2019 - 2020 Information

MTTA Programs and Services

Clubs, Programs and Places to Play

Program Sign-up Form (coming soon)

Membership Form

2019 -2020
Manitoba Competitions Information and Entry Forms

Competition Dates:

Manitoba Tournament Circuit Overview

Winnipeg and District League

November 16 - Red River Open

December 14 - Manitoba Closed

February 8 - Golden Boy Open

March 21 & 22 - Manitoba Open

April 18 - Tournament of Champions

March 4-6 - Frontier Games, Pine Creek

April 22-24 - Frontier High School Championships, Norway House

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Officials

Information to prepare to become a table tennis official can be found on the Officials Page.

Officials Page

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PARTNER LINKS

MTTA SPONSORS

CALENDAR: CLUB AND EVENT DATES UPDATED REGULARLY

Click the icon below to go to our new Facebook page!

Christmas and New Years 2019 Table Tennis Training Camp

MTTA hosted a Christmas and New Years Training Camp at the new Prairie Badminton Club.
MTTA athlete Matthew Lehmann and Czech coach Tomas Demek dropped by one afternoon and helped out Coach Tronco. Tomas, a former German Bundesliga player, and former Czech National team coach (who coached the Czech team to several Table Tennis World Championship medals, and coached at the Olympics) is now the coach at TTC Ostrava where Matthew is currently training. Matthew and Tomas enjoyed working with the MTTA athletes and wish them a good upcoming season!

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Winnipeg & District Super League Mid-Season Report:

The Winnipeg & District Super League is up and running. It is quite competitive this year with 5-6 Groups competing every Friday night at Daniel McIntyre Collegiate School. After 6 weeks of play “Mr. Trick Shot” Juan Tangle Jr. sits at the Top of the league standings with the record of 16 wins and only 1 defeat…dealt by Benji Dueck from Morden. In second place and still fighting to earn the top spot is Jeremy Huang, one of our Provincial Squad member U-18 Boys . It is also impressive to see Grace Qi and Nibusha Loganathan two of our Provincial Squad members in the U-15 girls wrapping up at 3^rd and 5^th spots. These two girls are on fire giving their best to give every single opponent a hard time.

We still have a long way to go before the League Season ends so what are you guys waiting for… there’s a plenty of time to catch up! See you next time! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in advance to everyone.

Arvin Tronco reporting…

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Provincial Closed Titles Decided

The Manitoba Closed Table Tennis Championships were held this past Saturday December 14^th at Daniel MacIntrye Collegiate. This was the second of five events that along with the Winnipeg & District Super League make up the $2,000 Manitoba Circuit. Referees for this event were Gregory Chan and his daughter Francesca. Along with umpires Royle Derbitsky, Norman Tran, Michael Huang and others, they assured players of a great competition experience. When the last ball was spun, the event titles were distributed as follows:

Pro “A” Sgls: Biruk Bekele def. Yi Fan Lu 11-2,9-11,11-7,11-9
“B” Sgls: Takeo Gagro def. Jiecong Wang 11-13,13-11,12-10,11-8
“C”Sgls : Grace Qi def. Raul Bernales 11-8,5-11,11-5,11-6
“D” Sgls: Terry Xu def. Alexus Lee 11-8,11-2,7-11,11-6
“E” Sgls: Avery Catigay def. Mena Tawfilous 11-6,11-6,11-2

Jr. Boys “A” Sgls: Jeremy Huang def. Jason Li 11-9, 9-11,11-9,14-12
Jr. Boys “B” Sgls: Edward Wang def. Xiao Zhang 11-8,11-3,11-3
Jr. Girls “A” Sgls: G. Qi def. Nibusha Loganathan 11-2,11-9,11-8
Jr. Girls “B” Sgls: Sarah Dong def. A. Lee 8-11,11-6,11-7,11-9

>40 Yrs. “A” Sgls: B. Bekele def. Thadeus Jimenez 11-3,11-6,9-11,11-1
>40 Yrs. “B” Sgls: R. Bernales def. Irwin Raymundo 11-6,11-7,12-14,11-8

Pro “A” Dbls: B. Bekele/ J. Li def. Y.F. LU/ J. Huang 4-11,11-8,4-11,11-3,11-9
“B” Dbls: R. Bernales/ Andi Ingenfeld def. Lee Kin Pong/ Rick Ward (St. Andrews) 11-9,11-5,6-11,11-9

Congratulations to all of the event finalists and I look forward to seeing everyone at the next event on Saturday February 8^th. CIRCUIT STANDINGS have been updated and are linked HERE!

