For Kanak Jha, the return to competitive action has been a mixed bag. The American star will turn 20 this Friday in Germany, where he has honed his skills in extremely competitive table tennis leagues for years. He is the highest-ranked male American player at world #27, tied with compatriot Lily Zhang in the women's rankings. While Jha has already built a hall of fame résumé in his teens, including two Olympic qualifications and four straight US men's singles championships (and counting), he will enter the next decade of his life with some recent disappointments weighing on his head. Today at the Düsseldorf Masters, a weekly tournament series for German league players, #3 seed Omar Assar of Egypt upset the second-seeded Jha, (11-4, 9-11, 10-12, 11-4, 11-9, 11-8). Assar, no slouch at world #38, then took top seed and eventual champion Dimitrij Ovtcharov, the world #11 from Germany, to a full seven games in the final. Last week, Jha suffered similar frustration at the semifinal round, then at the hands of German penholder Qiu Dang in a close 3-2 decision. While losses to Assar and Qiu, world #52, are relatively minor upsets, they are surely majorly upsetting to a competitor like Jha. The Düsseldorf Masters culminates in a season-ending tournament for the top eight performers. While Ovtcharov continues to pad his lead in the summer-long race for points, Jha must quickly regain his world-class form if he is to be a contender this August in Düsseldorf, let alone next August in Tokyo. At least he will know what to wish for as he summons the necessary breath to extinguish a score of candles on Friday.

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