The U.S. Open, the oldest table tennis tournament in the United States dating to 1931, offers singles, doubles and mixed doubles divisions competing for prize money.
DeVos Place has over 700 competitors from 16 countries coming to Grand Rapids. Open from Wednesday through Saturday at DeVos Place. 20 years it hasn't been there.
Consists of nearly 60 age brackets for men and women from ages 8-80 that will involve 89 tables in use at times, with key matches able to seat 1,500 spectators at DeVos Place.
The tournament took place twice in Midland in the early 1990s and for six years in Detroit’s Cobo Hall in the 1960s and 1970s. Grand Rapids secured the event by outbidding Las Vegas and Milwaukee.
Defending U.S. Open champion Thomas Keinath, of Germany, returns to play for another crown, along with 14-year-old Ariel Hsing, of San Francisco, runner-up at the U.S. Nationals the past two years, and U.S. World Team member and 15-year-old Michael Landers (New York), last year’s youngest ever U.S. Nationals champion.
It would be good if the U.S. Open recognized as a major world tournament by the International Table Tennis Federation, which means prize money in the range of $150,000 to $200,000.
Tickets are $5 per day, $25 for all sessions, including the finals. There also is an amateur novice division anyone can enter Saturday. Cost is $30 for adults, $15 for kids.
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