2018 Butterfly Canada Cup #2 Results
(by Steve Hopkins)

My Table Tennis Club Waterloo hosted the event at their location in Kitchener Ontario in the greater Toronto area.  The event included Men’s and Women’s Singles events, Men’s and Women’s Team events, Girls and Boys Cadet events, and a Hopes Boys event.

MEN’S SINGLES

The top four seeds in the Men’s singles event were Eugene Zhen Wang, Jeremy Hazin, Mohammed Qatan, and Gu Meng.  Ultimately, the tournament went very much as expected, with top seeded Wang advancing to the final without losing a game.  And on the other side of the draw, second seeded Jeremy Hazin also advanced to the final.

Eugene Wang overcame Salman Virk, Matthew Lehmann, and the third seeded Gu Meng (all in straight sets).  Hazin’s road to the final was a little less smooth, has he defeated Austin Lin (3-0) and Edison Huang (3-1), before overcoming Mohammed Qatan in a very tough 3-2 match (-7, 8, 7, -10, 9).

The final between Wang and Hazin began with two close games, but ultimately the experienced and seasoned Wang who has been playing professionally in Europe proved too much for the young Hazin.  Wang over Hazin 3-0 (8, 9, 5).

WOMEN’S SINGLES

The top four seeds in the Women’s singles event were Siqian Wu, Ivy Liao, Cindy Wang, and May Tong.  Ivy Liao was upset in the group round, so Katherine Morin (the 13^th seed) advanced to a strong position in the bottom of the draw, and Ivy Liao was forced to face the top seed in her first elimination match.   Morin took advantage and won two matches before falling to May Tong in the semifinal.

The other side of the draw saw a dominant performance by Siqian Wu who defeated Ivy Liao (3-0, then Alicia Cote (3-0), and then Cindy wang (3-0) on her way to the final.

May Tong won the first game in the final, the first loss that Wu suffered in the event.  However, the next three games went to Wu and the match ended there.  Wu over Tong 3-1 (-7, 5, 7, 8).

CADET BOYS

David Mandelstam overcame a tight 3-2 semifinal match against Derek Shen to get to the final.  And Glacier Sung overcame a tight 3-2 match against Kevin Deng on his way to the final.  Ultimately Madelstam claimed the Cadet Boys title with a 3-1 win.  Mandelstam over Sung 3-1 (-6, 8, 11, 7).  In the play offs, spots 3-8 were: Kevin Deng, Derek Shen, William Shen, Brian Zhu, Justin You, and Oscar Nie.

CADET GIRLS

The Cadet Girls event was played out through a round robin format.  Fiona Nie took the top position with a record of 5-0.  Tiffany Liu and Jessie Xu both finished 3-2 with Tiffany taking the second position through the head to head win over Xu.  Demi Yu Ting Cai finished fourth, Angela Cui finished fifth, and Michelle Wang finished sixth.

HOPES BOYS

The Hopes Boys event was also played out through a round robin format.  Derek Shen won all five matches to take the top position.  Second went to Oscar J.J. Nie who finished 4-1.  Zachary Zhihao Li finished third.  Vedant Parikh, Miles Easton, and Andrew Zeng finished in the 3-6 positions.

TEAM Events

The National Table Tennis League Men’s Teams had three entrants.  My Table Tennis Club Men finished first with a 2-0 score over the other two teams.  Team Citius finished 1-1 and took second place.  Team CCTTA finished third.

The National Table Tennis League Women’s Teams had three entrants.  The result was one win and one loss for all three participants, so the result depended upon the match scores.  Ultimately, Citius 1 managed to win 7 matches to three losses, while My Table Tennis Club Women finished with 5 wins and 5 losses, and Citius 2 finished with 3 wins and 7 losses.  First place went to