Liang Xu won the 2nd Annual Knoxville Secret City Gold Dollar Upset Open 2015

The Knoxville Table Tennis Club (KTTC) hosted its 2nd annual Knoxville Secret City Gold Dollar Upset Open 2015 on September 12th in the city of Oak Ridge.  The tournament uses a format with two round robin stages and a single elimination final round to determine the winners.  In addition to the normal tournament prize money, KTTC has reserved additional $260 for upset “Gold Dollar”.  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.  The player who accumulates the most Upset Gold Dollar also receives a grant price of $20.

Players from as far as Florida, New York, and New Orleans are competing fiercely for a prize money pool of $1410 spread among four divisions.  In the end, Liang Xu from Atlanta, GA defeats Rocky Wang from Brooklyn, NY 3 – 0 to conclude the Championship division competition.

In the Class C division, Octavio Pinell defeats Naveed Sheikh (1st time tournament participant) 3 – 0 to claim the division title.

In the Class B division, Steve Helton from Ohio has to fight off a 1 – 2 deficit to win it in the fifth game against rising junior player Eric Wang from Marietta, GA for the title.

In the Class A division, Brandon Koh from Duluth, GA also has to battle til the fifth game before he can claim the title against Mina Boushra from Nashville, TN.

For the grant “Upset Gold Dollar” title, this went to Xiaofeng Guo from Chattanooga, TN who has accumulated a total of $40 Gold Dollars with a total upset rating of 712 points.

The Knoxville Table Tennis Club would like to thank all the players who had participated in the tournament.  KTTC would also like to thank city of Oak Ridge, sponsors and all the volunteers who have made the event a successful one.

Jude Lam, President of KTTC