March 31, 2018

(By Steve Hopkins)
Day 2 at the 2018 Butterfly Cary Cup Championships at Triangle Table Tennis Center

The signature event at the Cary Cup is the two-day Giant Round Robin that begins on Saturday morning, with 160 players from across the US and Canada, but the events scheduled on Thursday and Friday aren’t without their own excitement.  Day 1 (on Thursday) featured four events highlighted by Jimmy Butler upsetting the No.2 and No.1 seeds on his way to taking the Thursday Open RR Event.

The Friday events included an Under 1800 Round Robin event and and 1800 and Over Event.  As this was the day before the signature event on the weekend, even more players were present and that could not have been more apparent than in the 1800 & Over event where seven players over 2400 competed.  Not unlike the Thursday Open, the top 4 seeds did advance – but with a wrinkle.  The twist on this day was that Hammed-Tawo Adeyinka 2535 (the No.3 seed), upset Kai Zhang 2610 (the No.2 seed).   Ultimately Hammed fell to the top seed, Jishan Liang, in the final (3-1).

The night before, Hammed had been a victim of a similar upset, so this result in the semifinals shows balance on one level.  On another level, however, it shows some volatility at the top for the main event — In the warm-up events in the proceeding days three of the top seven seeds in that main event have fallen to lower rated players in upsets.  The stage is set for an exciting weekend.

Check in with ButterflyOnline’s Cary Cup Results Page throughout the weekend to view photos, other articles, live results and follow the live stream.

Watch the full Jishan Liang v. Hammed-Taiwo Adeyinka Final here (fast forward to 5:21:00 in the stream for the beginning of the match).

The full FRIDAY DAY 2 results are shown below: