Razvan Cretu Photo By: Evan Rosen/The Triangle

At the beginning of Thursday’s U.S. Olympic Trials Qualifier Round – Table Tennis, 24 men had hopes of being one of two competitors that would move into the top 12 in order to compete in the round robin tournament beginning Friday morning, Jan. 11.

While 22 ultimately fell short, Razvan Cretu and Tahl Leibovitz were each able to navigate their way through a very difficult field.

“Today was all about focusing and trying to stay physically in shape,” Cretu said.

Cretu and Leibovitz will join the top 10 ranked players in the U.S. for a 12-man round-robin which runs from Jan. 11- Jan. 13. Each man will face off against the other 11 competitors once. The four men with the best records will move on to the North American Trials, hosted in Vancouver, for the opportunity to represent North America at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Cretu, who originally hails from Romania and became a U.S. citizen in 1991, currently resides in Manayunk.

The local favorite bested De Cong Tran of Jackson Heights (N.Y.) in six sets (13-11) (5-11) (11-8) (11-7) (8-11) (11-5) in his Final Four match to gain entry into the round-robin tournament.

“It feels great,” Cretu said. “It hits you at the end, but this really doesn’t mean anything yet.”

After splitting the first two sets, Cretu won back-to-back sets to take a 3-1 set advantage.

Tran won the fifth set 11-8, but Cretu took control of the sixth set and with a forehand winner to become the first qualifier to make it into the field of 12.

In the semifinals, Cretu upset No. 2 seeded Joseph Cochran in a very competitive six sets (13-11) (5-11) (11-8) (11-7) (8-11) (11-5).

Leibovitz, 32, may have stolen the show from the local product, however, when he capped off the first day outlasting 18-year-old John Leach in a seven set thriller (11-6) (9-11) (8-11) (12-10) (12-10) (9-11) (13-11).

The players exchanged the first 22 points of the final set before Leach was long on a backhand, giving Leibovitz a 12-11 lead.

The two players rallied hard in the final point, but Leach’s forehand shot clipped the net and fell long of the table giving Leibovitz the second qualifier position.

“I just got lucky,” Leibovitz said. “John played a really good match.”

The match was all the more exciting due to the contrasting styles of the two players.