But Beautiful
By Joel Lidstrom
Press Committee Member
Jeremy Hazin is not an ordinary guy, and not an ordinary table tennis player. He is at once an orchestral virtuoso that thrives on dynamic nuance and sensitive placement, and a madman, moving about the court between points, shaking his head and talking to himself.
He walks as if he can’t arrive soon enough, yet always finds himself at the right place on the court. He speaks English, Cantonese, and Mandarin.
He has played all over the world as a professional, whether in the Tokyo and Paris Olympics (2020 and 2024), the inaugural year of Major League Table Tennis, the Pan American Games (where he reached the Round of 16 in men's singles and the quarterfinals in both men's doubles and team events), the World Junior Championships, the ITTF World Junior Circuit, and many more. In 2021 he returned as an amateur to play for New York University as a member of their collegiate team. He helped propel NYU to back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023.
Jeremy has an uncanny understanding of how to beat an opponent. “It doesn’t matter if my opponent has a higher rating than I. If I beat them, I am better on that day. I know how to win. If it is ugly, I don’t care.”
Of his unorthodox technique, Jeremy says it is largely from having learned as a youth without any instruction or coaching. “I developed lots of bad habits.”
Most young players develop standard topspin styles, owing to today’s wealth of proven coaching techniques. While it has immensely improved quality of play, it doesn’t easily allow for an unconventional style. Jeremy has that in abundance.
His backhand block is crazy-good, ranging from a “kablam” to a gentle touch, often upsetting his opponent’s timing. He can go cross-court, or impossibly down the line. He can frustrate; he can infuriate.
Jeremy ‘wears his heart on his sleeve’ as he plays, grimacing at his mistakes, muttering, re-enacting the stroke that failed… But he quickly transitions to eager optimism for his next point. “It is what it is. Move on. Win the next point.”
He says that he no longer trains hard, which is essential to maintaining the highest level of play. He acknowledges that he is not as good as he once was, and he accepts that. We spoke shortly after his team event loss to #1 seed Nikhil Kumar (Jeremy took game one and nearly won the second). I assured him that despite the defeat, his hard-fought game was not ugly…
…but beautiful.
(Photo of Jeremy Hazin (left) and double's teammate Peter Yuan (right)... Hazin and Yuan reached the Men's Doubles Semifinals and third place in the Coed team event; photo credit to Dennis Yanga).
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About 2025 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and GoRockford (Rockford Convention and Visitors Bureau). The event crowns national champions in Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, Men’s/Coed Teams, and Women’s Teams. Also this year a first in NCTTA’s history is the Collegiate National Team trials on Thursday April 3rd for the 2025 World University Games.
PongSpace, Peaka Pong, Stiga and Paddle Palace will sponsor the event.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday, April 4th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2025/video.html
About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively to promote the sport of table tennis at the college level. As the national governing body for college table tennis in the United States and Canada, NCTTA organizes elite intercollegiate competitions throughout North America. www.nctta.org