Seven young USBF players earned medals in events at the 8th World Youth Transnational Championships in Wroclaw, Poland.
U16 GOLD - Teams
JACK, an all-US team, led the medal parade with GOLD in the U16 event. The team name is based on the players' first names:
J for Jeff Xiao, 12,
A for Andrew Chen, also 12,
C for Charlie Chen, the senior member of the team at 14, and
K for Kyo Chen (not related to brothers Andrew and Charlie) who becomes the youngest player ever to win a World Championship, at 10 years old!
Coach Steve Chen (father of Andrew & Charlie), Charlie Chen, Andrew Chen, Kyo Chen, Jeff Xiao
U21 Bronze - Teams
13-year old Brian Zhang, joining with friends from China, won the U21 bronze medal. Brian is still under 16, but chose to play in the U21 event.
Feng Zhu, Bruce Wu, Yuekei Yang, Brian Zhang, Ziao Wang, Hanxi Ma, Coach Jichao Hu
U21 Bronze - Pairs
Brian Zhang repeated his bronze medal in the Pairs event, this time with fellow American Kayden Ge, who is 14-years old. Both Brian and Kayden are a part of Silicon Valley Youth Bridge as players and volunteers.
Brian Zhang and Kayden Ge
BAM Gold - U21/U26/U31
Adam Kaplan, playing on a truly Transnational team with top players from Canada, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Norway, earned Gold in the BAM event, which was open to all of the teams that didn't qualify for the KO stages of the U21, U26, and U31 events (there was a separate BAM for U16).
Sibrand van Oosten (Netherlands), Coach Charlotte Baumgart (Germany), Matthew Brown (New Zealand), Christian Bakke (Norway), Jacob Freeman (Canada), Giovanni Donati (Italy), and Adam Kaplan (US).