The Manitoba Closed Championships and the third and final Canada winter Games tryouts were held on Saturday December 15^th at Daniel MacIntyre Collegiate.  In the Open Singles final, Biruk Bekele defeated Jeremy Tran in three sets to one; top ranked Matthew Lehmann couldn’t compete due to a University examination.  Jeremy’s backhand seemed to be on fire but his forehand deserted him.  Biruk looked to be in very fine physical condition and Jeremy had no chance without to win without being able to keep forehand pressure on Biruk.  The upsets in the Open were recorded by young Benji Dueck of Morden.  In group play he knocked off Yunyang Deng and followed by Nhoel Manalo in the knock-out stages to claim sixth place overall.  Not bad considering he was ranked 14^th heading into the event.

 
The Boy’s Canada Winter Games tryouts also featured some upsets.  In group play, Jeremy Huang bested number four seed Devin Chong to take top spot in his group.  This gave him a preferred spot in the quarter finals where he bested Jason Li.  Meanwhile, Devin’s loss meant that he would be drawn against a group winner.  As luck of the draw would have it, he drew top seed Jeremy Tran.  Wow, Devin’s game was spot on and he prevailed over Jeremy in a tight 5 setter but lost to Gordon Chow in the semi’s.  So in Boy’s play, top seeded Jeremy Tran finished fifth, Jeremy Huang forth, Devin Chong third, Gordon Chow second and Yunyang Deng was the champion.

 
In Girl’s Under 18 play, Grace Qi claimed top spot and Anna Liu took second; they both had upset wins over Carol-Jean Wong.

Complete results can be found to the right as well as the Circuit Standings after two events and the combined final standings for the three Canada Winter Games tryouts.

 

Ron Edwards Reporting

 

The City of Morden is adding three new outdoor ping pong tables to the line-up of recreation opportunities residents and visitors can enjoy.  The three tables will be set up at the Lake Minnewasta Campground, Morden Park, and at the Access Event Centre.

“We love to bring new options to Morden to help people stay active,” said Morden Community Services and Events Manager, Clare Agnew. “As with tennis, please bring your own paddle and balls if interested in playing ping pong.”

Imperia Management and the Clark Elder Memorial Fund sponsored the purchase of the three ping-pong tables.

“Thank you to Clare Agnew and City of Morden for providing Imperia Group with the opportunity to fund the outdoor ping pong tables. We, at Imperia, are excited to see the growth of the community, and wish that people of many backgrounds will have hours of fun playing ping pong!” said Volodymyr Shynke from Imperia.

“The ping pong tables are a great use of the Clark Elder memorial funds. His sister Brooke Thiessen and I hope that they are a source of community recreational enjoyment for many years to come,” shared Clark’s mom, Cheryl Digby.

The 2018 Canadian Table Tennis Championships were held July 3-8 at the Fortius Sport and Health Centre in Burnaby, BC.   Please read the 'Coach's Corner' for Coach Arvin's report on the event. Congratulations to all Manitoba athletes, coaches and officials!

On April 18-20th the town of Leaf Rapids hosted the Games.  Table tennis was contested along with Snowshoeing, Cross Country Skiing, Badminton, Archery, Basketball and Trap Setting.

Entries this year in the table tennis event were capped at 12 boys and girls in each of the Junior and Senior Varsity categories; thus the top 48 players form the world’s largest school division were present to do battle!  Players were pooled into 4 groups of three for each event with the top 2 advancing from each group to the quarter finals.  When the last ball was struck, the results were as follows:

Junior Girls:
Gold:  Kassidy Tobacco, F.M.S. / Moose Lake
Silver:  Krista Bird, Black River
Bronze:  Tiffany Paul, H.B.O. / Norway House

Senior Girls:
Gold:  Autumn Dixon, H.B.O. / Norway House
Silver:  Shekinah Bradburn, F.C.I. / Cranberry Portage
Bronze:  Juliet Simpson, H.B.O. / Norway House

