Coaches’ Pick for Team USA: Michael Landers and Lily Zhang
March 15, 2010

Michael Landers (USA)

Courtesy of USATT

The 2010 USA Table Tennis National Team was announced Friday by the organization. This group of athletes is led by a mix of veteran and youth players. The USA Table Tennis National Team will represent the United States throughout the year at various international competitions, which includes the 2010 World Championships in Moscow, Russia, scheduled for May 23-30.

The men’s team is highlighted with Michael Landers (Old Westbury, N.Y.), 15, who became the youngest athlete to win the 2009 U.S. National Championships men’s singles title last December, and 2007 U.S. Pan American Games team member Mark Hazinski (Fort Worth, Texas), who qualified for his fourth national team. Also joining the senior ranked is 17-year-old Peter Li (Laurel, Md.), who has been a cadet and junior national team member in recent years. Yu Shao (White Plains, N.Y.) returns to the national team in 2010 and will bring his veteran leadership to the squad. Making his first national team is Niraj Oak (Sugar Land, Texas), who qualified for the team by placing at the USA Table Tennis Team Trials.

2008 U.S. Olympian and 2007 Pan American Games gold medalist Gao Jun (El Monte, Calif.) leads the women’s team and will provide leadership for the younger members of the U.S. National Team, who are between 13-15 years old. Gao is a nine-time U.S. National Championships women’s single champion and held the No. 3 world ranking by the International Table Tennis Federation in 1994-95.

Joining Gao is two-time U.S. National Championships runner-up Ariel Hsing (San Jose, Calif.), who will represent Team USA at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore this summer. Lily Zhang (Palo Alto, Calif.) qualified for her second senior national team, and has been a junior and cadet national team member for the last couple of years. Erica Wu (Arcadia, Calif.), who fell short of qualifying in 2009, made her first senior national team in 2010. Natalie Sun (Mountain View, Calif.) is also on her first senior national team.

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About USA Table Tennis: USATT is the national governing body for table tennis in the United States. Created in 1933 and headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo. Its staff serves the 9,000-plus members and nearly 300 clubs that are affiliated with USATT. It oversees a wide variety of membership services, the national teams, rules of the game and numerous online instructional and historical articles. USATT is governed and run by the nine-member board of directors, committees and professional staff. USATT is affiliated with the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), the world governing body for table tennis, as well as the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).

USA Table Tennis National Team Roster

Men’s Team
Name Mark Hazinski Michael Landers Peter Li Niraj Oak Yu Shao	Hometown Fort Worth, Texas Old Westbury, N.Y. Laurel, Md. Sugar Land, Texas White Plains, N.Y.	Height 6’4” 5’6” 5’8” 5’9” 5’9”	Weight 210 lbs. 115 lbs. 110 lbs. 150 lbs. 135 lbs.	Birth Date 4/20/1985 8/16/1994 1/19/1993 11/25/1966 8/4/1972
Women’s Team
Name Ariel Hsing Gao Jun Natalie Sun Erica Wu Lily Zhang	Hometown San Jose, Calif. El Monte, Calif. Mountain View, Calif. Arcadia, Calif. Palo Alto, Calif.	Height 5’4” 5’6” 4’8” 5’ 5’	Weight 107 lbs. 165 lbs. 102 lbs. 80 lbs. 81 lbs.	Birth Date 11/29/1995 1/25/1969 12/24/1995 5/15/1996 6/16/1996
(Alphabetical order)

USA Table Tennis Media Contact:
Anthony Bartkowski, (719) 510-7331 or abartkowski@776marketing.com