Westford Table Tennis Club hosts USATT Hopes 2020 - Road to LA

Westford Table Tennis Club was proud to host its first major USATT Hopes camp and tournament this weekend where 22 talented youth participated in the 2 day camp and tournament.  

Qiumars Hedayatian who brings with him over 20 years of coaching experience and whose professional career included playing in the German league, led the 4 training sessions.  He was ably assisted by Alex Frayberg, Kurt Douty, Nirali Maniar Gandhi and Aman Khanna. The training sessions started with strength conditioning exercises and games before transitioning to the main playing area for table tennis drills, multi-balls and one-on-one practice sessions with the coaches.

Lily Yip, U.S. Olympic team coach and two-time Olympian was the special guest for this event.  She emphasized the importance of persistence and hard work in achieving goals. Dr. Arthur G., provided useful insights in dealing with stress.  His tips on breathing exercises were well received by one and all.

The Hopes qualifying tournament was held on Sunday, March 8th with four places per gender on offer.

In the boys event, the top 4 seeds made it into the semi-finals.  In the first semi-final, Charles Shen, the top seed, maintained his momentum with a 3-0 win over the 4th seed, Andrew Fang.  In the other semi-final Yashraj Shah overcame Botond Acosta (3-0). In a closely contested final, Charles Shen prevailed over Yashraj Shah (3-1).  In the 3rd-4th position, Andrew Fang upset 3rd seed Botond Acosta(3-1).

Following boys earned their spots:

1. Charles Shen

2. Yashraj Shah

3. Andrew Fang

4. Botond Acosta

The girls event was a single round robin event with all four girls qualifying as noted below:

1. Isabella Zai

2. Celina Yau

3. Saanvi Bathula

4. Eva Liung

The club also hosted a Juniors (U-15) Open Event.  Top seed, Krish Gandhi prevailed over his club mate, Vivaan Chhabra in a nail biter (3-2) with some exciting rallies on display.

Congratulations to all the players, coaches, parents and a special thank you to Lily Yip and USATT for the support extended to the club to make this event successful.

Boys Qualifiers