Junior Boys:
Gold:  Peter Dorion, F.M.S. / Moose Lake
Silver:  Jason McKay, Birdtail Sioux
Bronze:  Parker Apetagon, H.B.O. / Norway House


Senior Boys:
Gold:  Terrence Campbell, F.C.I. / Cranberry Portage
Silver:  Luke Folster, H.B.O. / Norway House
Bronze:  David O’Quinn, M.A.S. / Camperville

Thanks again to Heather Lowe and Brian McMillan from the Frontier School Division who host this amazing event.  Also, Mason Campbell from Wabowden, I am truly sorry that you and your team-mates couldn’t compete…I know you would have given your cousin Terrence a run for his money!

Ron Edwards Reporting

On Saturday April 14th the top 16 Pros’, Juniors, Cadets and >40 Years stars were invited to compete in the $500 TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS.  Invited players accumulated points in the Manitoba Closed, Red River, Golden Boy and Manitoba Open events.  This prestigious event is our season “finale” and our last event before we select teams for the Canadian Championships and Sitco Team events.

In the “Pro-Open” event, Terry “Tian” Zhang was coming off three straight victories in the Closed, Golden Boy and Manitoba Open events.  As per at the Open, his final opponent was the always cagey Biruk Bekele.  This time round, Biruk had a relatively easy 4-2 final romp to claim the TOC Pro-Open Title and cash and trophy.  However, the win left him still in second place overall in the Circuit Standings with young Jeremy Tran nipping at his heels…

…speaking of Jeremy, for the third Circuit tournament in a row he came up short against arch-rival Yunyang “The Hammer” Deng losing easily at -3, -8, 6 and -7.  Jeremy, however, did best Yunyang 2x at the recent Canada Winter Games tryouts so the fierce rivalry continues.

The biggest surprise occurred in the >40 Years Active 4 Life event.  Perennial powerhouse and 2016 Canadian Champion in Men’s >50 – Michal Rybak – failed to advance to the final.  He was bounced in the semi’s by P.C.C.M. player Nhoel Manalo who lost in the final to club-mate Thadeus Jimenez.

In the Cadet Singles event, young Benji Dueck from the Morden Table Tennis Club took home the title besting Ben Vu in a close 5 games.  Benji’s coolness under pressure reaffirmed that his recent Canada Winter Games tryout results (4th overall) was not a fluke and the result moved him into a tie for second in the Cadet Circuit standings.

The Winnipeg & District Super League counts for double weighting in the Circuit and so it is the last chance for players to earn points towards the final season ending cash payouts…young Jeremy Tran is apparently already smacking his lips together in anticipation of a big payday….COMPLETE RESULTS ARE ATTACHED LOWER RIGHT-SIDE.

Next up for players is the Sitco Team event in Saskatchewan on the May long weekend followed by the Canadian Championships in July.

Ron Edwards Reporting

Again, the level of play was improved over the previous season with all of the best 3 out of 5 matches well contested.  The only negative was that the number of “legal” paddles used was at about an all time low…many, many players with straight wood paddles or those with the top rubber sheets peeled off. 

Results:

Girl’s Singles:

Gold:  Maureen Thompson, Philomene Chartrand School, Camperville;

Silver:  Jane Bird, Black River Anishinabe School, O’Hanley;

Bronze:  Chantara Ettawakapow, Frontier Mosakahiken School, Moose Lake.

Boy’s Singles:

Gold:  Bradley Branth, Chan Kagha Otina Dakota Wayawa Tipi School, Birdtail;

Silver:  T. J. Menard, Philomene Chartrand School, Camperville;

Bronze:  Jamie Anderson, Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw Education Resource Centre, Norway House.

Thanks to former Provincial Team player Ted Smook for helping run the event and for all of his expertise and patience for playing countless points against countless challengers.  Also thanks to Brian MacMillan and Heather Lowe for having the M.T.T.A. up to help run this outstanding Manitoba sporting event.

