vacation spot – it was a table tennis destination.
Visit ButterflyOnline.com for the latest in table tennis news and results.
