The 19th Viducich-STIGA Pacific Rim Table Tennis Tournament

by Mark Kobernick

The 19th Viducich-Stiga Pacific Rim Table Tennis Tournament took place November 3 and 4 at the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation Center in Beaverton, Oregon. 24 tables on five contiguous courts accommodated 188 players from Canada to Texas competing for trophies and $7,770 in prize money. On-time play, with 26 events, was facilitated by new software provided by David Marcus and applied throughout by gracious guest David Del Vecchio.

The Men's Singles Open featured ten players rated over 2400. Khoa Nguyen won the event and $1,600. He varied the pace and played as a steady master, even with a hard draw. In the 8th-Finals, he upset last year's champion, Freddie Gabriel. He beat teammate De Tran in the Quarters, then top-seed Mark Hazinski in the Semis, and Samson Dubina 4-1 in the Final. Khoa won the Pac Rim Men's Open also in 1991.

Dubina played some cliff-hangers: in the Semi-Finals of the Open he won at deuce in the seventh game over second-seed Du Cheng Yi. Du's footwork is light and fast, but Samson could place ever-wider to the backhand, preventing many step-around attacks. The match also featured forehand counter-looping at extreme angles.

An exciting trait of table tennis is the relative unpredictability of match outcomes. In the Under-2500, Dubina lost in the Quarterfinals to Jason Shim, who lost in the Men's Singles to fourth-seed Sang Mook Lee, who in turn was beaten by Dubina in six games in the Semis.

Zheng Jia Qi starred in the Women's Singles Open, winning for the second straight year. Simone Yang played her a strong 10,8,10 in the Semis, and in the Final Fu Shu (Sara) of Texas Wesleyan University buckled at 9,8,3. Both these matches featured amazing smashes off the bounce by Zheng plus hard hits off the back side of her penhold racket.

In the Open Doubles, later, Fu paired with co-student Mark Hazinski and partly avenged herself on Zheng and Du Cheng Yi in four close games. But in the next Final, in the Mixed Doubles, Zheng partnered with Under-2500 first-seed and runner-up Ben Johnson to beat the same Wesleyan team. (Steven Wang Si Liang beat Ben in the Under-2500.)

Other events also had multiple winners and runners-up: Jim Hermann won the Under-1700 and, in an upset over Sung Yan, the Over-50. Andrew Delaney--underrated, to be sure--won the Under-1550 and Under-1250. Over-40 champion Ly Anh Le made it to the Final of the Under-1900.

All three rating-restricted Doubles--Under-2400, Under-3200 and Under-4000--had exciting five-game Finals. In the U-4000, Max Nasab and Valerie Kim beat father and son Tai and Thomas Nguyen, four of the games just by two points. The latter players each took another second place--in the Over-40 and High School Singles. David Edwards and Anur Tewari won the U-2400, and David came in second in the Under-l500. Under-3200 Doubles winners Bobby Ishimaru and Manuel Armendariz came from behind in all their matches, two of these in five games.

Junior play featured Chen Rui Cong in the High School Singles; he won this event and second place in the Under-2100. Teddy Wu of Canada won the 15 and Under--last year's 12 and Under champion. Billy Ding won the 12 and Under, and Rick Pittelko the Under-300.

Ken Ping ably directed this Pac Rim, though the perennial Jim Scott was unavailable. A truly collective effort by members and friends of Portland Table Tennis Club made this four-star event so successful. The late Bob Viducich, booster of the Pac Rim for some years, continues to support it.

PTTC is grateful to STIGA for its continued provision of equipment, which finds its way into the schools. Other sponsors are the USATT, NIKE, Oregon Sports Action, Paddle Palace, Newgy Table Tennis Robots, Autotown, Bank of America, Chang's Mongolian Grill, Home Depot, PCC Structurals, Portland Chinese Times, Power Bar, Rockstar Games, Scottrade, and Sleevewear. John Peng and Sean O'Neill were most active in finding many of these sponsors.

Some of the many other helpers: table transporters Bruce and Judy Bayley, Charlie Lam and Paige Burns; with Judy's twin, Linda, Anna Kim and Margaret (wife of our late Bill Mason) at the Reception table. Darell Potter laid out the courts, including grandstand and barrier placement. He also helped Ken and David at the Control table, while Sean posted match results almost instantly.

Full results, USATT Rating Results and STIGA World Rating Results.