DTTA’s 7th QUINCENAL Tourney

April 11, 2015

Hello Table Tennis players and friends!

We have awesome news to share with you all! Not only did we have a great 7th QUINCENAL Tourney at DTTA last Saturday, April 4th…! But on Easter Sunday, April 5th, the Denver TT Alliance Team won -4 to 1- over the CU Boulder TT Team (CUTT) in a wonderful, friendly match at CU Boulder! Very soon, we will have a column and the videos of every match of the Encounter DTTA vs CUTT available on DTTA’s and the Butterfly website too!

Our 7th QUINCENAL Tourney had 2 groups in A, 2 groups in B, and a big Round Robin in C Division. We also had 5 first-timers joining this Q Tourney: Brian Collins, Micah Cohen, Gail Ferber, Alexandra Djoumaliev, and Mike Wood.

DTTA congratulates, in particular:

A Division
Winner- Basil Ibegbu
Runner up- Nobuyuki “Nobu” Shiogai

B Division
Winner- Hristo “Chris, The Bulgarian” Djoumaliev
Runner up- Tan “Bruce” Loi

C Division
Winner- Camy Lau
Runner up- Lisa “Legs” You

DTTA’s 7th 2015 Quincenal Tournament

The winner in A Division received $40 dollars cash, a Butterfly Cure Water rubber cleaner bottle, and a 10 pack of PepPod. The winners in B and C Divisions, each received $30 dollars cash, a Butterfly Cure Water rubber cleaner bottle, and a 10 pack of PepPod.

All players who participated in our 7th Q Tourney received 1 Participation Point towards qualifying for the raffle (between the 5 players with most Participation Points) at the end of the year for a 7-Day Trip to Peru!

Players who ended in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th position in each Division of this Q Tourney received 4, 3, 2 and 1 Performance Points, respectively. The winners in each Division with the most Performance Points at the end of the year will receive a great prize from Butterfly!

C Division was formed by Win Tran, Camy Lau, Lisa “Legs” You, and the first-timers Micah Cohen, Gail Ferber, Alexandra “Alex” Djoumaliev, and Mike Wood.

DTTA’s 7th 2015 Quincenal Tournament

The very first match of the big Round Robin in this Division was a good one, Lisa vs Alex! “Legs” started taking the match relatively easily, as she won the first two games 11-4 and 11-7. But from then on the cute and young Alex started to find better rhythm and show her “tennis” forehand more and more against her more experienced opponent. After a great fight, the third game went to an impressive 15-17 for Alexandra! In the fourth game the struggle for our DTTA Member, Lisa, continued, as she didn’t expect such a great battle from such a young girl who was also a first-timer in the Q. Lisa had to pull her best game to overcome what was now a way more confident opponent. Lisa made it, barely, to close the match in that fourth game with a very tight 12-10.

Alex would find a better result against Micah, who was only “easy” in the very first game, which Alex took by 11-6. After that, it was a pretty tight match where Alex ended up profiting on the very decisive points, because our good friend Micah couldn’t find his footwork. The next games were 12-10, 10-12 and 12-10 for Alexandra.

DTTA’s 7th 2015 Quincenal Tournament

In another great match that went to 5 very disputed games, Alex would be starring again! This time the young player faced our good friend and DTTA Member, Mike Wood. Although Mike played very well, trying to apply his recently developed game from training at the Club, the final score reflects how naturally good, athletic and competitive Miss Djoumaliev is: 11-8, 9-11, 10-12, 13-11 and 11-8 for Alex again!

DTTA’s 7th 2015 Quincenal Tournament

A special mention goes to Micah Cohen, who did a very good job giving a great fight to the eventual winner of the Q Tourney in this Division, Camy Lau. Every time Micah would decide to move his feet to get to the ball (instead of stretching to reach), he would put some great loops on the table that Camy just couldn’t control. Then again, a more experienced player like Camy managed to put “things in place”, even though she lost the first game against Micah. The scores tell it was not an easy task all together for Camy: 10-12, 11-5, 11-9 and 12-10.

