Abbreviation | USATT |
---|---|
Formation | 1933 |
Type | NPO |
Purpose | Sport governing body |
Headquarters | Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States |
Region served | United States |
Fields | Table tennis |
Main organ | Board of Directors |
Website | usatt.org |
USA Table Tennis, colloquially known as USATT, is the non-profit governing body for table tennis in the United States and is responsible for cataloging and sanctioning table tennis tournaments within the country. It was founded in 1933 as the United States Table Tennis Association. In addition to processing tournaments, USATT maintains a national rating and ranking system. It also oversees the USA National Teams. [1] In total, USATT has over 14,000 members. [2] [3] The headquarters of USA Table Tennis is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, [4] which is also home to the United States Olympic Training Center. USA Table Tennis offers a $100,000 incentive for American Olympic table tennis athletes, [5] though no American athlete has ever won a medal for table tennis. [6]
The United States Table Tennis Association was created in 1933. [1] The phrase "Table Tennis" was created because the name "Ping Pong" had already been trademarked by Parker Brothers. [7] Though the legal name of the USATT remains the "United States Table Tennis Association, Inc.", the non-profit corporation adopted "USA Table Tennis" as their d/b/a name effective 1994. [8]
Although about 19 million Americans play for recreation, [9] USATT has only about 14,000 members, as of November 2024. [10] There are two main membership types, associate and general. General members can participate in USATT sanctioned events and leagues with no additional rating fees while associate members have no membership fee but may not participate in USATT sanctioned leagues and can pay per USATT sanctioned event. The pricing for a year for adults is $75 while for juniors and collegians is $45. [11] There are over 300 table tennis clubs affiliated with USATT, almost 50 of which are in California. [12] There are almost 450 USATT Certified Coaches in the United States. [13]
Started in 1931, the annual U.S. Open is the oldest table tennis event in the United States. [14] It attracts over 600 athletes annually. [15] The U.S. Open has been previously held in various locations, including Anaheim, California; Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago, Illinois ; Las Vegas, Nevada and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. [16] Past Menʼs Singles champions include Chen Weixing and Aleksandar Karakašević. Past Womenʼs Singles champions include Zhang Mo and Li Jiawei. [17]
The 2010 U.S. Open was held at the DeVos Place Convention Center in Grand Rapids, MI, between June 29 and July 3. [16] [18] The Men's Singles champion was Sharath Kamal of India and the Women's Singles champion was Georgina Pota of Hungary. [19]
The 2011 U.S. Open was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. [20] The Men's Singles champion was Thomas Keinath of Slovakia. The Women's Singles Champion was Nai Hui Liu of New Jersey. [21]
The U.S. Nationals have been held since 1976. [22] The tournament is closed to non-citizens of the United States. [23] In addition, the U.S. Nationals along with two other national ranking tournaments determine the members selected USA Table Tennis Adult, Cadet, and Junior Teams. Over 750 athletes registered for the 2017 U.S. Nationals, [24] which were held in Las Vegas, Nevada . [25] Past Men's Singles champions include Kanak Jha, Eric Owens and David Zhuang and past Women's Singles champions include Lily Zhang, Jasna Reed and Wang Chen. [22]
As of 2021 World Championships [26] [27]
Team | First | Second | Third | Fourth |
---|---|---|---|---|
National Team Coach | Gao Jun | |||
Men's Team | Wenzhang Tao | Cory Eider | Samson Dubina | Wei Qi |
Women's Team | Huijing Wang | Yue Wu | Yijun Feng | |
Team | First | Second | Third | Fourth |
---|---|---|---|---|
Men's Team | Kanak Jha | Sharon Alguetti | Nikhil Kumar | Jishan Liang |
Women's Team | Lily Zhang | Amy Wang | Sarah Jalli | Rachel Sung |
Achanta Sharath Kamal is an Indian professional table tennis player. He is the first Indian table tennis player ever to become ten time Senior National Champion hence breaking the record of eight-time National Champion Kamlesh Mehta. In 2019 he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award and in 2022, he was awarded the Khel Ratna Award, India's highest sporting honour. He is ranked 32 in ITTF world ranking. He beat Joo Se Hyuk and Chuang Chih-yuan, world no. 8 and 16 respectively in 2015 28th Asian cup at Jaipur. Sharath won the men's singles gold in the 16th Commonwealth table tennis championship held at Kuala Lumpur in 2004. He is a recipient of the Arjuna award for the year 2004.
