With pool play completed, four men's and four women's teams move to Friday's championship semifinals in the World Deaf Team Tennis Championships at The Champions Club with the championship finals set for Saturday.
Women's Semifinals (Friday 8 a.m.) - Led by Emily Hangstefer (Signal Mtn.) and Laura Chapman (Columbus, Ga.), the United States defeated Russia, 2-1, Wednesday to win Pool A and faces Pool B runner-up Spain, while Pool B champion Chinese Taipei takes on Pool B runner-up Germany. Katie Hangstefer is the USA women's coach.
Pool Play - Top two countries advance to semifinals (No.1s vs. No.2s)
Pool A - United States (3-0) and Great Britain (2-1)
Pool B - Chinese Taipei (3-0) and Spain (2-1)
Friday's Semis: 8 a.m. - USA vs. Spain ... Chinese Taipei vs. Great Britain...
(same format as pool play .. No.1 singles, No.2 singles, doubles)
Men's Semifinals (Friday 8 a.m.): Austria, France and Germany are each 2-0 and pool play champs and advance to Friday's semis along with Russia as the wild card team.
Pool Play: champions advance with one wild card
Champions: Austria, France, Germany
Wild Card: Russia
Friday - Men's Semifinals: 8 a.m. - Germany vs. Russia; France vs. Austria
Consolation Matches: The United States men led by Daniel Hangstefer (Signal Mtn.) are 1-1 and play a consolation semifinal Thursday morning vs. Great Britain. The Americans beat Great Britain, 2-1, Tuesday, and lost to Germany, 3-0, today.
National Team Member ... Chinese Taipei's No.1 player, Chiu-Mei Ho, started playing tennis at 13 years of age ... member of national team from 1975 to 2001 and played No.1 for the first five years ...
Hearing Loss: Chiu-Mei Ho has lost some of her hearing over the years and led her country to the Deaf World Team Tennis Championship in 2007 ... She won a bronze medal in singles in the 2009 Deaf Worlds and won a 2013 Deaflympics silver medal in singles.
Kudos to Chattanooga: "The Champions Club is a great place to play tennis and the people who are on the local organizing committee have been very helpful to make sure any of our requests are taken care of as soon as possible," said Tobias Burz of Germany who is the director of tennis for the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD).
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net