(By Steve Hopkins) The top four seeds in the WTT Contender Tunis were ranked between No. 6 and No. 15.  Hugo Calderano lead the way, Lin Yun-Ju was seeded second, Lim Jonghoon was seeded third, and Lin Shidong was fourth.  The first round began on Thursday, and two of those top four fell on the […]

(by Steve Hopkins) At the end of May, one of Canada’s best, Jeremy Hazin, visited WAB Club Rhode Island Table Tennis. Jeremy was with his friend, Nikhil Nanda Veeraghavan for some graduation festivitities in the area. Nikhil regularly plays in tournaments in Rhode Island. The visit gave us an opportunity to connect – and gave […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The Los Angeles Table Tennis Association (LATTA) is located in El Monte, California, just to the east of Los Angeles.  The facility is just off of the 10 with easy access to the greater Los Angeles area.  One of the most unique advantages of LATT is the coaching staff, led by legendary female […]

(By Steve Hopkins, photos Manca Meglic) This week’s Butterfly interview is with one of America’s most decorated active para players, Jenson Van Emburgh.  Jenson has already landed very important medals at major tour events – a Silver at the 2019 Parapan American Games, a Bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, and a Silver late last […]

(by Steve Hopkins) A new generation of Chinese players continue to push their way to the front of the tour.  Wang Chuqin is now firmly entrenched as World No. 2, Lin Shidong has moved all the way up to World No. 15, and in the event this week in Lagos, it was World No. 35 […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Ovtcharov headed to Africa as the third seed in the WTT Contender Lagos.  The event featured World No. 12 Jang Woojin and World No. 13 Darko Jorgic as the top two seeds, and all three players were hoping that a good showing here would help launch them back into the Top 10.  […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Helen Tao Table Tennis (formerly Massachusetts Table Tennis and Badminton Club (MATTBC)) is located in Waltham, about 12 miles to the West of downtown Boston.  The club is just off of I-95 and with easy access via public transportation is centrally located for the greater Boston area. The club is one of the […]

(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT) The WTT Youth Contender Series event was held in Helsingborg, Sweden.  TeamUSA sent eight of our top juniors:  Isabella Xu, Hannah Song, Tashiya Piyadasa, Lucy Chen, Sally Moyland, Darryl Tsao, Sid Naresh, and Nandan Naresh.   Sally Moyland fell in the Semifinals of the U19 Girls Singles to eventual winner, France’s […]

(by Steve Hopkins) When they met in the Group Stage, Brazil dominated Chile 3-0.  Brazil narrowly won the doubles, Eric Jouti won his singles match, and Carlos Ishida defeated Nicolas Burgos (Burgos went on to win the Singles title).  But the rematch in the Team Final of the 2023 South American Championships went the distance […]

(by Steve Hopkins) Nicolas Burgos overcame the tournament’s second seed, Marcelo Aguirre in the Semifinals and then outlasted Brazil’s Guilherme Teodoro 4-3 in the Final.  This is the second time that Burgos, a Butterfly player from Chile, has won the South American Championships.  He also won in 2022, and just like last year, he was […]