“The Match” of the RR was, once again, Lisa vs Camy. These two players beat everybody else and now were facing each other. Legs started by taking the first two games after great long rallies in almost every point by 11-9 and 11-8. Camy would find her game by chopping harder from her backhand to come back to win two games with scores of 5-11 and 8-11. In the fifth game, Lisa returned to her confidence and often attacked those chops coming to her forehand. Looping and “slapping” them worked really well, and although Camy kept up a great fight, Lisa closed the match with a very tight 11-9.

DTTA’s 7th 2015 Quincenal Tournament

After being undefeated through the whole RR, Lisa Legs passed in first place to the finals. Camy, losing only to Lisa, would leave her in second and put her in the finals match, where these two girls would face each other again.

The finals: Lisa vs Camy. In a very disputed first game, Lisa managed to take the first one by 11-9. But for the next two games, Camy came back solidly just by pushing hard with under spin and “waiting” for Lisa to miss. As Lisa couldn’t find the accuracy she played with before, the patient strategy of Camy paid off. The next games were 6-11 and 4-11. As the fourth game started, Lisa came back to play with confidence, attacking again when she had a “clear shot,” creating from the start of this game a good advantage of 3 to 4 points that Camy couldn’t reverse. Lisa took it by 11-7. In the fifth game, even though Lisa kept the same confidence, accuracy was not there for her anymore. She rushed to perform frequently enough to miss “easy balls” a bit too often, which worked again to put Camy ahead from the start of this last game. Camy took the last game and her first QUINCENAL Tourney ever with a 11-7 in the fifth game!

C Division Winner – Camy Lau

Congratulations, Camy! You played really well! And congrats to you too, Lisa! You are always in the fight for the top…! You girls, gave us all, a great match to watch!

C Division Winner – Lisa “Legs” You

The RR finished with Basil Ibegbu passing to the finals match undefeated, followed by Sham Arayawansa in second place.

B Division had 2 groups. Group 1 was formed by Oleg “Bika” Tsaava, Premysl “Premek” Ducek, Minuru “Samurai” Kamei, Brandon Loi and the first-timer, Brian Collins.

In this RR group most matches were decided in 3 games, but there were a few of them worth mentioning. One of these matches was Brian vs Bika, which Brian started taking by 13-11. Unfortunately for him, everything was downhill from there, as Bika found his game to come back with 8-11, 8-11 and 3-11.

Premek also had some problems with Brian for a bit, as Brian not only took a game from him, but took Premek to a very tough fourth game. The partials were 11-4, 9-11, 11-3 and 12-10. Bika found in the Samurai Kamei the hardest fight in this RR. The partials reflect such struggle, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9 and 11-6 for Bika.

DTTA’s 7th 2015 Quincenal Tournament

Bika vs Premek showed a similar match, where Bika would lose one game. But other than that, Bika found a great rhythm once again against Premek. The partials were 11-8, 8-11, 11-5 and 11-4. These results left Bika passing in first place undefeated, followed by Premek in second, who only lost to Bika.

Group 2 of B Division was formed by Tan “Bruce” Loi, Hristo “Chris, The Bulgarian” Djoumaliev, Matt “Lumberjack” Sharkey, John “The Goat” Miller, and Tommy Scott.

The best two matches (and the only ones that went to 5 games) in this RR were Tan vs John and Tan vs Chris.

In the first one, Bruce Loi saw The Goat coming so close to a match win! These two players exchanged games like never before, and other than the first one (which Tan took by 11-6), the other four games were extremely disputed and tight! As our DTTA Member and friend, Tan, has been playing for many years, experience prevailed in the end. Although, to all players in B Division: Watch out! Also a DTTA Member and good friend, The Goat… is coming! The partials were 11-6, 11-13, 13-11, 13-15 and 11-9 for Tan.

DTTA’s 7th 2015 Quincenal Tournament

Tan vs Chris was also very tight in pretty much all of the first 4 games. After being up 2-1, Tan couldn’t quite close the match in the fourth game. When he was about to close it, Chris made a great comeback and took not only the fourth, but also the fifth and last game very solidly. The partials were 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 11-13 and 4-11 for Chris. These results left “Chris, The Bulgarian”, in first place, followed by Tan, who only lost to Chris, in second place.

