tabletennisJunkie.com - table tennis and ping pong forum for equipment junkies!

[varghese]

The US Nationals 2009 is over. I had fun in the tournament as well as traveling around Las Vegas. This is the third consecutive time I'm going to the Nationals tournament. It's like a family get together now - you know everyone each other. Anne did not volunteer this year, so she had time hanging around when I was playing.

I'm impressed by the turnout. Not too bad when it comes to the turnout - 650 players compared to 800 last year. Overall I think the crowd was the same - players + crowd. I was amazed by progress made by some clubs like Indian Community Center in California. They had TV crew taking videos of their elite players. Their effort need to be appreciated.

Now there is something disappointing who wanted to watch some fury in the tournament. In the US Nationals the Champion gets $3000, then $1700 second and $1000 the third etc... This was something USATT followed for some 10 years. The player representative Han Xiao with the support of the players demanded to raise the prize money to $10,000 to the champion, $6000 to the second and $3000 to the third on the last day. USATT did not meet this demand. The top five refused to play. Samson Dubina and Michael Landers played in the final. Michael Landers won the Championship.

[729 fx]

Apparently there has been a boycott for the final, Cheng Yinghua, Mark Hazinski, Lupi, Fan Yiyong, Han Xiao, and David Zhuang all refused to play demanding more money. I was informed that for the first time since 1991, the US has an all-american final between Samson Dubina and Michael Landers.

In my opinion, to successfully boycott something it must be arranged ahead of time so that all parties are involved, not just some spur of the moment's idea. It was also dumb of Mark Hazinski to go along with it, as I think he could have won this year with all the other players holding out.

Getting USD$3K for being the Champion is something. Read from another forum that in Australia, the winner only get about AUD$250 for winning the tournament.

See link : http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.asp ... &tid=30412

[729 fx]

Congratulations to Michael Landers, the 2009 US National Men's Champion.

[varghese]

Here is the video.

[729 fx]

I don't know the validity of people claiming the boycott was due to the prize money, but from what I can gather, I do think there is more to it than the prize money. Over the years, players kept getting lesser and lesser respect at these big 5-star tournaments as someone on the about.com forums pointed out. It was claimed that they have been cutting corners here and there. The stations are run by clowns who acted like robots, rude on many occasions when they are faced with puzzling situations. On some of my matches they officiated they' dozed off and failed to record points.Their incompetency and rudeness ruins the need for their presence.

I was informed (but I cannot confirm) that in the round of sixteen mens singles matches scheduled, and the USATT made a "boo-boo" out of it. The matches did not start on schedule, and the players had to constantly check with people at the stations to see what was going on. It was claimed that most of the players, are disgusted with the way USATT runs these tournaments nowadays, so that is why the players did what they have to do.

Well, it is a point to ponder on the issue brought up by the "boycott".