Ron Edwards Reporting

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Fundamentals of Table Tennis - School Profile:
Valley Gardens Junior High

On Thursday October 3^rd, M.T.T.A. Athlete Development Director travelled with the “Robo-Pong” to Valley Gardens Junior High School. There he conducted a table tennis clinic for 20 members of the Valley Gardens table tennis club. Teacher Liz Edwards obtained her Level 1 N.C.C.P. coaching license back in 1997 and has been doing table tennis ever since at the schools she has taught in: Wayoata, Arthur Day and now Valley Gardens. This clinic jump-started an 8-week program that ran every Tuesday and Thursday at lunch-time in the school’s lower track-activities area. The school has about a dozen tables in varying conditions. At the end of the program, Mrs. Edwards conducted a tournament for the kids. Congratulations to the top four players of: Kaiden Almonte, Jordan Jones, Anno Do and Tyson Wickman.

Any schools requesting clinics should contact Coach Tronco at 204-925-5943b.

Ron Edwards Reporting

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MTTA Officials at ITTF Events

Greg Dzioba and Gregory Chan officiated at the ITTF North American (Open) in December, 2019.

Also read about Darek Mikita's (MTTA President), experience as an official at the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals here.

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Christmas 2019 Table Tennis Training Camps

Hello everyone, Christmas and the New Year season is fast approaching. For some people it is a time to rest and relax and travel with family-i.e. they are not available for training camps, however, for others, they wish for us to host training camps. The following camps will be held this season:

MTTA Advanced Camp: This will be a four-day camp for advanced level players (ie Hopefulls and Squads) and players will be invited by Coach Tronco to attend in the coming days. The camp fee will be $190 and will be held from 8:30-3:30 pm each of Monday and Tuesday December 30 and 31 and Thursday and Friday January 2^nd and 3^rd. Schedule: 8:30 drop-off/ 9-11:30 am morning session/ 11:30 – 1 pm lunch break/ 1-3:30 pm afternoon session. Head Coach for this camp is Provincial Team Head Coach Arvin Tronco and the camp will be held at Prairie Badminton.

Prairie Badminton Beginner & Intermediate Level Camp: This camp will be designed for beginner to intermediate level players of all ages. It is an “open” camp that all can sign up for. The hours and location is the same as for the Advanced camp and the coach for this camp is Mr. Juan Tagle Jr. Information about this camp can be found in the poster below:

Other Camps: As we learn of other camps, we will post that information here.

Thank you.

Ron Edwards
Executive Director
Manitoba Table Tennis Association

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Manitoba Coaches Photogenic Poster-Models?

Last February our coaches at the Canada Winter Games were Arvin Tronco and Phuong Nguyen…at the Games, they attracted the attention of the paparazzi…here below are pictures of them standing beside a picture of themselves in action being used for a Canada-wide campaign for the Coaching Association of Canada called “Responsible Coaching Movement.” Congrats to Phuong and Arvin for their “famousness”

…LOL…Ron Edwards Reporting.

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Red River Open Kicks Off $2,000 Manitoba Circuit

The 2019 Red River Open Championship was held this past Saturday November 16^th at Daniel MacIntrye Collegiate in Winnipeg. The event attracted players from 3 of Manitoba’s 5 sport regions: Winnipeg, South and East. Results from events count towards Manitoba & Canadian ratings/ rankings system as well as for standings in the $2,000 Manitoba Tournament Circuit.

Biruk Bekele, ranked 6^th in Manitoba, was the big winner on Saturday. He bested #5 ranked Yi Fan Lu in straight sets to take home the Open Singles crown. He then defeated #13 ranked Thadeus Jimenez to take the >40 Years crown also in straight sets. In the Open Doubles, he partnered with unheralded Takeo Gagro to also win this title in a gripping 5 set battle over Yi Fan Lu and Jason Li…score 16-14 in the 5^th!

