(by Steve Hopkins/ Photo by BATTF)
ICC’s annual 4-star event, the ICC Butterfly Winter Open concluded this weekend. The three-day event is the largest in the Bay Area with over 200 entries. The tournament awarded over $5,000 in cash prizes and offered 25 events for players of all levels. The venue was the ICC Sports & Recreational Center in Milpitas, one of the best table tennis venues in North America – featuring 20,000 square feet, high ceilings and custom lighting designed for table tennis.
ICC has been known for being home to elite players throughout its history and this tournament was no exception. Seven competitors entered with ratings over 2500 and 24 players over 2200.
The Men’s Singles title was won by Liang Yonghi with Dan Liu claiming second place. This all-ICC final was a little unexpected, as Liang was the second seed and Liu was the fifth seed, but with this elite field of players the rating spread from first to fifth was only 53 points.
The Women’s Singles final was Ruini Li over Rachel Sung. Hopes Boys event was Darryl Tsao over Victor Xie and the Hopes Girls event was Natalie Chan over Dana Yeoh. Junior Boys event was Zhigao Si over William Bai and Junior Girls event was Angie Tan over Ava Fu. The Cadet Boys event was Jensen Feng over Ashwin Sankuratri and the Cadet Girls event was Angie Tan over Rachel Sung. And the Mini Cadet Boys event was Jensen Feng over Darryl Tsao and the Mini Cadet Girls event was Kayla Goodwin over Muskan Gupta.