Ron Edwards Reporting

The details for the 2018 Mantioba Winter Games (schedule, results, volunteering opportunties) can be found here.

See CBC article about the 'little' sport doing big things at a Toronto retirement home -  here.

Arvin Tronco, MTTA Head Coach will host a one day work-shop for all players, parents, teachers, parks & rec. workers who want to learn how to teach beginners the sport of table tennis.  Click here for more information and registration form.

The Golden Boy Open was held this past February 10th at Daniel MacIntyre Collegiate lower gymnasium.  Players from Winnipeg, Interlake and Central sport regions contested the medals.  In the Pro-Open Singles, 30 players competed.  Matches from the group stage through to the finals were hard fought.  2019 Canada Winter Games hopeful Jeremy Tran had an up and down tournament.  After easily losing the Youth final to team-mate Yunyang Deng in straight sets (-5, -6, -7) he played the match of his life to best 2016-2017 Circuit Champion Biruk Bekele in the semi-finals in seven games.  The champ was knocked out and Jeremy advanced to face the always dangerous Terry “Tian” Zhang in the final.  No contest, an exhausted Jeremy lost to Terry in 4 straight games.  Newcomer Richard Elendu continued to impress by making it three out of three for reaching the finals in the Active 4 Life > 40 years event.  This time however, 2016 > 5o Years Canadian Champion Michal Rybak was absent and Richard was up against Thadeus Jimemez.  Thadeus prevailed in a close four setter.  The youngsters from Morden continue to improve with Benji Dueck taking second in the Cadet A Division losing to Jason Li and his teammate Joel Geake took bronze in the Cadet second division.  Top female players Phuong Nguyen lost her ¼ final match in the Pro-Open and Anna Liu took 2nd spot in the Cadet B Division.  The next open tournament is the Manitoba Open on March 17th & 18th.  Complete results and Circuit Standings are located to the right.

Ron Edwards Reporting

This past January 20-21 the MTTA sent our top 3 junior boys to participate in the CANADA CUP held at the Fortious Sports and Health Centre in Burnaby, British Columbia.  It was a great experience for Jeremy Tran, Yunyang Deng and Gordon Chow to play in such a competitive tournament where they had a chance to measure their skills against some of Canada’s best players.

Jeremy reached the round of 16 in the U-2150 rating event and the round of 32 in the MEN’S OPEN; 51 players entered this event.  Yunyang and Gordon both advanced to the round of 32 in the U-1750 rating event and were knocked out of their groups in Men’s Singles play.  Yunyang got an opportunity to play against Canadian #14 Meng Gu from British Columbia and did a great job of not giving up any easy points… he made some incredible shots with his “cold blooded backhand drive” and had Meng shaking his head wondering where these backhands were coming from.  Gordon showed his “never back down” mentality against some good players and never got intimidated regardless of whom he was playing against.  Jeremy played at a high level losing his round of 32 Men’s match 13-11 in the fifth game to a player from Alberta.

In general, it was a perfect event to gain experience on how to play in a high-level environment.  It was also an eye opening for our junior boys to motivate themselves to grind hard in practice because there are a lot of good players they know about and maybe some others from other provinces that they don’t;  they must be prepared to play their best against all-comers.

Coach Tronco Reporting

With over 130 tables in one venue, show courts, vendor displays, and more than 850 athletes from over 25 countries - the US Open it is a sight to behold!   There are table tennis events for all athletes and all levels - with rating events, age group events, team events, doubles, singles and even
`sandpaper` and `hard bat`events.

This year the US Open was held in Las Vegas December 17-22 (a great time to escape Manitoba's winter!).

