WORLD UNIVERSITY CHAMPIONSHIPS-TUESDAY, JULY 4, 2006

WORLD UNIVERSITY CHAMPIONSHIPS-TUESDAY, JULY 4, 2006

DAY 2

The men and women's teams woke up around 7 AM this morning and hoped to play with extra pride on July 4th. We ate breakfast and went to the hall around 9 AM. The US Men played first against Ukraine at 10 AM. Some chaos and worry crept into the the US team as we found out that we had to bring certain forms signed by our university registrar that none of the men had. We also had to bring our passports to the hall and Laura Leach helped bring our passports that were back in our hotel so we could focus on playing. Luckily, they accepted student ID cards from Adam Hugh, Han Xiao, and Pan Lin but Shashin never had received an ID card from the credential program he was enrolled full time for. Initially, we all thought this could mean that Shashin would not be allowed to play in the tournament and Shashin was not too thrilled to have come this far and possibly be not playing. However, coach Keith Evans talked the proper officials and no worries, Shashin was in the tournament. The US women's team members all had their forms so no eligibility issues at their end.

Our first men's match was against Ukraine and we knew this was a must-win as the top 2 advanced to the single elimination knockout stage and we had Taiwan with Chuan Chih-Yuan (top 10 world), Chang Yuan-Su (former top 50 world) and Wu Chih-Chi (top 150 world) in our round-robin group. Chuan is in a flexible master's program where he will learn to be a sports teacher when he is done playing. 10:00 came around and the US presented the team of Adam Hugh, Han Xiao, and Shashin Shodhan to go up against Ukraine. Adam was up first against Juan Katkov. Within a very quick amount of time, Adam was down 2-0 losing the first 2 games at 11-3. Ouch! Han said "Adam looks so nervous and he's flat-footed as he's playing." However, Adam did turn things around in the third winning 11-3 but Katkov closed out the match with a 11-4 fourth game win. Katkov was very steady and played a typical European two-winged looping style. Adam said "I wasn't mentally prepared."

Shashin was up next against Vitaliy Levshin and hoped to put the US on the board. However, the bad starts from the Americans continued as Shashin fell behind 7-0 in the first, 7-0 in the second, and 5-0 in the third. Shashin ended up losing 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 so was outscored 19-0 in the start of the games but then outscored his opponent 21-14 at the end of games. Shashin said "I probably need to make a mental adjustment as the tournament atmosphere can cause you to play differently and not your regular game. I played my game when it was too late."

Coach Keith Evans pointed out that coming 2 or 3 days before the tournament to get used to the conditions and time change probably would have benefited us as Adam, Han, and Shashin got off to poor starts in their matches. They were not mentally prepared. It was a disappointment for the US team as they were beaten by themselves more than by their opponents. This match should have normally been one of the final matches of the round robin as is usually the case for B vs C but the way the draw was done, the US and Ukraine played first. Now the US has to hope for help in order for them to advance.

The US girls team played Russia at 12 noon and unfortunately, they were outplayed in this match. Katherine Wu put up respectable scores in her match but Laura Leach and Amanda Dubina were beaten convincingly. Each girl was beaten 3-0 against Russian opposition. Jackie Lee and Whitney Ping were the top 2 finishers in the US collegiate women's trials but neither attended which caused the US team to be weaker.

TATIANA MIKHAYLOV AND RUSSIA PROVED TOO STRONG FOR THE US WOMEN.

The US men were up next against Taipei and we expected Chuan to play but he was rested this match. They still brought Wu Chih-Chi to the match who is one of the rising stars on the Pro Tour and now is in the top 150 in the world. Han, Adam, and Pan Lin were played in this match and Shashin was rested. Han played Lai Kuan-Shen first and played very well to post a 5-set victory. An interesting statistic in this match was that in each of the 5 games, the score was 10-7 at one point in time. Han had the 10-7 lead on four occasions and blew that lead in only the first game. Han would keep his opponent guessing as to when he could step around or not as he was playing a penhold one-sided forehand looper. Han pinned him on the backhand when attacking and was able to loop a significant amount of winners from both the backhand and forehand wings. Coach Keith Evans said "Han played well."

Next was Adam against Wu Chih-Chi who is a two-winged looper with the typical Asian emphasis on forehand play. Adam played well but Wu Chih-Chi seemed to have an answer for whatever Adam threw at him. Adam lost 3-0 but the games were close.

Pan Lin was up next against Su Chu-Yung. Pan was ahead 2-0, 9-6 and playing well with his forehand. However, he was not the same player after this point in the match. Han thinks Pan simply got nervous. Pan lost the third 11-9 and the next 2 games at 11-6 and 11-3 to put Taiwan up 2-1. Next was Han's turn to see if he could pull off the big upset against Wu Chih-Chi. Han lost 3-0 but the games were close and one of the games he lost was one where he had a 9-5 lead.

WU CHIH-CHI LEADS TAIWAN TO VICTORY OVER THE US BY DEFEATING BOTH ADAM HUGH AND HAN XIAO.

If Pan Lin had won the crucial third match after being up 2-0, 9-6, the US team could have pulled off the upset as Adam was very capable of winning the fifth and final match. The US men finish 0-2 on a day where they felt they could have finished 2-0. US vs Hong Kong will be the cellar-dwellar battle in this round-robin group tomorrow morning to determine the third place finisher.

The US Women played Slovenia in their final match today. Katherine Wu carried the US by winning both her matches. However, Laura Leach was unable to win the crucial third match and Amanda Dubina lost her two matches. Amanda did have game points in both her matches. The US Women's Team now plays third-seeded Slovak Republic tomorrow.

KATHERINE WU WINS BOTH HER MATCHES AGAINST THE HOME COUNTRY SLOVENIA.