National Table Tennis tourney in Las Vegas

Tuesday, Dec. 15, 1998 | 10:09 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Defending rating champions Peiyuan Ren and Yu-Liang Wang are among a record 30 Nevadans in the field of nearly 700 entries this week in the 23rd USA Table Tennis National Championships Wednesday through Sunday at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Entered in two USATT rating events this year, Ren, 13, won last year's Boy's Primary School Singles (under 13 years old) title. Wang, 38, has entered two rating events this year after winning the Under-1400 USATT Ratings title at last year's championships.

A total of 24 of the Nevada entries are from the Southern Nevada area.

National Championships will be awarded in 63 different rating categories and age group divisions for men and women, including the five featured classes for elite athletes. Also on the event schedule is the National School Championships along with the National Disabled Championships and National Disabled Team Trials.

Admission to the championships is free, except for Saturday's Men's and Women's Singles Finals (5-9 p.m.) when general admission tickets will be available at the door for $5 each. Competition begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday, and 9 a.m. the remaining days. Play will conclude at 9 p.m. daily except the 1 p.m. conclusion on Sunday's final day.

The Men's and Women's Singles semifinals will start at 5 p.m. Saturday with the women's matches first followed by the men's two semifinals. The two title matches, women first, followed by the men, will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Nationals

Top seeds and Nevada entries in the 23rd USA Table Tennis National Championships being held Wednesday through Sunday in Hall S3 at the Las Vegas Convention Center with name, hometown and rating:

TOP SEEDS MEN

1. Jim Butler, Augusta, Ga., 2697; 2. David Zhuang, North Brunswick, N. J., 2669; 3. Todd Sweeris, Rockville, Md., 2603; 4. Eric Owens, Houston, 2549; 5. Sean Lonergan, Germantown, Md., 2537; 6. Barney Reed, Davison, Mich., 2529; 7. Dan Seemiller, Pennsylvania, 2523; 8. Brian Masters, Columbia, Md., 2509; 9. Freddie Gabriel, Richmond, Calif., 2471; 10. Chi Sun Chui, Bloomington, Ind., 2468.

WOMEN

1. Jun Gao, Gaithersburg, Md., 2623; 2. Tawny Banh, Alhambra, Ca., 2451; 3. Lily Yip, Warren, N. J., 2324; 4. Vrginia Sung, Woodhaven, N.Y., 2318; 5. Michelle Do, Milpitas, Calif., 2134.

NEVADA ENTRIES

Rodil Acopiado, 36, Las Vegas; Carl Barlow, 62, Reno; Peter Bazso, 62, Las Vegas; Robert Burkhart, 74, Henderson; Bill Cantor, 67, Las Vegas; Sadie Cleveland, 37, Las Vegas; Dean Doyle, 37, Gardnerville; Billy Fu, 49, Reno; Bill Gossman, 69, Las Vegas.

Lee Harper, 37, Las Vegas; Xiaoing Hu, 36, Henderson; Howard Lambert, 61, Sparks Johnny Lim, 38, Las Vegas; Pat Luisi, 40, Las Vegas; Al Martz, 35, Las Vegas; Carlos Ortegon, 64, Reno; Ren Peiyun, 13, Las Vegas; Frank Remenyi, 22, Las Vegas; David Rubin, 43, Las Vegas.

Franz Schauer, 68, Las Vegas; Robert Sherman, 49, Las Vegas; Ralph Stadelman, 52, Las Vegas; Steve Varela, 47, Sparks; Yu-Liang Wang, 38, Las Vegas; Bobby Williams, 43, Las Vegas; Hang Yang, 39, Las Vegas; Jack Yang, 10, Las Vegas; Eric Yeh, 47, Las Vegas; Kenny Yeh, 52, Las Vegas; Mable Yuen, 17, Las Vegas.