MTTA officials were at the US Open in full force.   Like athletes, International Umpires need to be at the top of their game, and that experience comes from officiating at top level events.   Darek Mikita, Greg Dzioba, Royle Derbitsky, and Gregory Chan were in Las Vegas to officiate and to be evaluated which is required to achieve and maintain their Blue Badge and White Badge designations.

With athletes from BC, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba, Canada was well represented.

Manitoba athlete, Matthew Lehmann, focused on doubles at the US Open.   In Mens Doubles, teamed with Edison Huang (BC), the MB/BC team reached the quarter finals.   The MB/BC team was up 2-0 against eventual finalists Kanak Jha and Bob Chen of the US.   The fourth game was a 15-13 loss, giving Jha and Chen a run for their money, but Lehmann and Huang ended with a 4-2 loss.

In mixed doubles, Lehmann was teamed with Andrea Pavlovic (Croatia).   Lehmann and Pavlovic had the unfortunate luck of meeting eventual US Open mixed doubles champions Kohei Morimoto and Yuki Shoji (Japan), losing 4-1 in the round of 32.   [Of note, Morimoto was a finalist in Men's Singles, and Shoji won Women's Singles.].


From a spectator standpoint, the US Open is always a fun tournament with so many interesting people, easy access from the hotels to the venue, and a chance to watch high-level table tennis.

Mark Lehmann reporting

On Saturday November 18th, young Terry Zhang was up 3-0 in the best of seven final against wily veteran Biruk Bekele when somehow the unthinkable happened and he dropped 4 straight games to lose in the Pro-Open final 3-4…”really?...people were thinking…”Terry, up three straight and he lost?” What was going on?

Well, on Saturday December 16th, the Manitoba Closed Pro-Open final again featured Terry against Biruk. In the semi’s, Terry made it past former #7 Woman’s player in Canada Rongge Zhang with a convincing 4-1 win; however, Rongge was far from top form…but that’s a story for another day. Biruk meanwhile, dropped up-and-comer Jeremy Tran in 4 straight sets; young Jeremy still doesn’t have the strength nor power nor guile to best the big boys. On to the final…an exciting seven-setter 11-5, 4-11, 11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 7-11, 11-7. Well done Terry to outlast the always dangerous Biruk who seems to be playing better and better…if only Coach Tronco could get him into the gym more often so that when the Nationals rolls around he could compete for the Canadian title?

In the Youth final, Jeremy bested Phuong Nguyen in 4 sets after Phuong bested each of Harkaran Singh-Sohal and Yunyang Deng in 5 sets in the quarters and semi’s respectively.

The Active 4 Life final was a repeat of the Red River final with Michal Rybak besting newcomer Richard Elendu in straight sets. Richard promises to figure in the Pro-Open mix in the future once he gets his physical conditioning in order.

Canada Winter Games female hopefull Anna Liu bested a fast improving Jason Li 3-0 to capture her first Cadet Singles crown.

Sweet revenge and more dollars flowed into Terry’s pocket as he and Gordon Chow bested Biruk and Michal Rybak in the open doubles final.

Complete results are attached below right.

Next up for Manitoba is the US Open Championships where Matthew Lehmann is competing for Manitoba and Canada and we have four International Umpires there as well…Darek Mikita, Gregory Chan, Greg Dzioba and Royle Derbitsky.

Cheers for the holiday season,

Ron Edwards Reporting

Biruk Bekele was the Pro-Open Singles Circuit Champion for the 2016-2017 season. However, some argued that he was “King by Default” in that “Crown Prince” Terry “Tian” Zhang only played in 3 out of 5 events last year and he won all three finals over the King. Saturday, at the Red River Open, hosted in the bowels of Daniel MacIntyre Collegiate, it looked like the King was about to drop his crown. Having lost the first three games in the best of seven by scores of -4,-7 and -5, King Bekele somehow won the next four games in a row by scores or 10, 5, 10 and 8 leaving the large crowd of onlookers speechless. Terry was up 3-0, how could he lose?...it is table tennis, things happen in the blink of an eye! Well done to both players for an excellent match played. In the Active 4 Life, >40 Years, Michal Rybak was in top form defeating this time not Alex Mendoza (who had to work) but rather newcomer Richard Elendu who made it to his first finals. Jeremy Tran defeated Phuong Nguyen to capture the Youth <21 Years crown and Sparsh Agrawal defeated Jeremy Huang to capture the Cadet title. Well done to all players and I hope to see everyone out at the Manitoba Closed on Saturday December 16th. Complete results can be found to the right.


