09/01/2012        2012 ITTF North American Championships

It was a successful start to proceedings for the leading names in the Men’s Singles event at the ITTF-North American Championships in Cary, North Carolina on Friday 31st August 2012.

The top four seeds all recorded comfortable wins in their opening round encounters.

Canada’s Pierre-Luc Therault, the no.1 seed, accounted for Canada’s Max Xia in four straight games (11-8, 11-7, 11-2, 11-8), the latter’s colleague, Xavier Therien, the no.2 seed, defeated Scott Butler of the United States in five games (9-11, 11-6, 11-2, 11-6, 11-3); whilst Adam Hugh, the third seed, also from the United States, was in form.

He overcame Canada’s Klement Yeung in his opening round encounter (11-3, 11-8, 11-7, 11-4).

Same for Number Four
Comfortable victories for the top three names; it was the same for the fourth on the list, Canada’s James Pintea ended the hopes of colleague Vincent Rousseau-Emond (11-1, 11-6, 11-8, 11-3).

Group Stage
Meanwhile, in the Women’s Singles event, matters have yet to commence in the main draw; group stage matches being the order of the day with the two leading names both enjoying success.

Erica Wu and Judy, both from the United States were in impressive form in their one and only duels of the day.

Judy Hugh overcame Canada’s Annie Coulombe (9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5) and Erica Wu beat Michelle Liaw, also from Canada (11-8, 11-9, 11-8).

Erica Wu in Form
Equally, in the Junior Girls’ Singles event it was qualification time; there few problems for London Olympian, Erica Wu; she finished in first place in her group ahead Canada’s Michelle Liaw, Liu Jiawei, also from Canada and Claire Qiu of the United States.

Games Ratio
However, in the counterpart group it was a much closer affair; with three Canadians finishing level on matches won.

Annie Coulombe beat Ly Liqian in five games (9-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-9) but lost to Teri Zhou in three straight games (12-10, 11-6, 11-6); whilst Ly Liqian accounted for Teri Zhou in five games (9-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7).

Thus on games ratio, Teri Zhou finished in first place ahead of Ly Liqian and Annie Coulombe.

Canadian Successes
Success for Canada in the Cadet Boys’ Singles event and the Maple Leaf country made a fine start in the Cadet Boys’ Singles competition.

Mike Yue, the top seed, beat Brian Gao of the United States (11-7, 11-5, 11-6); whilst Lucas Wang, the no.2 seed, also caused the United States heartaches. He beat Andrew Cheung (11-2, 11-3, 11-9).

Third and Fourth Seeds in Form
Similarly there was success for the third and fourth seeds in the Cadet Boys’ Singles event.

Kunal Chodri of the United States, the no.3 seed, opened his account with victory over compatriot, Adar Alguetti (11-7, 11-3, 11-5); with Canada’s Alexander Moran, the no.4 seed, defeating Derek Nie from the United States (11-3, 11-5, 12-10).

First Place
Proceedings in the main draw of the Cadet Girls’ Singles have yet to start but in the qualification stage Christina Pui (Canada), Tina Lin (United States), Amy Wang (United States) and Diane Jiang (United States) emerged in first place in their respective groups.

More American Successes
Success for three American in the first stage of the Cadet Girls’ Singles events; in the Junior Team matches there was even more success.

Represented by Theodore Tran, Grant Li and Kual Chodri; the United States posted a three-one win over the Canadian outfit formed by James Pintea, Max Xia and Matthieu Theriault; with the American girls following suit.

Lily Zhang, Erica Wu and Prachi Jha overcame the Canadian trio of Ly Liqian, Annie Coulombe and Catherine Dauplaise in a similar manner.

Backbone of Win
Backbone of the American boys’ success was Grant Li; he beat Max Xia (11-7, 13-11, 6-11, 11-7) and James Pintea (11-7, 9-11, 14-12, 9-11, 11-5). The one further win for the United States came from Kunlan Chodri; he accounted for Matthieu Theriault (9-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5); whilst for Canada, James Pintea defeated Theodore Tran in the opening duel.

Lily Zhang Untroubled
Two wins from Grant Li; for the American girls it was two wins from Lily Zhang.

She beat Annie Coulombe (11-4, 13-11, 11-7) and Ly Liqian (11-6, 11-5, 11-8); the one further success for the victors was secured by Prachi Jha over Catherine Dauplaise (12-10, 11-5, 11-7) with the one Canadian success coming in the very first match of the contest.

Ly Liqian overcame Erica Wu (1-11, 11-9, 11-13, 11-9).

The successful Junior Girls’ Team from the United States of America
Photo by David del Vecchio