The Junior Boy’s and Junior Girl’s Circuit events also had some tight, tight matches and overall, I was impressed with the ever increasing level of play. Jeremy Huang bested Jason Li in the boys final in a thrilling 4 setter with Jeremy sealing the deal in game four 19-17! In girls play, Grace Qi bested Nibusha Loganathan in straight sets. Complete results can be found to the lower right and the next event takes place on Saturday December 14^th.

Ron Edwards Reporting

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Winnipeg Table Tennis Centre Hosts Kids Tournament

Details for the TD Bank Cup can be found here.

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2019 - 2020 Table Tennis Clubs and Programs

All of our permits have now been finalized and our programs are now up and running. Now that all dates and locations have been finalized, the registration forms will be prepared and mailed out to all of last year’s members and new players. They will also be posted on the website...this process might take 2-3 weeks. In the meantime, feel free to come out and knock the ball around. The 2019-2020 MEMBERSHIP FORM is available to be downloaded, as is the information sheet on the TD BANK CUP being hosted by the Winnipeg Table Tennis Training Centre on October 26 & 27. This is a new event for kids!

TOURNAMENTS: $2,000 MANITOBA CIRCUIT EVENTS

The dates for our 5 MAJOR TOURNAMENTS are listed below. Events held at each will be Open Singles, Open Doubles, Active 4 Life >40 Years Singles, Junior Boys and Junior Girls Singles < 18 years. All of these events will branch into A,B, C divisions etc…so events for all ages, all levels of play. Results from the first 4 tournaments are tabulated for each event and the top 16 players in each category are invited to the season ending “Tournament of Champions”. Final results from the Winnipeg & District Super League are added to determine our overall Circuit Winners. RESULTS COUNT FOR SELECTION OF MANITOBA PROVINCIAL TEAMS. Registration fees remain the same as previous years and we will be accepting PAYMENT BY E-TRANSFER. THE WEDENSDAY ENTRY DEADLINES WILL BE STRICTLY ENFORCED THIS YEAR!

Saturday November 16^th, Red River Open Championships, Dan. Mac. Collegiate lower gym.
Saturday December 14^th, Manitoba Closed Championships, Dan. Mac. Collegiate lower gym.
Saturday February 8^th, Golden Boy Open Championships, Dan. Mac. Collegiate lower gym.
Saturday & Sunday March 21^st & 22^nd Manitoba Open Championships, Dan. Mac. Collegiate lower gym.
Saturday April 18^th, Tournament of Champions, Dan. Mac. Collegiate lower gym.

PARTNER TOURNAMENT: Saturday & Sunday October 26^th & 27^th is the TD BANK CUP organized by the Winnipeg Table Tennis Training Centre (WTTTC), 545 Hervo Street. This tournament has events for under 8, under 12 and under 18 year-old players. T

DAYS, CLUBS & PROGRAMS: (Here is what is set-up so far-program/ location/ start-date/ fees/ Coach info.)

