A Great Contribution
Courtesy of USA Table Tennis
by Jack Wang
January21, 2016 – Zirui Zhao is a high level professional table tennis player from China. It has almost been one and a half years that Zirui Zhao has been in the United States. Not only did Zirui make many great achievements in many tournaments in USA, he also trained USA table tennis players to bring them into a higher level and helped both of AITTA and the NJ branch ITTA table tennis club a lot. In many big North America, US National, and ITTF tournaments, the players that trained with Zirui Zhao won many medals in various age groups. Right now Zirui is even currently helping USA players prepare for the 2016 RIO Olympic Games in August.
One of Zirui’s most outstanding students is USA table tennis player Jack Wang. Before coming to the United States, he spent a couple of months in China training Jack. Ever since then, Zirui has been very dedicated on developing Jack’s table tennis skills. After Zirui and Jack returned to the US, Jack went to compete in the 2014 North American Championships hosted by Canada in September . This was only the first time Jack has emerged his presence in the North American Championships. Throughout his journey in the tournament, he upset many players that he could never beat before. Occupying only the No. 11 seed, he then went further on to shock the crowd when he took home the Junior Boys’ (Under 18) Singles Champion. Because Jack was never a part of the USA National team, his achievement this time was produced through both his and Zirui’s efforts while boosting Jack’s confidence at the same time.
Not long after winning his North American Championship Title, another 5 star tournament awaits Jack. The 2014 US Nationals was hosted during December in Las Vegas; this tournament decided the fate of making the National Teams. Jack once again has made a great effort and achieved a lot. He won the Under 18 Junior Boy’s Singles Champion, giving him a spot of #1 in the US Junior National Team, and he also made the US Cadet Boy’s National team. His results were a product of the training he had with Zirui, improving like he has never before, because he never made a single US National Team in his life. Since practicing with each other every day, Jack went from being a great underdog of his age group to exceeding many other players to become the top of his age group. You can see that Zirui has helped him to become a lot stronger and mature in the sport.
In May 20th, the 2015 Canadian Junior and Cadet Open (part of the ITTF Global Junior Circuit) has taken place. 14 year old Jack Wang represented the US National team to win the Junior Boys’ team event. He also earned himself second place in the Junior Boy’s Singles, only falling to the Champion who was a strong professional table tennis player that came from China who exceeded Jack’s age by 4 years! This tournament is also one of the biggest ITTF Global Circuit Tournament in North American Region. Jack now has spotlights and eyes on him all over his region because won all the important Junior and Cadet Events in North America. Before training with Zirui, Jack has never achieved such honor but since he has been working hard with Zirui every day, all his results have proven.
Once again in a year’s milestone, it was time for Jack’s second year of North American Championships. He was the defending Champion but this time instead of a Junior Singles Event, ITTF replaced it with a Cadet Singles event. Training with Zirui Zhao for a year, Jack has gotten much stronger than last year, he wins the North American title again! This year, since he had made the National Team, Jack also had better opportunities of playing more events in the Championship. He represented USA in the Junior Team event. This was extremely important because it was the face-off between USA and Canada; whoever won got to go to the 2015 France World Junior Championships! Once again, Jack doesn’t let Team USA down by winning with his 3 other teammates! He now gets to go to his first World Junior Championships! Jack also got to participate in the Men’s Singles event. In the Quarterfinals, he upsets top seed and Legend Jimmy Butler after a great comeback of being down 1-3! It was only until when he proceeded to the semi-final stage and fell to the eventual Champion.
Jack’s next stop was the 2015 World Cadet Challenge in late October, taking place in Sharm el-sheik, Egypt. This was a tournament for the best cadet players from around the world that were specifically chosen from each continental region. Jack, representing North America, won bronze medal in the team events and also won bronze in the doubles event. This amazing result gave him a place in the 2015 November USA Athlete of the Month.
Not long after being athlete of the month, Jack participated in the 2015 USA National Championships. In this tournament, Jack won the Men’s doubles titles which is a great honor because he is now an official men’s national champion! Not only that, Jack also won silver medal in the mixed doubles event! In the mixed doubles event, Jack and his partner upset the top seed in the very early rounds, and turned out to be the unexpected finalists! Zirui Zhao helped Jack achieve his doubles achievement by practicing many routine doubles drills for Jack everyday. This made Jack improve an extreme amount in his doubles game, all thanks to Zirui!
Not only has Zirui Zhao helped Jack to achieve so much in the year, he also helped to train the US Men’s and Women’s National team in preparation for the upcoming Pan American Games. Helping the National Team to prepare for the huge upcoming event is great honor. During the training sessions, Zirui Zhao helped to practice and train with the many top US players who finally have made great achievements in the in the Pan American Games!
Zirui Zhao has make a great contribution to USA table tennis. We greatly appreciated his efforts and hard work and we are looking forward his continued help and support for US table tennis society!
