McDonald and Lin Crowned Champions at 2024 USATT Texas State Championships
by Barbara Wei
From April 27-28, the 2024 USATT Texas State Championships filled the Sid Richardson Center at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, TX with 122 players from across the Lone Star state. Table tennis enthusiasts spent the two days battling it out in 24 events, seeking prestigious Texas State titles.
Jonatan McDonald (2582) claimed the coveted title in the Men's Singles competition, overcoming Joshua Mak (2356), Eduardo Tomoike (2483), former Cuban National Team member Eday Gomez (2500), and finally, the reigning champion and top seed Mohammadreza Akhlaghpasand (2584), who claimed the 2023 title in San Antonio.
The Women's Singles event had a similar story. Jiaqi Lin (2367) dethroned the defending champion and her Texas Wesleyan teammate, Deng Zhen (2482), in a marathon 5 game encounter. Jiaqi Lin now claims the Texas State Women's Singles title.
Martin Gohr (2123) delivered a stellar performance in the Senior Events, sweeping the O30, O40, O50, and O60 Men's Singles titles.
On the junior side, Anya Shanbhag (1991) dominated the Girls' divisions, winning the U11, U13, U15, and U17 events. She narrowly missed a clean sweep, finishing runner-up in the U19 Girls contest to Dina Armani (1942). Jayden Cai (2227) took two titles in the Boys divisions, winning U13 and U15 while River Dai (2085) took the U17 and Chia Hao Chang (2546) the U19 Boys titles.
The 2024 USATT Texas State Championships paint a clear picture: Texas table tennis is thriving. With a strong showing from both established and rising stars, the future of the sport in the Lone Star State is bright.