🥈 Silver, Two Semi-Finals and a Seeded Upset: CTTC Juniors Break Through at the 2026 ACT Open
Three Chatswood juniors travelled to Canberra for the 2026 ACT Open Championships on 29–30 August and returned with a silver medal, two semi-final appearances and a major seeded upset.
Jack Huang finished runner-up in the Under 11 Boys’ Singles, Bruce Huang reached the semi-finals of both the Under 1000 Singles and Under 11 Boys’ Singles, and Lucas Dai advanced to the Under 1000 quarter-finals after defeating the second seed. Across four events, the trio recorded 12 match wins and won 43 games against players from across NSW and the ACT.
| 1 U11 silver medal | 2 Bruce semi-finals | 12 Match wins | 43 Games won |
Every breakthrough created a better question for training: how to carry a winning adjustment into the next game, how to close a lead, and how to turn a close game against a seed into a match win.
Jack Wins Under 11 Silver
Jack’s Under 11 campaign became the headline result of the weekend. He finished second in his group after defeating Hudsyn Pham 3–1 and Atharva Kapil 3–0, then met Tianyi Wang in the semi-final.
After dropping the opening game 5–11, Jack responded with three strong finishes: 13–11, 11–8 and 13–11. The 3–1 comeback carried him into the final against Alvin Zhang.
The final was closer than the straight-games result suggests. Jack pushed the first game to 10–12 and the third to 12–14, with Alvin taking the middle game 11–7. Jack therefore finished as the Under 11 runner-up, a well-earned silver-medal result built on resilience and an ability to improve during the day.
Bruce Reaches Two Semi-Finals
Bruce produced the deepest all-round campaign of the trio, recording six match wins across three events and reaching the last four twice.
In the Under 1000 draw, Bruce recovered from losing the first game against Hudsyn Pham to win 3–1, then defeated Ellie Kim 3–0. Two of the games against Kim finished 12–10, an important display of composure at the end of tight games. Bruce next defeated Lucas 3–0 in an all-Chatswood quarter-final before Cynthia Zhang ended his run 3–1 in the semi-final.
Bruce also stepped up in the Under 1200 event. Facing Aaron Au-Yeung, whose published rating was 157 points higher, Bruce held his nerve through a five-game contest and won 11–5, 7–11, 11–9, 7–11, 11–7. He then took a game from Bangjie Zhao before exiting 1–3.
On Sunday, Bruce won two of his three Under 11 group matches to advance to the semi-finals. His 1–3 group loss to Tianyi Wang included a powerful 11–3 response in the third game, while wins over Anish Bhatia and Neel Biyani were completed without dropping a game. Alvin Zhang won their semi-final 3–0, with Bruce reaching 9 points in each of the final two games.
Lucas Defeats the Under 1000 Second Seed
Lucas delivered the weekend’s biggest first-round breakthrough. After a bye, he faced Under 1000 second seed John Parker and recovered from a 9–11 opening game to win 12–10, 11–3 and 11–9. It was a composed 3–1 upset against an opponent listed 179 rating points higher.
Lucas backed up the result immediately, defeating Gerhard Farmer 11–4, 11–7, 11–2 to reach the quarter-finals. His run ended against training partner Bruce, but a last-eight finish after consecutive knockout wins represented a significant step beyond his seeded position.
In the Under 13 group stage, Lucas defeated Neel Biyani 3–0 and took one game from both fourth seed Justin Jo and sixth seed Bangjie Zhao. Against Justin, Lucas won the second game 15–13 and also reached 10 and 9 points in two of the other games. Against Bangjie, he pushed the second game to 10–12, won the third 11–9 and stayed within three points in the fourth. He finished third in the group, but the scorelines showed that he could compete deep into games against two of the strongest players in the event.
Turning Breakthroughs Into Targeted Practice
The results identify clear next steps, but they are starting points for coach-led review rather than technical diagnoses made from score sheets alone. Video, player feedback and training observation can now be used to turn each pattern into one repeatable practice objective.
- Bruce: carry a successful adjustment into the opening points of the next game. His 11–3 response against Tianyi, 11–4 third game against Cynthia and 11–6 second game against Bangjie all showed that he could find an effective answer. The training focus is sustaining that answer when the opponent changes again, supported by a fixed serve-receive plan at 8–8.
- Jack: practise closing leads and playing the final two points of a tight game. He led Graeme Daw by two games in the Under 1000 event before losing 2–3, and both the first and third games of the Under 11 final went beyond 10–10. Match simulations beginning at 2–0 or 9–9 can make those moments familiar.
- Lucas: convert competitive late-game positions against higher seeds. His wins over Parker and Farmer proved that the level is already there. The next step is to protect receive quality and decision-making after 8–8 so that close games against players such as Justin and Bangjie become match opportunities.
A Weekend of Progress
The value of this trip was bigger than one medal or one upset. Jack learned his way from a group-stage loss to a much tighter final against the same opponent. Bruce showed the depth to perform across three events and beat a player rated well above him. Lucas turned a difficult draw into a quarter-final run by defeating two higher-rated opponents.
Those are meaningful breakthroughs, and they also give the training group something practical to build on together. The next phase is not to change everything. It is to choose the decisive moments, practise them with purpose, and return to competition with clearer routines under pressure.
A huge congratulations to Jack, Bruce and Lucas, and a sincere thank-you to the coaches, families, Table Tennis ACT, the tournament officials and volunteers who made the weekend possible.
Onwards and upwards, Chatswood — one point, one adjustment and one breakthrough at a time.