Ron Edwards Reporting.

The Rady JCC is recruiting Jewish athletes to be a part of the Team Winnipeg delegation joining over 2,000 participants at the JCCA Maccabi Games August 5-10, 2018 in Orange County, CA.!  More details can be found here.  

At the Angby International Table Tennis tournament in Stockholm (November 3-5), Matthew Lehmann had the home court advantage with his Angby club cheering him to victory in the Mens Category 1 Singles.   In other play, Matthew took the eventual winner of the U21 Men's singles to the fifth game before bowing out in the second round of Men's U21.

Matthew will continue to train in Sweden this month and compete in the Stockholm Closed, as well as the ITTF Swedish Open, before returning to Bulgaria for team match play.

Ron Edwards Reporting

Cheers in store for M.T.T.A. Head Coach Arvin Tronco and his wife Gerardine on the birth of their baby daughter Marizza!

Our Annual General Meeting was a big hit on Thursday, Oct. 5th. With such a big turnout, it was to my surprise that everyone came on time, which turned out to be an exciting and organized AGM. Ronnie Edwards, our Executive Director, was a little upset that so many people came and ate most of the food before he could get his hands on some himself. Everyone knows how the AGM goes, we do the awards ceremony and then discuss what’s in store for the up-coming season. There were a lot of familiar faces we haven’t seen in a while, so it took some time for everyone to get settled in and focused on the meeting.

Starting with the awards presentations, can I just say what we were all thinking? Wow did Biruk Bekele look handsome! He really rocked that blue suit. Congrats on that bronze medal at Nationals Biruk! Biruk and 16 other athletes - 17 including the coach - received the Order of Excellence award. A few people were unable to make it, but they still deserved it nonetheless. Speaking of someone who was unable to make it, Jeremy Tran had one of the biggest nights of his life! Winning not one, not two, but five awards! That’s got to be some kind of record? One of the first awards he won was first place in the League standings, with Alex Mendoza, Czar Caguoia, Naomi Tran and myself behind him. Biruk, showing off that flashy blue suit, came up to receive the Pro-Open Circuit Singles Overall Champion award with Jeremy Tran taking in second place. It’s great to see that the “Active 4 Life” (>40 Years) athletes are still working hard and competing with the same amount, or with maybe even more intensity, than us younger athletes and that Alex Mendoza finally rose to the top and beat out Michal Rybak for the overall Over 40 Category. Youth Singles Overall Champion was Jeremy Tran and Yunyang Deng in second place…with Jeremy winning another award, his sister Naomi was getting a little dizzy going back and forth in his place. Congrats to Ben Vu for being the Cadet Singles Overall Champion and Sparsh Agrawal for coming in for a close second.

Now, on to the bigger awards.

