AITTA wins 2015 North American Teams Table Tennis Championships

The 18^th JOOLA North American Teams Open Table Tennis Championships were held during Thanksgiving weekend at the Gaylord National Resort in National Harbor, Md.  In a rematch of last year’s final, the three-day event culminated with the eventual Division 1 champion, the Atlanta International Table Tennis Academy 1 (AITTA, Georgia), defeating Team JOOLA (Delaware) by three matches to one.

Although the AITTA defended its title, it did so with an entirely different roster of players.  Wei Cai (2500) of AITTA led the way by winning both of his matches, first against Jörg Roßkopf (2662), 11-9, 11-5, 11-6, and then defeating Quadri Aruna (2847), 6-11, 11-4, 14-12, 12-10, in the fourth and final championship match.

The second match between Yijun Feng (2532) of AITTA and Aruna was particularly instructive, pitting the penhold Feng against his shakehand grip style opponent.  In the end, the victory was Feng’s as he came back from 5-9 to win the third game and the match, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9, 12-10.

The only glitch for the champions came in the third match, where Tim Wang (2606) of AITTA was totally baffled and frustrated by the defensive style of his opponent, Kewei Li (2724).

It is worth noting that in December, Yijun Feng won the Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, and Mixed Doubles titles at the 2015 U.S. National Table Tennis Championships.

Champions and finalists: 2015 North American Teams Table Tennis Championships
all photos by Kwai Chan / Meniscus Magazine

Semifinals: 2015 North American Teams Table Tennis Championships
all photos by Kwai Chan / Meniscus Magazine

Additional photos: 2015 North American Teams Table Tennis Championships
all photos by Kwai Chan / Meniscus Magazine

Video: 2015 North American Teams Table Tennis Championships finals
video by Mai D. Chan / Meniscus Magazine

Video: 2015 North American Teams Table Tennis Championships semifinals
video by Mai D. Chan / Meniscus Magazine