Table Tennis

The Willamette Table Tennis Club has scheduled what it calls an Old Fashioned Hard Bat tournament for Saturday at its home in Salem, beginning at 10:30 a.m. The event requires players to use the old "hard bats, " paddles that have pimpled rubber with no sponge on the inside. Matches are best-of-three with games played to 21.

The tournament will use regulation 40 mph balls and offers a prize of 50% of the entry fees to the winner. Entry is $10 per player.

For more information, contact Scott Lipscomb at sjlcel1@msn.com or Ben Bednarz at ben@bcwebhost.net

WTTC is located at 1960 Oak St. SE in Salem.

Oregon Table Tennis Club

Portland Table Tennis Club

Salem Table Tennis Club

Willamette Table Tennis Club

BEAVERTON - Yi Yong Fan showed off his game face Sunday at the Tualatin Hills Recreation Center, and that confidence carried him to the men's singles title in the highlight match of the Pac-Rim Open.

Fan, a former member of the Chinese national team who has lived in the U.S. the past decade, dominated Yun Peng Qiao in a 20-minute final, 11-9, 11-6, 11-5, 11-4, frequently fist-pumping after key points and even staring down his younger competitor on the way to the $1,800 check for first place.

"I played with a lot of confidence," Fan said afterward, "and I let myself express that confidence.

"I had a lot of fun playing here. It's a wonderful tournament.

Tournament organizers said more than 200 competitors had signed up for the event, which carried a total prize purse of more than $10,000. The tournament took over all three courts of the Tualatin Hills basketball and running center.

Jenny Zhao, a teammate of Fan's at the Washington Table Tennis Club, won the women's final in three games, 15-13, 11-7, 11-7, over Jiaqi Zheng and claimed the $900 first prize.

For more information on Oregon's table tennis community, visit one of these club's web sites:

McMinnville Table Tennis Club

Oregon Table Tennis, Inc.

Portland Table Tennis Club

Salem Table Tennis Club

Silverton Table Tennis Club

Willamette Table Tennis Club

  San Francisco’s Ping Pong Dojo sent a brigade of top-flight players to Portland this weekend and they headed back to the Bay Area with both men’s and women’s titles at the Li-Ning Pacific Rim Open Saturday and Sunday.
  Weijian Zhang outlasted teammate Cheng Yi Du in a seven-game final, ralllying from a 3-2 deficit to claim the $1,800 top prize.
  Zhang, seeded third, won the title, 13-11, 9-11, 11-9, 7-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6.
  Du survived a seven-game semifinal win over top seed Yi Yong Fan of Seattle to reach the final.