Mondays, Dufferin Lower Gym, A4Life/ Rec. Practice Program, 6:30 - 10:00 pm, start date September 30^th.
Tuesdays, Cornerstone Alliance Church, Junior Developmental Coaching, 6-7:30 pm, starts Tuesday September 24^th, registrations now open, contact Arvin Tronco, MTTA.
Tuesdays, Cornerstone Alliance Church, Hopefulls & Squads Training, 7:30-10:00 pm, starts Tuesday September 24^th, attendance by selection only, contact Arvin Tronco, MTTA.
Tuesdays, John Pritchard School Jackson Gym, A4Life/ Rec. Practice Program, 6:30- 10:00 pm, start date October 1st, contact MTTA.
Tuesdays, Champlain Community Centre, A4Life/ Rec. Practice Program, 6:30- 8:30 pm, start date October 1st, contact MTTA or Shawn Vincent, tabletennis@champlaincc.ca
Wednesdays, Crescentwood Community Centre Small Gym, A4Life/ Rec. Practice Program, 1-3 pm, start date October 2^nd , contact MTTA.
Thursdays, Cornerstone Alliance Church, Junior Developmental Coaching, 6-7:30 pm, starts Thursday September 19^th, registrations now open, contact Arvin Tronco, MTTA. NO PRACTICE OCT. 3^RD AGM!
Thursdays, Cornerstone Alliance Church, Hopefulls & Squads Training, 7:30-10:00 pm, starts Thursday September 19^th, attendance by selection only, contact Arvin Tronco, MTTA. NO PRACTICE OCT. 3^RD AGM!
Thursdays, Dufferin Lower Gym, A4Life/ Rec. Practice Program, 6:30 - 10:00 pm, start date October 10th, contact MTTA.
Fridays, Dan. Mac. Lower Gym, Winnipeg & District Super League, 6:30-9:30 pm, open to all players all ages all levels, start date November 1^st, open practice for all players month of October.
Saturdays, Crescentwood Community Centre Small Gym, Junior Developmental Coaching, 12:30-2 pm, starts Saturday October 5^th , registrations now open, contact Arvin Tronco, MTTA or Leisure Guide page 24.
Saturdays, Prairie Badminton Centre, A4Life/ Rec. Practice Program, 1-3:30 pm, registrations now open, fees paid to Prairie Badminton, MTTA Max-Pac Active 4 Life Members get discounted rates, www.prairiebadminton.ca
Sundays, Prairie Badminton Centre, A4L Challenge Ladder, 6-9 pm, all ages & abilities, registrations now open, fees paid to Prairie Badminton, MTTA Max-Pac Active 4 Life Members get discounted rates, sanctioned for MTTA & TTC ratings/ rankings, www.prairiebadminton.ca
Sundays, Champlain Community Centre, A4Life/ Rec. Practice Program, 6:30- 8:30 pm, start date October 1st, contact MTTA or Shawn Vincent, tabletennis@champlaincc.ca

PROGRAMS & FEES:

Active 4 Life/ Recreational Practice Program: Program open to players all ages, all abilities. Fees to pay is “Active” Membership Fee ($25 adult/ $15 Jr. <18 years) plus “Max-Pac” $100 for unlimited play at MTTA clubs or “Quarter-Pac” $50 for 25 visits or “Ten-Pac” $30 for 10 visits to MTTA Clubs. MTTA “Max-Pac” holders will receive discounted rates at partner clubs Prairie Badminton on Sat & Sun & Champlain CC on Sunday.
Junior Developmental Coaching Program: Program for all kids & youth to learn basics of table tennis. Fees to pay are $15 Active Membership plus $85 for one practice per week for the fall block or $170 for 2 or more practices per week. Program is overseen by MTTA Head Coach Arvin Tronco. Kids that take lessons can play for free at A4L clubs.
Hopefulls & Squads Program: These programs are by invitation only and are for advanced level senior and junior players who hope to make Manitoba’s representative teams for events like the Canadian Championships and Canada Winter Games. Practices are held 2-4 times per week depending upon age. Head Coach Arvin Tronco oversees the Tuesday and Thursday practices at Cornerstone. Fees are $200 for the Hopefulls fall block for Tues & Thursdays and $250 for the Squads. All players who register with the MTTA can play for free at the A4L clubs.
$500 Winnipeg & District Super League: The league will run every Friday night at Dan Mac. Starting November 1^st. It is open to all players, all ages, all abilities. Players compete for themselves in 6-10 Divisions of play moving up and down divisions based upon the previous weeks results. Results count towards Manitoba and Canadian ratings and rankings and selection of Manitoba’s Provincial Teams. $500 in prizes at season end based on % win/ loss record. Fees are Active Membership plus yearly fee of $70 adult and $50 >60 years or <18 years. MTTA Active Members will be able to play for free at Dan Mac for the month of October until the league starts.

PARTNER CLUBS & Contacts: The MTTA partner with over 60 clubs located at schools, community centres and “pro” clubs all over Manitoba. Some of these are as follows:

