(By: Amy Karpinski)
The 2023 Butterfly September Tournament was held on Sunday, September 10 at Triangle Badminton & Table Tennis in Morrisville, NC. It was a long day of competition with seven different events competing throughout the day. The tournament started at 9:00am with the U800 and U2200 events.
The U800 event had several first-time competitors and Sidak Jolly came out as the champion! Unrated players were not allowed to advance in this tournament but will come out with a USATT rating and will be able to advance in their next tournament!
The U2200 event was a hard-fought event with several five game battles! However, in the end it was Jeremy Sneeden narrowly defeating Tejas Avadhanula in an exciting five game final match to become the U2200 champion. Phani Chitti outlasted Pranay Ayalasomayajula to get third place.
Next up came the U1450 and U2600 events which the competitive spirits continued to shine! The 1450 event was very competitive with many matches going to deciding games – all battling to be the top two in their group to make it to the semi-finals.
The semi-finals matches were very intriguing. Veterans Dan Burns and Nitin Patil competed with Nitin defeating Dan in four games. The other semi-final match brought two young rising stars to compete against each other with Rhea Gupta defeating Luca Jiang to move to the finals against Nitin Patel. Rhea fought valiantly; however, Nitin edged her out in four games to become the champion.
The U2600 event brought the most trained, talented, and entertaining athletes of the competition. With tournament number one seed, Rachid El Boubou pulling out due to injury, Jeremy Sneeden was able to come out the number one player in his group with Phani Chitti placing second in the group. Group number two brought two young fierce competitors in a head-to-head battle. Changbo (Chad) Lu and Kenai Rios battled for the number one spot in the group with Changbo defeating Kenai in four games. The semi-finals pitted Jeremy Sneeden against Kenai Rios with Kenai moving to the finals with a four-game battle win. Changbo Lu defeated Phani Chitti to move to the finals against Kenai. Once again, Changbo Lu defeated Kenai in four to be the U2600 Champion! Jeremy Sneeden edged out Phani Chitti to claim the third-place medal and check.
The U1850 event was next with the most competitors. The event was divided into three group. The top two from each group advanced to the playoffs. This was another event where so many matches were so close! However Jonah Winistorfer and Phani Chitti advanced out of group 1, Pranay Ayalasomayajula and Maksim Kovalev advanced out of group 2, and Ben Hicks and Dan Burns advanced out of group 3. Jonah and Pranay had byes in the quarter finals. The other two matches were Maksim Kovalev against practice partner Ben Hicks with Ben narrowly defeating Maksim in five games and Dan Burns against Phani Chitti with Dan coming out victorious. In the semi-finals Jonah defeated Ben in four to move to the finals and Pranay defeated Dan to also move to the finals. In the end, Jonah had no answers for Pranay’s shots and Pranay took home the first-place medal and check.
The last two events of the day were the U1650 and U1150. By this time, it has already been a long day with several competitors playing in multiple events. Even though we had some mighty tired players, they were still able to bring their A game and the last two events proved to be very exciting! The U1650 was one group of eight players with only the top two receiving medals so every match counted! There was one player who outplayed everyone and ended 7-0. The player who was victorious in this group was Jintao Lee with Lawrence Ding placing second.
The last event standing was the U1150 with so many five game battles! There were two groups with only the top two from each group advancing. In group 1, Summer Flores went undefeated to advance along with Luca Jiang. In Group 2, Upchurch Calloway came in first with Anisha Gulabani eeking out a second-place finish in the group. Probably the match of the day brought Anisha Gulabani vs Summer Flores in the semi-finals. Two of the games went into multiple tie breaks, but ultimately Anisha defeated Summer 16-14 in the fourth game. Luca Jiang defeated Calloway Upchurch in that semi-finals group. The event ended with Luca defeating Anisha to become the U1150 Champion.
The tournament was filled with many exciting matches and the spirit of competition and camaraderie was felt amongst all players. The young rising stars and the seasoned players brought a diversity to the event that was a joy to experience. Triangle Badminton and Table Tennis looks forward to our next tournament – the Fall Cary Cup – which will take place on October 12-15.
See you at the tables!
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