Cal Athletes Reach Finals of U.S. Table Tennis Nationals

Cal alum Nikhil Kumar plays marathon men's final; Golden Bears student Nandan Naresh captures title, and Lilian Wa is a runnerup

Nikhil Kumar in finals at far end | USA Table Tennis

Three Cal athletes reached the finals of the main events at the U.S. National Table Tennis Championships this week in San Jose, and one of them walked away with a title.

In Wednesday's finals at the San Jose Convention Center, Cal graduate and 2020 Olympian Nikhil Kumar came close to winning the men's singles title, Cal student Nandan Naresh won the men's doubles title, and Cal athlete Lilian Wa was a runnerup in women's doubles after winning a closely contested semifinals finals match.

Second-seeded Kumar was in command in the men's singles final, leading three games to two in the best-of-seven finals match against top-seeded Kanak Jha. But Jha dominated the sixth game as well as the deciding seventh game to beat the left-handed Kumar 11-7, 9-11, 11-13, 11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 11-3. Jha captured his seventh national singles title, while Kumar fell just short of getting his third national championship.

Kumar and partner Sid Naresh were the top seeds in the men's doubles, but they lost in the semifinals to Alex Luo and Ved Sheth.

But in the finals, Sid Naresh's younger brother, Nandan Naresh, teamed with Daniel Tran to beat Luo and Sheth in another long, closely contested match. Namdan Naresh and Tran triumphed in the best-of-five match that went the ditance, winning 7-11, 11-7, 16-14, 10-12, 11-6.

It was the second straight national championship for Naresh and Tran.

“We just tried to enjoy it,” Naresh said, according to USA Table Tennis. "We never felt any stress. We just go out there and if we miss it's no problem.”

Namdan Naresh was the fourth seed in men's singles but he lost in the quarterfinals to Xiang Jing Zhang.

Ma and partner Hildy Chen lost to Sally Moyland and Irene Yeoh three games to one (11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5) in the women's doubles final.

In the semifinals, Ma and Chen trailed two games to none against Tiffany Ke and Angie Tan, but Ma and Chen rallied by winning the next three games for a 7-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 comeback triumph.

The most famous table tennis from Cal, Lily Zhang, did not compete in this event.