One of our Filipino members shocked everyone and gained 694 points this season winning the Most Improved Player award - congratulations to Irwin Raymundo. Junior Male of the Year went to, you guessed it, Jeremy Tran. Junior Female of the Year went to a small but energetic young athlete who has always been dedicated to table tennis and was shocked when she won the award, Ms. Anna Liu. Volunteer of the Year went to a very deserving coach who helped Coach Arvin and I out a lot last season, Mr. Meng Yu. For the Mike Partyka award, I’d like to give thanks to the Executive and to everyone else for the endless support and for honoring me with this award. The Liam Barclay Junior Sportsmanship Award went to two individuals who were always in the gym and who were eager to learn and play…these two athletes absolutely deserved this award! Congrats to Kieran Buchberger and Nibusha Loganathan. Another young athlete who loves the sport and was very dedicated to the league was Hongjun Feng. Congrats for winning the “Ironman” award for the most matches played in the District League last season. Everyone should follow Hongjun’s example and come out to league every Friday night! Last, but not least, Jeremy Tran winning the last award there was to win…the “Player of the Year Award”. Jeremy may have been a little distant from the gym at the start of the season but for the second half of the season he was one of the most dedicated athletes. It was a bummer you had to miss the AGM, but it was clear that your hard work throughout the season paid off. Congrats again and keep up the hard work!

Congratulations once again to all the winners of last year’s season. You guys and gals should be proud of your accomplishments. For the people who didn’t receive an award, this should give you motivation to get in the gym more and work even harder this upcoming season. Let’s all have a goal to become more present in the gym and more focused when we’re at practice and to keep a consistent level of intensity throughout the entire season.

The last portion of the meeting was dedicated to the annual update of the Executive and Committee teams. Somehow, my mom unintentionally got me onto the Executive while knocking herself out. There were a couple changes to the Executive members this year. Royle Derbitsky went from Secretary to Secretary/Treasurer. Don Kokan went from being the Athlete Representative to one of the Member’s at Large. While my mom wanted the Athlete Representative position, I was nominated in her place because only an athlete could have the position, sorry mom! The last change to the Executive was adding a second Member at Large position that went to long-time member Gregory Chan. Darek Mikita, Greg Dzioba and Osama Zaki retained their senior positions. A complete listing can be found to the top-right side of www.mtta.ca.

Overall, this was one of the more successful AGMs we have had in a long time and it was a terrific way to start off the 2017-2018 season. Hope to see everyone out at the gyms and tournaments!

Phuong Nguyen Reporting

This past October 14-15 weekend, Matthew Lehmann from Winnipeg competed in the Albena Open on the shores of the Black Sea in Bulgaria. Matthew had former M.T.T.A. Head Coach Milcho Uzunov in his corner as he reached the semi-finals in the Men’s Open event against world ranked players from Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine and Romania. Coach Uzunov said Matthew’s attack was very effective as he won all three of his qualifying group matches and then three more elimination-round matches until bowing out in the semi’s. Matthew now returns to his Austrian training base, as he prepares for matches with his Swedish club in Stockholm. However, he will return to Bulgaria later in the fall to compete with Milcho for the “Nedelino” Team in the Bulgarian Super League. They will both be eagerly watched by former M.T.T.A. Head Coach George Damianov. Both Milcho and George miss Canada and their former players and pass on their regards to Terry, William, Freddy, Victor, Carol-Jean, Victoria, Gordon, Euwe, Jacie, Naomi, Jeremy, Phuong, Tina, Bryanna, Kaitlyn, Shaelynn…Milcho says they apologize to those they missed as they had such a good time with the lot of you and he was saddened that so many had quit our great sport.

Ron Edwards Reporting

Hello all Manitoba Table Tennis enthusiasts. Well, school is back in class so that means that table tennis is not far behind! We are still awaiting word from several school divisions on some facilities…but, in general, the gyms, time-slots and programming will be about the same as last year. I hope that most clubs will open the week of September 18th and our first tournament is scheduled for November 18th.

There will be some minor fee increases this year due to both some funding cuts from the Provincial government to sport as well as some school divisions increasing user fees. MORE INFORMATION WILL BE POSTED IN THE COMING WEEKS AS PROGRAMMING FINALIZED.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 5TH, 6 PM, SPORT FOR LIFE CENTRE, 145 PACIFIC AVENUE: ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND AWARDS PRESENTATION FOR 2016-2017 SEASON…HOPE TO SEE YOU OUT!

Ron Edwards

Executive Director

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2013-2014 news and articles can be found here.

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