The first semifinals match was Tan vs Bika. For this match, Mr Loi made a breakthrough, as he beat Bika in 3 straight games! All of the games were tight, but he still made it in 3. Tan found the precision he didn’t have in prior matches against the Georgian player, particularly when attacking. The partials were 12-10, 11-8 and 12-10.

The other semifinals match was Chris vs Premek. In this match both players played their best, which was a very entertaining match to watch. There were very long and disputed rallies throughout the match! At a game score of 2-2, Premek found a great rhythm from the start of the fifth game, and pretty quickly looked like he had the match in his pocket. But The Bulgarian made another impressive comeback in this match, and after being down 6-10, he changed the story. The partials reflect how hard this match was for both players, but what a happy ending it was for The Bulgarian: 13-11, 6-11, 11-9, 7-11 and 13-11 for Chris.

DTTA’s 7th 2015 Quincenal Tournament

The match for 3rd and 4th place was Bika vs Premek. Once again, Premek couldn’t find his path to beat the “dead” balls that the Georgian player “kindly” sent him 80% of the time. Our Czech friend, instead of brushing the ball carefully, just kept on slamming those dead balls far away -in many cases- from the table. The rest of the time Premek struggled against the side/under spin serves that Bika gave him over and over to the forehand side, setting him up right away for a smash that, most of the time, Bika puts on the table. Bika ended up in third place in this Q Tourney with the partials of 11-7, 11-6 and 11-8.

The finals match was: Tan “Bruce” Loi vs Hristo “Chris, The Bulgarian” Djoumaliev. For this match, Chris was able to deal with the defensive player better than ever. With patience to return the chopped balls with chops of his own and with the precision to go for the attack when he felt confident for it, Chris closed the first two games relatively easy, by 11-7 and 11-5. Tan came back in the third, as Chris started to produce just enough unforced errors. The score in this one was 7-11. When the fourth game started, Tan gained the lead pretty quickly, and before we knew, it seemed like we were going to have a fifth game. At 5-9 (for Tan), suddenly, rallies turned longer, and over and over, the end of every point had the same winner, Chris. The Bulgarian found an impressive rhythm… once again! He returned absolutely everything that our Asian friend gave him, including a few smashes! Chris leveled things to 9-9. The stress was reflected in Tan’s face at that point, giving away what was going to happen. The match was going to end right there. Chris kept on looping and slamming Tan’s last efforts to remain alive, and The Bulgarian closed the match in that fourth game with 11-9. With it, he took home his second QUINCENAL Tourney!

B Division Runner-up – Tan “Bruce” Loi

Congratulations, Hristo! You played so very well in this Q…! Great comebacks! Congrats also to Tan! You are always in the fight for the top in this Division, my friend!

B Division Winner – Hristo “Chris, The Bulgarian” Djoumaliev

A Division had two groups. Group 1 was formed by Basil Ibegbu, Edward Yue, Siva Kumar and Trent Casi.

In this RR group almost all matches were decided in 3 games. An exception was the match of Edward vs Trent, which went to 5 games, with a very impressive win from our DTTA Member, Trent Casi. The partials tell the story on how tight this match was: 5-11, 12-10, 11-7, 8-11 and 8-11.

The last match of the RR was between Basil and Edward. Even though Basil took this one by 3-1, the first 3 games were very, very disputed. In the fourth, however, Basil found a more steady rhythm to close the match against the blocker player. The partials were 11-8, 11-8, 12-14 and 11-4. Since he was undefeated, Basil passed in first place to the next round. The second place was defined by a close game win/loss ratio difference between the other 3 players. But since Ed went to five games with Trent and took one from Basil, Edward was the player passing in second place.

Group 2 of A Division was formed by Nobuyuki “Nobu” Shiogai, Jason Lai, James “Kung” Fu and Carlos Pinzon.

DTTA’s 7th 2015 Quincenal Tournament

In this group most of matches were also decided in 3 games. But worth mentioning is Nobu vs James, which Kung Fu started winning by 8-11. From then on, although in some moments he gave a good fight to Nobu, the Japanese player closed the match in the next 3 games, by 11-9, 11-7 and 11-4.

But Nobu was going to have a greater opponent in Jason Lai this time. Jason was more accurate than usual against the chopper and not only took the first one by 8-11, but gave a brave fight in the second game, as well, which Nobu barely took by 13-11. Jason came back to attack consistently in the third game and, after very long rallies, the third game was for Jason again by 13-15. Nobu changed his strategy a bit from then on and turned around to attack sooner in the next games. It paid off. The penholder, James, could not hold so well the attacks down the line to his backhand, where Nobu closed many of the last points in the fourth and fifth game, which both were for him: 11-8 and 11-8. Nobu finished the RR in first place undefeated, followed by an impressive James “Kung” Fu, who played what was probably his best RR ever.

The first semifinals match was Basil vs James. Although Basil took the first ones, Mr Kung Fu kept playing very well and gave Basil a great fight for the first two games. After that, however, Basil found out how to deal with James and his Kung Fu style, closing the match in the third game easily. The partials were 11-9, 11-9 and 11-3.

The second semifinals match was Nobu vs Edward. Unfortunately for Ed, he couldn’t find a way to create any holes in the more solid defensive game/style of his opponent. Nobu took this match so fast that it didn’t even give us time to enjoy any of it. The partials were 11-4, 11-6 and 11-2.

The match for 3rd and 4th place was now Edward vs James. In this one, Ed had a chance to redeem himself from his prior match. Although it was a great fight from James in the second game, Edward controlled the match with his dead ball blocking style. James really couldn’t handled more than two of those in a row, as his Kung Fu loop is not so consistent. The partials were 11-7, 12-10 and 11-4. Congratulations, Edward! You earned a well deserved 3rd place!

The finals match was Basil vs Nobu. This is already a “classic” at DTTA’s Q Tourneys, with both players very often exchanging victories against each other. This time, right after the first game was over and taken by Nobu with a 6-11 score, it was going to be Basil who’d find the perfect pace for his game. There were great, long rallies, with Basil taking more of a defending position than Nobu, who is, as most around here know, a long pips defender player. Nobu kept delivering loops and smashes, smashes and loops, over and over, and the ball kept coming back and reaching the table from far away! As always, this match made a great show for spectators to watch. Basil wouldn’t stop returning those balls until, in most cases, Nobu would miss. Basil took control of the match starting in the second game, and from then until the end. 11-7, 11-8 and 11-6 were the next scores for the winner of the Q Tourney, who was, once again, Basil Ibegbu!

B Division Runner up – Nobuyuki “Nobu” Shiogai

Congratulations, Basil! You had a very solid performance throughout the whole Tourney! And congrats to you too, Nobu! You guys put on a great show for all of us, as usual!

A Division Winner – Basil Ibegbu

Thank you to all players who participated in our 7th Q Tourney!

Denver Table Tennis Alliance also wants to thank our sponsors:

Butterfly, the best Table Tennis brand in the world. All tournaments at DTTA are played on Butterfly Centrefold ITTF Official tables, and we only use Butterfly 3 Star Premium balls.
Ace.Eat.Serve, a great Asian fusion restaurant in Denver with Ping-Pong fun at the corner of Pennsylvania St and 17th Ave in Uptown Denver.
PepPod, drop, dissolve and drink! The new alternative for energy and nutrition while playing and exercising.
B&B Tradiciones, Travel and Accommodation, the best service for travel and accommodation when visiting Peru. Contact:bbtradiciones@hotmail.com.

We hope to see you all participating in our 8th QUINCENAL Tourney on Saturday, April 18th!
And remember, our 10th Q Tourney is coming! It’ll be our 2nd USATT Sanctioned Tournament at DTTA…! Very soon you’ll be able to sign up for it online to get a spot from the 40 -counting all Divisions- available!

See you all soon!

Angelo Gandullia
Denver Table Tennis Alliance
www.denverttalliance.com