The 19th World Veteran Championships is underway at the Las Vegas Convention Center, in Las Vegas, NV.  The event began on June 18 and will finish with the finals of most events on Sunday. Friday was the start of the knock-out rounds for many of the events.  The quarterfinals and semifinals for most events will be Saturday.  This event has drawn nearly 5,000 players from 97 countries.  A quick review of some of the results on Friday follows:

In the Men’s Over 40 Singles, the quarterfinal matches are Eric Durand (France) v. Morten Knudsen (Denmark), Mingwei Ju (USA) v. Isma Harinto (Indonesia), Herve Durand (France) v. Wojciech Tebecia (Poland), and Jan Hrncirik (Czech Rep) v. Serge Mertens (Belgium).  USA’s Mingwei has yet to lose a game, winning all of his previous three matches 3-0 (over Lipphardt of Germany, Kant of Estonia, and Graf of the Czech Republic).

The Women’s Over 40 Singles is to the Round of 16.  Ma Wei of Canada is the only North American remaining. Ma defeated Janne Jensen of Denmark in a tough 3-2 match.

Men’s Over 40 Doubles will match the team of Thomas Keinath (Slovakia) and Jiri Graf (Czech Republic) against the Turkish team of Murat Eris and Saim Polatkan in one Semifinal and the French team of Eric and Herve Durand against the Indonesian team of Ismu Harinto and Dian Jacobs in the other Semifinal.

The American team of Gao Yanjun and Shao Yu advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to the Turkish team.  The American Team of Tahl Leibovitz and Barney Reed advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to the French team.  And the American team of Asaf Azarsky and Randy Seemiller advanced to the round of 16 before losing to a Czech team.

In Men’s Over 50 Singles, Swedes Jorgen Persson and Erik Lindh have both made it to the quarterfinals.  Two Americans will join them, as both Tuan Le and Niraj Oak have advanced to the final eight as well. Five-time US Champion David Zhuang and Nigerian Olympian Atanda Musa (who now lives in the US) are both through to the quarterfinals in the Over 55 Men’s Singles.  In the Men’s Over 60, Americans Li Yuxiang, Cheng Yinghua, Liu Hui Yuan, and Dan Seemiller have all advanced to the Round of 16.

In the Over 65 Men’s Singles event, Americans Parvis Mojaverian and Ming Chan and Candian Pang Zhan Hua have advanced to the Round of 16.  In the Over 70 Men’s Singles event, Alireza Hejazi and David Sakai are both representing the USA through to the Round of 16.  USA’s Chang Wang has reached the Round of 16 in the Over 75 Men’s Singles event.   The Over 80 event has five Americans in the final 16:  Peter Chan, Richard Hicks, Yueh Yun Lu, Ray Pestridge, and Chong Tay.  Canadian Thomas Ho has advanced in Over 80 as well.  The US will be well represented in the Over 90 Men’s Singles as well, as USA’s Si Wasserman will face China’s Yongning Chen, and USA’s Tan Tsu Sheng will face Czech Republic’s Lumir Ruzha.

A pair of Canadians have made it to the Round of 16 in the Women’s Over 50 singles: May Huang and Barbara Chiu.  USA’s Lily Yip is in the Round of 16 in the Over 55 singles event.  USA’s Min Zhu has also advanced through to the final 16 in the Over 60 event.  Three Americans have advances to the final 16 in the Over 65 event: Ting Ning Cheung, Tahereh Roufeh, and Yan Jun Ge. Donna Sakai, Connie Sweeris, and Fumi Christensen are all through to the Round of 16 in Over 70 Women’s Singles.  Monica Sung and Ann Alvarez are both representing the US through to the Round of 16 in Over 75 Women’s Singles.

Check in with ButterflyOnline.com for updates throughout the event.