Danny Seemiller is an American table tennis coach and former professional player. He was the United States Olympic head coach and is the current head coach of the South Bend Table Tennis Club. He has an unorthodox playing style called the Seemiller grip, which he is famous for inventing in the 1970s.
David Zhuang is a professional Chinese-born American table tennis player.
Mark "Haz" Hazinski is an American professional table tennis athlete. He started playing table tennis at the age of 9 and by the age of 15 had become the youngest player in the history of United States Table Tennis to make the United States Men's National Table Tennis Team. Hazinski simultaneously represented the United States Men's Team and United States Junior Team for 4 consecutive years (2000-2003).
Adam Hugh was the number one table tennis player under sixteen in the United States and is most noted for his victory in the 2003 North American Cadet Championship, as well as the US National Cadet Championship.
Gao Jun is a Chinese American table tennis player.
Sean O'Neill is an American table tennis player and coach. He began playing table tennis in Virginia at the age of 8 with this father, Patrick, who was a nationally ranked junior player from Toledo, Ohio. O'Neill went on to win every US National Age Championship title, including the Under 11, 13, 15, 17, 21, and Over 30 events. In addition to the age events, O'Neill won the US National Men's Singles, Men's Doubles, and Mixed Doubles Championships.
Ruth Hughes Aarons was a US table tennis player, vaudeville entertainer, and talent manager.
Gertrude "Traute or Trude" Kleinová was a three-time world champion table tennis player, winning the women's team world championship twice, and the world mixed doubles once.
Ariel Yenhua Hsing is an American table tennis player who competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Lily Ann Zhang is an American table tennis player who competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London with teammates Ariel Hsing and Erica Wu. She also competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio with teammates Jiaqi Zheng and Jennifer Wu. She is a six-time US national champion in women's singles. Zhang has won the US national championship in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2022. In 2011, she was a bronze medalist in women's singles and women's team at the Pan American Games and won the women's doubles title at the Qatar Peace and Sport Cup. She is currently a member of the United States National Women's team. She has been ranked as high as #2 in the cadet (U-15) world ranking and #5 in the junior (U-18) world ranking.
Table tennis in the United States is regulated by USA Table Tennis. USATT Historian Tim Boggan has written a volume of books entitled “History of U.S. Table Tennis” to give the readers a brief overview of how the sport of table tennis came to be. There are a total of 19 books in the series. Table tennis was initially considered an alternative to lawn tennis at parties and events. However, the rapid rise in popularity of table tennis reached worldwide and caught attention in the United States. In 1993, the official governing body of the United States Table Tennis Association was created. The sport was not named ping pong since that name was already taken from by the Parker Brothers. The non-profit corporation version of the United States Table Tennis Association truncated their name to “USA Table Tennis”.
Erwin Klein was a male table tennis player from the United States, who four times US Open Table Tennis Singles Champion. His nickname was Chubby. He won a gold medal in the Mixed Doubles event at the World Table Tennis Championships in 1956.
Thelma Thall "Tybie" Sommer is the only living American woman to have won two World Table Tennis Championships.
Insook Bhushan is a South Korea-born American table tennis player. She was a member of the South Korean women's team that won the bronze medal at the 1971 World Championships. At the 1973 World Championships, she was limited to the role of "non-playing captain" of the gold medal-winning South Korean women's team. In 1974, she emigrated to the United States, where her father had established an import-export business. The following year, she married the architect Shekhar Bhushan and in 1980 became a US citizen.
Shui-Ling "Lily" Yip is a Chinese-born American table tennis player and coach.
Atanda Ganiyu Musa is a Nigerian table tennis player. He represented Nigeria at two Summer Olympics in 1988 and 1992, taking part in both the singles and doubles events. He was once ranked 20th in the world at his peak.
The annual U.S. Open is the oldest currently running table tennis tournament in the United States. It attracts over 600 athletes annually. The first events were actually run by either the New York Table Tennis Club or the American Ping Pong Association. The first USA Table Tennis (USTTA) tournament was held in 1934.
Ian Seidenfeld is an American para table tennis player. He represented the United States at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Amy Wang is an American table tennis player who competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics.