“Golden” Rays under the Florida Sun
By Johnathan Humbles / Bowmar Sports

It was a “golden” day under the bright Florida sun in Orlando – especially for those vying for gold at the 2018 US Open Championships. The Orange County Convention Center in Orlando was host to 551 contestants from across the globe playing in 112 different events. Included with the contestants were approximately 130 International players coming from countries including Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, and Puerto Rico.

In the first full day of competition, there was a gold medal won in the O80-Men’s Doubles event. The finals of this event pitted the founder of Martin-Kilpatrick Table Tennis Company (North American distributor for Butterfly Table Tennis Products), Bowie Martin, SR (NC) and Jack Jacob (MD) against the team of John Shultz (FL) and Martin Theil (PA).

With a combined rating of 3192, and a 264 point rating advantage, the team of Martin, SR and Jacob seemed the be the favored heavy hitters. But that was not the case here. At a combined rating of 2928, Shultz and Theil gave them a run for their money.

Shultz and Theil, started off hot and fast, then appeared to be poised to take the whole game. They outscored Martin and Jacob by eight points to take the first game in their best of 5 series, 11-3.

After the crushing defeat in the first set, a clearly frustrated team, of Martin, Sr and Jacob turned things around. They had awoken their inner beast and took care of business and won the next three consecutive sets. Although, they were not won in as much of a convincing fashion as the first set, Martin, Sr and Jacob secured those three matches 11-9, 11-7, and 11-9 to claim the gold medal for this event.

Also, on tap, finishing in single elimination, for the day were other doubles events featuring the team of Truong Tu (CA) and Vikash Sahu (MD), defeating Brandon Moody (NC) and Gustavo Gonzales (PR), int the O20 doubles. The mini-cadet boys & girls doubles played out, along with the O40 Men’s & Women’s doubles, O60, O80 Men’s doubles.

Concluding in Round Robin play today included the U10 Boy’s & Girls doubles, the O60 Women’s Doubles. O70 Men’s Doubles, also finished up with Hall of Famers, David Sakai (MD) and Dell Sweeris (MI), taking first place in that group.

The Men’s Singles main draw kicks off with the round on 16 on Wednesday morning at 10:30 am est, while the Women’s Singles round of 16 is slated to begin on Tuesday evening at 6:45 pm est. The U-21 Men’s & Women’s singles and the Junior Boy’s & Junior Girls Singles get started on Wednesday as well.

Stay tuned to ButterflyOnline.com for further updates coming to you from the 2018 US Open Championships.