2024 USA Olympic Team Trial, 3/21-3/24
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Luckily, the US team got its best doubles pairing with Amy and Rachel qualifying though I would have had absolutely no beef with Sally qualifying if she did. Rachel at least beat Tiffany in the rematch yesterday and of course knew she had to win the match that should also have been played yesterday vs Sally. Sally will have some regrets about being unable to win the game at 1-2, 10-5, but table tennis is tough like that. She did fight valiantly to win game 5 and lose a close game 6.
On the men's side, Nikhil came back to get his rematch with Jishan and win this time. I am okay with Nikhil and Rachel winning by some tiebreaker method, as if the same points were on day 1 and day 2, there would have been a chance of ties. Making day 2 worth more might be one simple way of addressing things. But sometimes these tiebreaker have to be understood and popularized well in advance so we all know the stakes. The isner-Mahut match has made me very kosher with tiebreakers (yeah different sport and not the same thing, but these athletes need a break, we can't have them play for everything). That's my opinion though, I can see why others might disagree.
Awesome trials. At least two classic matches (both from day 1) on the men's side and another 2 on the women's side on day 1 as well, though the stakes in those were different. Hong Lin almost changed US TT history but not in the end lol...
On the men's side, Nikhil came back to get his rematch with Jishan and win this time. I am okay with Nikhil and Rachel winning by some tiebreaker method, as if the same points were on day 1 and day 2, there would have been a chance of ties. Making day 2 worth more might be one simple way of addressing things. But sometimes these tiebreaker have to be understood and popularized well in advance so we all know the stakes. The isner-Mahut match has made me very kosher with tiebreakers (yeah different sport and not the same thing, but these athletes need a break, we can't have them play for everything). That's my opinion though, I can see why others might disagree.
Awesome trials. At least two classic matches (both from day 1) on the men's side and another 2 on the women's side on day 1 as well, though the stakes in those were different. Hong Lin almost changed US TT history but not in the end lol...
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During the Jishan-Nikhil match co-commentator, Barbara Wei, mentioned that Nikhil had to beat Jishan by 4-2 or better to join Kanak as the top two to go onto Lima. Nikhil did just that ... beating Jishan exactly 4-2. Heartbreaker for Jishan because he pushed Kanak to the limit yesterday deuce in the 7th. Speaking of Kanak, it's pretty incredible for him to come out 1st both days after not having played a tournament for 15 months. So happy to have him back.
The tournament was so much fun to watch and made 10 times better with live chat on YouTube.
The tournament was so much fun to watch and made 10 times better with live chat on YouTube.
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Citizenship is not the same thing as sponsoring association, it's quite possible that Ma Jinbao is playing on the tour because he is approved by the USATT, which is what would give him the ranking as an American. But he might not be an American citizen which is required to play in the Olympics and certain ITTF events as an American (certain ITTF events have a waiting period even after filing association change as well).
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Good points. If he is not a US citizen yet, I hope he can become one soon. It wasn't too long ago that he took Felix Lebrun to game 5 in a WTT event.