Winnipeg Table Tennis training Centre (WTTTC): This club was started by Provincial team player Terry Zhang and Poyz Riankamensakul. The club operates 7 days a week with 6 tables (3 MTTA/ 3 WTTTC) and offers a wide variety of programming from pre-school and after-school daycare pick-up and delivery of kids with table tennis lessons built in. They specialize in private and semi-private group lessons as well as Active 4 Life drop-in play. Fees here are set by and payable to the WTTTC and all players and all coaches must be MTTA Active members. Contact: Winnipegtabletennis@gmail.com 204-951-3341. And check out the attachment about their first tournament!
Prairie Badminton Centre: This club was recently started up by Ryan Giesbrecht and Provincial Team Head Coach Justin Friesen. The club is primarily for serious badminton players but they also offer pickleball and table tennis on 3 MTTA tables. Programming to start will be on Saturday afternoons and Sunday nights and MTTA MAX-Pac holders receive discounted rates. www.prairiebadminton.ca Clinics, camps and tournaments are expected to follow.
WFPPG: Winnipeg Filipino Ping Pong Group play primarily out of the PCCM building on Keewatin. Most play that occurs on the 5 MTTA owned tables is during mornings. The main club contact is Eric Hernandez or you can contact Head Coach Arvin Tronco. All players here must be Active MTTA members and be either PCCM members or remit a per use drop-in fee.
Champlain Table Tennis Club: Club is run by Shawn Vincent out of Champlain Community Centre, 282 Niverville. Play happens on 5-6 quality tables every Tuesday and Sunday nights from 6:30-8:30 pm. Tuesday night is open to all players, all ages, all abilities and there is a $5 drop-in fee payable by all. Sunday nights MTTA Active Max-Pac members get a discount to play, $3 per night drop-in fee, all others $5 drop-in fee. tabletennis@champlain.ca
Others…lots…Morden, Winkler, Carman, Sanford, Norway House, Wabowden, Thompson, Cranberry Portage, La Broquerie, Cross Lake…

RON EDWARDS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 204-925-5690. TABLE.TENNIS@SPORTMANITOBA.CA

ARVIN TRONCO, ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, 204-925-5943, MTTA.COACH@SPORTMANTITOBA.CA

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In Memoriam: Don Kokan (September 24, 1957 to August 19, 2019)

It is with great sadness that the M.T.T.A. announce the passing of Don (Dragan) Kokan. Don was involved in table tennis for over forty-five years in multiple capacities. He was a National Level Table Tennis Umpire, he was a member of various committees and even as recently as the 2016-2017 season served as a member of the Executive in the position of Secretary. However, it is as a player and person that Don will be remembered for the most. When I first moved from Ottawa to Winnipeg in 1986 it was Don who helped myself and Boris Rainer move tables from a dingy basement apartment to Red River College for tournament after tournament…this went on for years. Whenever I needed someone to help with something big or small, Don was always there! As a player, “Dragan” sums it up. Don was a member of Manitoba’s Provincial Men’s Team on multiple occasions and was a fighter! He loved playing points, he loved trying to beat the guy at the other end of the table, always smiling and shaking hands afterwards in either success or defeat. Whenever he would come out to the junior practices, he hated to do drills, he would say “give me your best kids and let me go play them.” Don, the table tennis community will really miss you just like your good friend and team-mate Liam Barclay. Pat, Gabriel and family, our thoughts and prayers are with you. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to Holy Family Home, Immaculate Heart of Mary School or to the Croatian Dawn Dance Group.

Ron

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Manitoba League and Circuit Titles Decided

Hello all Manitoba “ping-pongers”…well, I guess late news is better than “no news”…below you will find the final results and standings of the $500 Winnipeg and District Super League as well as the final standings of the $2,000 Manitoba Tournament Circuit. The posting of these is late due to a ransomware/ malware attack suffered by the network that the M.T.T.A. are a part of. For the last six weeks we have not had computers, photocopiers etc. which is why things have been quieter…but as of this week we are back up and running…now to the results:

Winnipeg & District Super-League:

The league commenced last fall and finished on June 14^th for a total of 24 nights of play. Last fall, based upon ratings, players were seeded into Divisions and then moved up/ down divisions each week based upon the previous weeks results. Standings were tabulated monthly based upon %Won/%Lost records with cash prizes for the top five finishers but in order to qualify for the cash, players had to compete more than the overall average of matches played by all players. Congratulations to these five plyers who not only won the cash but also accumulated double points towards the overall $2,000 Manitoba Circuit Standings.

1^st Jeremy Tran, $250, 93.1% W/L record;
2^nd Anna Liu, $150, 73.2% W/L record;
3^rd Carlos Cuadro, $50, 70.4% W/L record;
4^th Yunyang Deng, $30, 68.2% W/L record;
5^th Jeremy Huang, $20, 65% W/L record.

Complete standings are linked here and below to the right.

