The second annual Neil Smyth 4 star Tournament brought an extremely talented collection of players to San Diego.  The premier player was Chinese National B Team member and current ICC coach, Xin Zhou.  His off the charts skills and nonchalance  were demonstrated in warm ups where he could paint every corner of the table at a flick of the wrist.  His curling loops turned so fast a player had to dive to retrieve them.  The almost same motion a second later would go straight down the line. The most compelling match of the tournament, that captured the largest crowd, was the semi-final between U.S. Champion Timothy Wang and former Chinese National Team member Xiang Jing Zhang.  Zhang cruised to a 3-0 lead in the best of seven before losing focus and perhaps determination as he allowed Timothy to crawl back into the game.  Surprisingly, the U.S. champ elevated his game and managed to tie up the match at 3-all.  Perhaps Wang was helped by skillful coaching by ICC teammate and number one Xin Zhou.  Still it looked like number two of China Mr. Zhang would prevail in the ultimate game leading 9-4 in the seventh.  He went for a crowd pleasing sensational shot that just missed and opened the door for Timothy.  Suddenly 10-10 occurred and before you could blink a shocking 12-10 victory was achieved by the U.S. champ, moving him into the finals against his coach and ICC teammate Xin Zhou. The finals, regrettably, among friends lacked the drama and Zhou cruised easily.  One still wonders who on this continent would push Zhou into his 4th gear.  That is a match I am waiting to see. Besides the finals, the stadium room filled with tremendous matches everywhere as the top Western players converged on San Diego. We will continue to expand this event in future years and hope to capture more of our National players to visit San Diego. James Kahn, President – San Diego Table Tennis