Ethan Ruan won the Knoxville Joseph Newgarden Memorial Summer Open 2018
The Knoxville Table Tennis Club (KTTC) hosted its annual USATT sanctioned tournament on August 4th, 2018.
This year, our tournament name has been changed in honor of Mr. Joseph Newgarden’s legacy. Mr. Joseph Newgarden is the founder of the Newgy Industries, a company specialized in table tennis robot innovation. Newgy’s Robo-Pong® is the first table tennis robot of its kind when it first released back in 1988. Many world class professional players train with Robo-Pong® regularly to give them the competitive edge. Since the original release, Newgy Industries continues to innovate and to upgrade the robot technology. Their latest Robo-Pong® 3050-XL that is controlled via an app on your personal iOS or Android device is another example of the innovative minds that work at Newgy.
Mr. Joseph Newgarden himself, a table tennis enthusiast, has been one of the biggest promoters of the sport. His generous supports of many table tennis events are unmatched and many tournaments including the Knoxville tournaments will not be made possible without Mr. Newgarden’s and Newgy’s support. Sadly, Mr. Newgarden has pass away in November 2017. In commemorating Mr. Newgarden’s contribution to our sports, KTTC has decided to change our tournament name permanently to reflect our gratitude and appreciation of Mr. Newgarden.
The Knoxville tournament uses a format with two tier giant round robin where 36 players are divided into two divisions, Upper and Lower division. Each division has two groups of nine players. Players in each group will go through a giant round robin. The top two seeds advance to Semi-Finals and Finals and a third place match was also played for the second-runner up from the semi-final matches.
In addition to the normal tournament prize money, this tournament format is unique in that the winner of every upset match will receive Upset Gold Dollar based on the rating difference if both players are officially rated by USATT before the start of the tournament. These are US One Dollar coins. This feature of the tournament is junior players’ favorite.
In the Upper division, the first semi-final was played between Ethan Ruan (Rated: 2305) from Alpharetta, GA and Harrison Ngo (Rated: 1853). Harrison has defeated the second seeded player in his group to earn a spot in the semi-final. Harrison fought gallantly during the match. However, Ethan’s power forehand and strong spin variations won the match in 3 straight to earn a spot in the final match.
The second semi-final is a rematch from last year 3rd place match between Martin Del Vecchio (Rated: 2125) from Knoxville, TN and Lydia Tsang (Rated: 1904) from Nashville, TN. Lydia plays shortpips on her forehand and utilizes many spin variations as part of her tactics. Martin starts the match strong by winning first two games. Lydia fought back hard and won the third game. Toward the fourth match, Martin raises his game a notch and won the fourth game and earns a spot in the final match with Ethan.
This sets up a final match between the top two seeds according to proceeding. Ethan jumps on Martin with a very strong first game by not allowing a point from Martin. On the second game, Martin changes up his tactics a bit and plays brilliantly to carry a lead of 10 – 8 on the second game. But Ethan made a strong forehand attack and a strong serve to even the game. Ethan eventually won the second game in deuce. Martin, however, undeterred by the second game result, carries the same second game initial momentum to win the third game 11 – 9. The fourth game starts off neck to neck til 4 – 4. Martin made a couple of mistakes and Ethan takes full advantage of them and jump up to a large lead of 10 – 4. Martin regroups and saves a few match points. But it was a uphill battle for Martin and Ethan took fourth game and the match.
The Upper division third place match was played between Harrison and Lydia. Both are from Nashville and are familiar with each other game. In the end, Lydia won the match in a five-game thriller.
In the Lower division, the first semi-final was played between first time tournament player Wojciech Dmowski (Rated: 1350) from Knoxville, TN and Stan Smith (Rated: 1196) from Birmingham, AL. Stan has played very well through out the tournament and upset his group’s 2nd and 3rd seed players to earn a spot in the semi-final. During the match with Wojciech, the two players fight through the two games in deuce with each winning a game. In the third and fourth game, both players open up their game and each win a game and this setup the fifth game decider. In the end, Wojciech edges over Stan and win the spot in the final.
The second semi-final was played between Anna Nguyen (Rated: 1244) from Suwanee, GA and another first time tournament player Youngchoul Lee (Rated: 1350) from Nashville, TN. Anna is an up and coming junior player from the Atlanta club and her consistent plays prove to be too much for Youngchoul. In the end, Anna wins the match with 3 – 1 to setup the final match with Wojciech.
In the final match between Wojciech and Anna is a rematch from their group play. During the initial group play, Wojciech won the match with 3 – 2 results. Perhaps Wojciech understands Anna’s game better in the final match, Wojciech defeats Anna with a stronger result in 3 – 0.
The Lower division third place match was played between Stan and Youngchoul. Youngchoul plays stronger in this match and defeats Stan in 3 – 1.
The Knoxville Table Tennis Club would like to thank all the players who had participated in the tournament. KTTC would also like to thank our sponsors Newgy, G.R.E.A.T., Horizon Aviation, YWCA, and Tactics Group and all the volunteers who have made the event a successful one.
Jude Lam, President of KTTC