Sid Wins Bronze, Students Shine
Fremont Table Tennis Academy advanced students went to the 2025 US Open in Las Vegas, Nevada which featured 1300 of the best players in North America and some other top international players. The serious advanced students train year-round to try to perform well in these tournaments. Students to go were Mihika, Raghav, Anchit, Hasini, Isha, Smayan, Kavi, Siddanth, and Kethan. Raghav, Anchit, Hasini, Isha, Kavi, Siddanth, and me all reached the quarters or better in a rating category highlighted by Siddanth’s bronze medal in the Under 1000 rating event.
Siddanth-3rd place-Under 1000
Raghav-5th place-Under 4000 Doubles
Anchit-5th place-Under 1700
Hasini-5th place-Under 1400
Isha-5th place-Under 1300
Kavi-5th place-Under 1200
Shashin-5th place-Under 4000 Doubles
Overall, it was a great experience for our players who supported and cheered each other when they did not have their own matches. Everyone enjoyed the camaraderie of other clubmates and we had our usual group dinner together at the same restaurant as last year. It was also great as their coach to see them go through the highs and lows of a major tournament and see them adapt to different styles and face off with a new challenge in each match. However, could we have possibly won 7-10 medals if the rating system didn’t have flaws? We were constantly knocked out by underrated players who hadn’t played a tournament in a year, mainly Canadians. I think anyone can win a junior rating event medal if they train regularly but don’t play a US tournament for a year as kids can improve quickly. I talked to the tournament director and he seemed aware of this situation of inaccurate ratings and he seemed open to hearing how it could be handled better. Special thanks to William Waltrip of Sacramento who helped coach our team this entire week for the second consecutive time in a major tournament.
RAGHAV
Raghav unfortunately ended up having bad luck with the draws. In his main three events, Under 2000, Under 1900, and Under 4000 Doubles, all losses were to foreign players with inaccurate ratings who won titles. In the Under 2000 event, he had to face the eventual champion (who also got 3rd in Under 2200) representing Canada in the group stage who lives and trains full-time in China. In the Under 1900 event, he lost to the Under 1800 champion who was in his initial round robin group. In Under 4000 doubles, we partnered together and reached the quarterfinals where we lost to the eventual champions from the Philippines. They were likely underrated also as one of the players also won Under 4700 Doubles and both players hadn’t played a US tournament for a year. We lost 3-1 (11-9 in 4th) and the Philippines pair won the semis and finals easily. Raghav feels he could have gotten his first US Open medal if we had to face any other team in the quarterfinals.
MIHIKA
She has won bronze in the US Open before and no medal this time but had some good wins and almost some really good wins. She beat two players 300-400 points higher than her (around 2000 rating) 3-0 and was a couple points from beating two players rated between 2200-2300.
ANCHIT
He has won gold in the US Nationals before and this time was just stopped short in the quarterfinals to the eventual champion from Canada (who won 4 golds) 3-2 in the quarterfinals of Under 1700. Among US players, Anchit came the closest to beating the Canadian during his run to 4 golds. Anchit had two nail-biting 3-2 matches before the quarters where he pulled through including in the final 16 where he was down 9-5 in the decider and won 6 straight points to win 11-9!
HASINI
Hasini was playing her second US Open and third overall major tournament. She reached the quarters of the Under 1400 event and lost to an underrated Canadian player 3-1 as well. She had an unbelievable match in the round of 16 of the Under 1400 event against the Philippines girl who was on the doubles team that won gold in Under 4000 Doubles easily. The match was watched and cheered on by her clubmates as she was down 7-2 in the 5th game and played incredible points winning every rally that lasted 10-20 hits to go on a 9-1 run to win 11-8 to advance!
ISHA
Isha was playing her first US Open and second overall major tournament and was two points away from her first medal. She had a great run in the Under 1300 event to the quarters defeating one US junior who won silver and bronze in Under 1600 and Under 1500, respectively, in the round of 16 (who also hadn’t played a tournament in a year). In the quarters, she was ahead 2-0 to a Canadian player and lost 9-11 in the 5th. Heartbreak for Isha. She was the closest to Fremont TTA’s second medal at the US Open.
KAVI
Kavi was playing his first major tournament and performed very well. He reached the quarterfinals of the Under 1200 event where he also lost to an underrated Canadian player. He had to play the same Canadian player in the group stage in his main event, the 1000 event, so had bad luck with the draws as the Canadian player ended up getting 1st. Kavi, entered with a rating of 719, beat 7 higher-rated players and his only losses to players below 1000 rating were to underrated Canadian players (the winner of the Under 1000 twice and one other).
SIDDANTH
He was our US Open Medalist winning bronze in the Under 1000 event. He broke our Canadian curse by beating two Canadian players in the round of 16 and quarters to win bronze! He also was happy to meet and get the autograph of Danny Seemiller, who has countless men’s national titles, was former world-ranked top 20, and then became the US Olympic Coach, whose style and grip he uses. Besides his bronze, Siddanth entered with a rating of 635 and beat 10 higher-rated players, most rated over 1000, including the bronze medalist in Under 1800!
SMAYAN
Smayan had signed up for the US Open a while back and didn’t have the chance to do lessons recently so didn’t have his best tournament. Smayan ended the tournament on a high note beating a 1800-rated player in his final match so possibly was getting his touch back.
KETHAN
Kethan was one of the lowest-rated players in the US Open entering with a rating of 153 who played for experience since his older brother Raghav was playing. He recently won the Under 400 event at the 2025 Newark October Open but the lowest event at the US Open was Under 1000. He exceeded expectations by beating a player rated over 900 and a player rated over 1100 and came close to winning games or did win games in other matches.
This tournament definitely exposed flaws in the rating system as the Canadians dominated the junior rating events from Under 1000 to Under 2000. I think similar situations happened in the adult rating events where players with outdated ratings constantly won medals. The Canadians hadn’t played a US tournament in a year since last year’s US Open since they live in Canada but were likely training regularly. So they were likely much better than their outdated ratings. Normally, they would not have been eligible for these rating events if they lived in the US as they would played US tournaments and gotten higher ratings. They are not doing anything wrong but just live in Canada so don’t play US tournaments that count for US rating. However, there are also players that are losing matches in various tournaments intentionally to lower ratings before the cutoff to win junior or adult rating events. The only US players to win two junior rating events out of the ten junior rating events were the players who were the top seeds in their events whose latest seed ratings were significantly higher than the rating event limit so likely too good for the events. One Canadian won gold in Under 1400, Under 1500, Under 1600, and Under 1700 and silver in Under 1800 and Under 1900. The top 4 finishing medalists in all junior rating events were mainly all players who hadn’t played a US tournament in a year, largely Canadians. Hopefully, the tournament director will look into this and fix the problem in future major tournaments. We look forward to the 2026 US Nationals that are coming to the Bay Area for the first time, to San Jose, in July!