$2,000 MANITOBA CIRCUIT:

This years Circuit was contested over 5 tournaments plus the Winnipeg Super-League that counted for double weightings. Points were awarded for the top 12 finishers in each of the Open, Over 40 Years, Junior Boys and Junior Girls categories. Complete results are linked here and to the bottom right, but here are your top 5’s:

Open Singles:

1^st Jeremy Tran, $250, 465 points;
2^nd-3^rd tie: Biruk Bekele & Matthew Lehmann $105 each, 400 points each;
4^th Yi Fan Lu, $40, 240 points;
5^th Yunyang Deng, 203 points.

Active 4 Life > 40 Years Singles:

1^st Michal Rybak, 480 points;
2^nd Thadeus Jimenez, 340 points;
3^rd Jerzy Kusal, 220 points;
4^th Nhoel Manalo, 175 points;
5^th Rick Ward, St. Andrews, 152.5 points.

Junior Boys <18 Years:

1^st Jeremy Tran, 640 points;
2^nd Yunyang Deng, 440 points;
3^rd Jeremy Huang, 382 points;
4^th Gordon Chow, 290 points;
5^th Devin Chuong, 222.5 points.

Junior Girls <18 Years:

1^st Anna Liu, 550 points;
2^nd Grace Qi, 545 points;
3^rd Nibusha Loganathan, 340 points;
4^th Joyce Liu, 230 points;
5^th Carol-Jean Wong, 170 points.

Congratulations to all winners, hope to see everyone at the October 3^rd Awards and A.G.M. night.

Ron Edwards Reporting

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Manitoba Finishes 5th Overall
at
2019 Junior National Table Tennis Championships

Click here for provincial order. And click here for results of all events.

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2019 Junior National Table Tennis Championships
Summerside, PEI

Congratulations to all our athletes on their performance at the 2019 Junior Nationals Table Tennis Championships last July 4th to July 7th at Summerside, Prince Edward Island. Team Manitoba sent 2 Teams to represent our province in the Cadet U15 Boys and Girls Team event. The Boys Team (Benji Dueck from Morden, Jeremy Huang, Jason Li and Ben Vu). The Girls Team (Anna Liu, Grace Qi, Nibusha Loganathan and Victoria Lee). Everyone did a great job for showing your skills and able to perform on a bigger stage. I know we still have lots of things to improve not just on our skills, but we need also to learn how to have a positive approach before the big game, how to prepare ourselves mentally and physically.
I hope this will be a learning experience to everyone. Look at things objectively, find out what went wrong, decide what to do next time under similar circumstances and then forget the matter. If there are lessons to be learned, changes or improvements to be made in your game, then these aspects should be looked at in the training hall and corrected. If the other player was better trained or indeed just better on the day that is also something you should be prepared to admit.

Manitoba player results from PEI can be found here.

I would like also to take this opportunity to thank all our coaches and sparring partners Terry Zhang, Matthew Lehmann, Carlos Quadro, Myong Lee and Yifan Liu thank you for all your hard work. Special thanks to Ms. Phuong Nguyen for helping me coach at Jr. Nationals this year.

Coach Tronco

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Have Table, Will Travel...

Ron Edwards, MTTA takes on Jeff Knatiuk, CEO, Sport Manitoba

Thorsten Gohl and Jeff Knatiuk CEO, Sport Manitoba take on Ron Edwards, MTTA and Nolan Kowal, Marketing Sport Manitoa.

On June 26, 2019, Board member in charge of Marketing and Communications, Thorsten Gohl passed through Winnipeg with his mini table. Table tennis - anytime, anywhere!

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Table Tennis Canada Sets New Direction

" It is a new beginning, it is a new vision, and we will achieve our goals as a team and as a TT Family." Please information about recent TTCAN AGM here.

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World Veterans Tour - October 17-20, 2019

You can find more details about the ITTF World Vetrans Tour in Fort Lauderdale, FL here.

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Jacie Liu and Matthew Lehmann at Universiade 2019

[Click on photo above to see table tennis promo video]

The Manitoba Table Tennis Association is pleased to announce that Manitoba athletes, Matthew Lehmann and Jacie Liu, have been named to Team Canada for the 2019 FISU Summer Universiade in Naples, Italy. The Canadian table tennis team will be comprised of 4 male and 4 female university athletes.

