(by Steve Hopkins/Photo by USATT)

The 2019 Pan Am Games Team Trial and 1^st Adult National Ranking Tournament concluded this weekend at Santa Monica College in California.  In-kind value prizes were given to the first three finishers ($1500 for first, $1,000 for second, and $750 for third).  The winner of each event (male/female) qualify to the 2019 Pan Am Games Team. 

In the women’s event, Lily Zhang and Jennifer Wu shined.  Lily Zhang finishing 9-0 and Jennifer Wu finishing 8-1.  Third and fourth place went to Xinyue Wang and Crystal Wang (both finishing at at 6-3).  The deciding match between Wu and Zhang (both undefeated at the time) was 4 games to 2 with the lower seeded Zhang claiming the title.

With more players in the men’s event, they were initially divided into two groups.  In Group 1, second seeded Victor Liu finished first with a 6-0 record and Nicholas Tio finished second with a 5-1 record.  In Group 2, Nikhil Kumar and Kunal Chodri finished first and second (at 7-0 and 6-1 respectively).

In the final group, Nikhil Kumar finished first with a 7-0 record.  Victor Liu finished second with a 6-1 record, and Nicholas Tio finished third with a 5-2 record.

Congratulations to Nikhil Kumar and Lily Zhang for qualifying for the 2019 Pan Am Games Team.