Part One Done: Top Finishers Shine During Junior National Team Trials
by Vlad Farcas
Singles: Rachel Wang, U17 Girls' National Team top finisher at part one of 2024 U.S. Junior National Team Trials. West Monroe, LA. March 26-30, 2024.
West Monroe, Louisiana - The 2024 Junior National Team Trials – Part I brought 165 players from across the country to West Monroe, Louisiana to contend in 5 age categories over 5 days of intense competition.
In U19 Boys event, top-seed Nandan Naresh, went undefeated and clinched the top spot for the second year in a row. Ved Sheth, from ICC, continued his good form placing second. Andrew Cao claimed the third position while Daniel Tran finished fourth.
In the U19 Girls event, Kayla Goodwin of Tampa, FL secured the top spot while Isabella Xu from Cary, NC, emerged as runner-up despite being seeded number 13th at the start of the event. Emily Tan came in third while Rachel Wang finished fourth.
In the U13 Boys event, Liren Zhang from Westford, MA delivered a flawless performance with a remarkable 12-0 record to claim first. Jayden Cai from Houston International Table Tennis Academy finished second, Jaden Jia and Chirag Pradhan both from Table Tennis America finished third and fourth.
It was a similar story in the U13 Girl event. Irene Yeoh had a perfect performance finishing number 1 overall, only dropping 2 games in her 12 matches. Abigail Yu from Minnesota followed Yeoh with a 6-1 record in stage 3. Isabella Luo and Anagha Kasichainula completed the top four.
In U17 Boys category, Stanley Hsu from MDTTC secured first place with a 6-1 record in stage 3. Victor Xie, who handed Hsu his only defeat, came in second place with a 5-2 record in stage 3. Krish Kandhi, Xianyao He and Hasan Saidov all had records of 4-3 in stage 3 and finished in third, fourth and fifth respectively.
In The U17 Girls category, Rachel Wang of Carolina International Table Tennis Academy finished first, while Hildy Chen, Irene Yeoh, Yishuan Lin, Carmen Yu and Amina Batkhuyag finished second through sixth, respectively, despite ending stage 3 with identical records.
The final day of the trials featured the Under 15 boys and girls event. In the Boys' category, William Feng emerged victorious after a tightly contested battle. His crucial win over Kef Noorani served as the tiebreaker, securing him the top position. Noorani settled for second, with Dhruv Chopra closely following in third. Tanish Pendse rounded out the top four finishers.
Mandy Yu claimed the top spot in the Under 15 Girls' event, with an impressive 6-1 record in stage 3. Irene Yeoh secured second place, while Carmen Yu and Abigail Yu finished third and fourth.
The top juniors will now look forward to Part 2 of the 2024 USA Table Tennis Junior Trials which will take place at 888 Table Tennis Center in Burlingame, California in late May, after which the 2024 National Junior Team will be decided.