Matthew, a 21 year old student at the University of Manitoba Asper School of Business, will participate in four events in Italy – team, singles, doubles and mixed doubles

A multi-year Manitoba table tennis provincial team member and champion, Matthew is coming off of an exciting year in the sport. In 2018, Matthew was selected by Table Tennis Canada to the Canadian men’s team for the World Table Tennis Team Championships in Halmstad, Sweden. He became the first Manitoban athlete to compete at the World Championships since the 1970s, and the second in the history of the sport.

Jacie Liu will compete in singles, team and the doubles event at the Universiade in July and this will be her first time representing Canada.

A 21 year old student studying microbiology and immunology at McGill University, Jacie was a long time provincial team member who has continued to play collegiate table tennis in Montreal.

Matthew and Jacie are both proud Canada Games alumni and are excited to participate in this major international multi-sport games.

This year’s Universiade, the 30th edition and the 60th anniversary of the World University Games, will run from July 3- 14, 2019. Canada’s delegation of over 300 student-athletes, coaches, staff and medical personnel will join over 9300 student-athletes from 128 countries. Sports represented include athletics, basketball, diving, fencing, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, rugby 7s, soccer, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball and water polo.

Manitoba Table Tennis Association

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Winnipeg & District Super League on the Home Stretch

The Winnipeg & District Super League will end on June 14^th after about 28 weeks of super-competitive play. In this league, players play for themselves moving up or down divisions based upon their results the previous week. After 21 weeks of play, Jeremy Tran is in firm control with a 37 Win/ 3 Loss record for a 93% average. In second place is young Anna Liu with a 75% win / loss record. A reminder to all players that the League final standings count as a double weight for the overall 2018-2019 Manitoba Circuit Standings…hope to see everyone out as the countdown begins. Results, click here.

Ron Edwards Reporting

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Sport Manitoba "Night of Champions"

Last season the M.T.T.A. nominated Darek Mikita as our nominee for the Official of the Year and unfortunately, he did not win. For the 2018 program season, we nominated Matthew Lehmann for Athlete of the Year based upon his strong season playing abroad in Europe and his subsequent qualification for the team representing Canada at the 2018 World Team Championships in Sweden. Well, again, unfortunately Matthew did not win, losing out to Andrew Harris of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers…as the saying goes…better luck next year! Thanks to the “Chicken Producers of Manitoba” for supporting this excellent awards program run by Sport Manitoba and no doubt in a round-about-way they also support one of our sponsors-“Mary Brown’s Chicken & Taters”…very yummy I must add, the chicken burgers are excellent!

Ron Edwards Reporting

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2019 Tournament of Champions

The top 16 players from the Open, Active 4 Life (>40), Junior Boys and Junior Girls categories were invited to compete in this season ending event held on Saturday April 13^th. Referee for the event was Gregory Chan and his Deputy was Greg Dzioba and this tournament they oversaw had some intense play for sure! Matthew Lehmann bested Biruk Bekele to take the Open crown and to pull himself into a tie for the overall Circuit title with only the league results to still factor in. Thadeus Jimenez had some excellent upset wins to make his first Open semi-final and he toped this off by defeating arch rival Michal Rybak to claim his first Over 40/ A4L Singles title. Jeremy Tran won the Junior Boy’s title – this wasn’t surprising as he has dominated this event all season – but what was surprising was his close semi-final 5 set victory over Benji Dueck from Morden who had himself upset Devin Chong in the quarters. In the final, Jeremy defeated Jeremy Huang who had defeated Yunyang Deng in the semi’s and he had also bested Yunyang in the Open Singles event as well. So it was nice to see a couple of the U15 category boys knock off some of the U18’s! In the Junior Girls final, Nibusha Loganathan claimed her first crown by knocking off top ranked Grace Qi in straight sets. This was the last tournament of the Manitoba 2018-2019 calendar with just the League running to mid-June. A lot of players will travel to the Sitco Team event in Saskatoon in May as preparations for the Canadian Junior Championships in July in PEI heat up. Click here for TOC result, and click here for Circuit Standings (and to the link at the right).

