MLTT Athletes Dominate 2023 US Open
Bay Area’s Ma Jinbao capped off a brilliant showing by MLTT athletes at the 2023 US Open, as players from five teams (Bay Area, Portland, Princeton, Seattle and Texas) took home massive trophies that had to be checked in for their return flights, as they would not fit into the overhead compartments.
Photo credit: USATT (all graphics and photos in this article are also credited to USATT)
December 21, 2023. When the Bay Area Blasters’ Ma Jinbao hoisted the men’s singles trophy at the 2023 US Open, it put the finishing touch on what was a command performance by MLTT players at this year’s competition. Perhaps with their games honed a little sharper by their experience running the gauntlet of the league’s team match format with its Golden Games and mission-critical nature each point/game, MLTT athletes performed what amounted to a near clean sweep of the major titles, winning Men’s and Women’s Singles plus Men’s and Women’s Doubles. The only major event that they failed to capture was the Mixed Doubles event, which went to a pair from Japan (although the pairing of Texas’ Amy Wang and Seattle’s Nikhil Kumar made it to the semis). Here’s a quick rundown of the MLTT victories.
Texas’ Amy Wang was one of MLTT’s double winners. She successfully defended her title in Women’s Singles with a masterful 4-2 victory over Japan’s Hitomi Edahiro, much to the delight of the Amy Wang stans both in the stands and in the livestream chat.
Amy teamed up with college roommate and USNT teammate Rachel Sung of the Portland Paddlers to capture the Women’s Doubles title, a 3-1 win over Japan’s tandem of Iwakoshi/Takeda. We here at Majorponghead have a theory that these two communicate via telepathy, as they seem to have a mutual understanding that goes beyond words.
Bay Area’s Ma Jinbao showed no signs of fatigue in the finals, dispatching Japan’s Masaki Tatami 4-1 just a couple hours after a marathon match against a very tough modern defender from Korea, Seungjun Lee. Could this be the first of many titles for the up-and-coming MJB?
Portland’s Kou Lei was unable to three-peat in men’s singles, losing a close match in the 4th round…but he teamed up with Princeton Revolution’s Koyo Kanamitsu to triumph in the Men’s Doubles event. It was an all-MLTT finals as they defeated Seattle’s Nikhil Kumar and MJB. Kumar and Ma gave them a tough fight but in the end, the #2 and #3 MLTT power-ranked players proved too deadly a combination with the brilliant and experienced tactics of Kou Lei repeatedly setting up his younger partner’s firepower with great efficacy.
Last but certainly not least, our second double winner! Seattle’s Aditya Sareen continued his utter domination of US junior events with victories in both Boys U-17 and Boys U-19 events…but to be honest, at this point Sareen (at the tender age of just 15) is quite used to defeating pro players who have been actively training longer than he’s been alive, so competing with opponents who just have a 2-to-4 year head start on him must seem like competing in a tropical island cruise ship ping-pong tournament on the Lido Deck right next to the Neptune’s Feast Buffet.
Congratulations to all the MLTT players who participated in our country’s Open! We’ll be back in a few days with a new Xmas-themed article, but until then….keep on pongin’, pongheads!
