Maine Table Tennis welcomed in a new millennium with a new crop of table tennis champions and also marked the first Maine tournament appearance of the "new" official sized table tennis balls. After years of research, experimentation and lobbying players and spectators the USATT and ITTF governing bodies moved to change the size of the regulation table tennis ball. Gaining merely 2mm from 38mm to 40mm the characteristics of the ball did little to slow down the strong field of players this year. Most felt the ball size change was a very reasonable evolution of the game.

Jacky Chen, a relative newcomer to Maine table tennis, was able to shake enough dust off his rusty but powerful attacking game balanced with thoughtful strategy to outlast both Tian Chen (no relation) and Art Lekousi. Tian is Maine's hottest rising hope for national caliber talent in the sport. While barely old enough to drive Tian has shown that his explosive topspin attacks from both wings are capable of dominating all but the most seasoned players. Tian's game and consistency were spectacular and his only loss came against the more seasoned Jacky Chen in the final match. Many spectators acknowledged that Tian clearly has the potential to dominate the State tournament for many years.

Tournament regulars remember the brilliant performance by the veteran Ark Lekousi in 1999's tournament. This year Art demonstrated a coolness and stability that only comes from decades (maybe even centuries...) of competitive play. Lekousi's use of pips out backhand rubber proved an effective strategy to help neutralize opponent's attacking game. Art's journey to the finals found him in the strongest of three brackets on his road to the finals. The spectators murmured many comments about how amazing and inspirational it was to see the grisly 70-something Lekousi bouncing around beating players young enough to be his grandchildren!