(By Barbara Wei)
2018 Butterfly Canada Cup Finals: Jeremy Hazin Defends Championship Title
Jeremy Hazin (ON) came into the 2018 Butterfly Canada Cup Finals hungry to defend his title. At only 18, he is already one of Canada’s best male players. However, at this high stakes tournament, his competitors were ready to take him on. In a competition filled with Canada’s best athletes, many having played professionally in Europe over the past few years, Jeremy pulled out all the stops to win the competition.
In the final 16 group round robin, Jeremy barely clinched a win over the young up-and-coming player Terence Yeung in a thrilling 5 game encounter. Barely pulling out key matches would become a pattern for Jeremy in the single elimination rounds. In his quarterfinal against Mohammed Qatan (ON), Jeremy survived with a 4-2 win, but only ever won any of his games by a 2 or 3-point margin.
The semi-final between Jeremy and Marko Medjugorac (QC) turned out to be the match of the tournament. Jeremy jumped to an early 2-1 lead in games, but Marko turned the match around to lead 3 games to 2 and 9-5 in the 6th game. Jeremy was on the ropes, with his dreams of repeating his title slipping away. But one of Jeremy’s strengths is performing best under pressure and he won 5 points in a row to miraculously lead 10-9. Mark then won the next point to force the match to deuce, but Jeremy was too strong as he won 12-10.
Having survived almost certain death in the match, Jeremy roared through the 7th game 11-5 to move onto the final against Antoine Bernadet (QC). Riding his confidence from the semi-final, Jeremy blocked and counter looped his way to a 4-2 win in the final and $1500 CAD in prize money.
Continual coverage of the 2018 Butterfly Canada Cup Finals and stories about the athletes will be available at ButterflyOnline.com, or via Bowmar Sports’ Twitter and Facebook pages.
