(by Steve Hopkins)

The 4-Star Butterfly Puerto Rico Open Teams Tournament will be played next weekend. Action is set to begin in San Juan this Friday with teams jockeying for position on Friday before being split into Divisions that will play out on Saturday and Sunday.  The format is 3-person teams playing in a Swaythling Cup best-of-9 format.

There are currently 33 players with USATT ratings over 2400 entered.  I added “currently” because this is a truly international event and the list of players includes 137 unrated players.  The event is sanctioned by both USATT and the Puerto Rico Table Tennis Federation.  In addition to entries from Puerto Rico and the US, there are also teams entered from Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Barbados, Sweden, and Germany.

Some of the highest ranked players include Zhou Xin, Brian Afanador, Adriana Diaz, Lily Zhang, Daniel Gonzalez, Sid Naresh, Shigang Yang, and Angel Naranjo.

Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the US.  Its Caribbean location is ideal for vacations and visitors have options that include mountains and waterfalls and a tropical rainforest as well as historic San Juan with Spanish colonial buildings and forts.  Add in the great food, the clubs, and the casinos and there is something for just about everyone.  If you and your family missed this tournament this year, put it on your calendar for next year.

Updates will be posted at ButterflyOnline.com throughout the event.