Ron Edwards Reporting

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10th Annual Frontier High School Games
Table Tennis Results

The 10^th Annual Frontier High School Games were held this past April 1^st – 4^th in Cranberry Portage. The High School Games started up after the success of the Frontier Games that concluded their 45^th edition this past March. By starting the High School Games, it allowed for continuity for the kids from the 40 plus schools that make up the Frontier School Division to continue with participation in not only Table Tennis but also Archery, Volleyball, Trap Setting, Badminton, Cross-Country Skiing and Snowshoeing. For the first few years of the High School event, we were getting 60-70 kids signing up for table tennis which became just too unwieldy a number to handle especially since they could also compete in other sports. For this year’s event, each of the 6 Regions could enter a maximum of 2 boys and 2 girls into each of the junior and senior varsity events. These 24 athletes represented the North, East and West sport regions of Manitoba.

RESULTS:

JUNIOR VARSITY GIRLS:

GOLD: Diamond McKenzie, Mel Johnson School, Wabowden;

SILVER: Kendall Jonasson, Mel Johnson School, Wabowden;

BRONZE: Thea Bird, Black River School.

SENIOR VARSITY GIRLS:

GOLD: Kassidy Tobacco, Frontier Mosakahiken School, Moose Lake;

SILVER: Tiffany Paul, Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw Education Resource Centre, Norway House;

BRONZE: Juliet Simpson, Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw Education Resource Centre, Norway House.

JUNIOR VARSITY BOYS:

GOLD: Jayden Flatfoot, Minegoziibe Anishinabe School, Camperville;

SILVER: Brady Trumbula, Rorketon School;

BRONZE: Jonathan Fourre, Mel Johnson School, Wabowden.

SENIOR VARSITY BOYS:

GOLD: Morgan Campbell, Mel Johnson School, Wabowden;

SILVER: Josh Chartrand, Minegoziibe Anishinabe School, Camperville;

BRONZE: Luke Folster, Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw Education Resource Centre, Norway House.

Thanks to Ted Smook from the F.C.I. Table Tennis Club as well as Brian McMillan and Heather Lowe from the Frontier School Division.

Ron Edwards Reporting.

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Companies Setting the Table

Winpak Tournament

More and more on TV these days-both in advertisements and various TV shows and movies-you will notice table tennis! The word is that table tennis is ultra-cool these days based upon more and more media stars (music/ screen/ stage/ politicians/ sports stars) partaking in the game at the various table tennis bars that are springing up across North America. In Winnipeg, some companies have taken notice as well. The employees of Manitoba Mukluks partake in table tennis on a regular basis and last fall HEB Manitoba employees did a team building exercise focused around table tennis that was held here at the Sport Manitoba Qualico Training Centre. Then, in early April, employees from Winpak held their company tournament at the Centre: congratulations to Ariel Begelfor who defeated Geoff Desposeda in the A final and to Andres Cruz who defeated Franco Villarin to capture the B title. Most recently Head Coach Arvin Tronco and W.T.T.C. Coach Terry Zhang travelled to Volume Freight Solutions where they conducted a 2-hour clinic for employees on the company table that is getting pretty worn-out. Ultimately table tennis is an easy sport to play but most difficult to master…but while you try, you exercise the body while simultaneously enhancing thought processes, mental functions and hand-eye coordination. Stay tuned for a possible fall Heart & Stroke table tennis fundraiser tournament.

Ron Edwards Reporting

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2019 Senior Canadian Championships

On March 6^th, Team Manitoba - consisting of Terry Zhang, Biruk Beleke, and Matthew Lehmann, along with Arvin Tronco - headed to Markham, Ontario, for the 2019 Canadian Senior Championships.

In mixed doubles, Lehmann partnered with Sabrina Chen of Ontario, and had two upset wins on the way to the quarter finals before falling to a BC pair.

In men’s doubles, Beleke and Zhang made it to the quarter-finals, before losing to the eventual silver medalists from Quebec. Lehmann was partnered with David Xu from Ontario, losing a hard-fought 3-1 match in the quarter-finals as well.

In men’s singles, Beleke finished second is his group, sending him to the C Division. Zhang had the chance to move into A Division, losing 11-9 in the 5^th and final set against David Xu. Beleke and Zhang both finished their tournament at the quarter-finals in C Division. Lehmann topped his group, moving onto the A Division with two 3-0 wins. In the round of 16, Lehmann won 3-0 again, moving to the quarter-finals to play Canadian Olympian Eugene Wang. Lehmann fought hard, winning the second set (one of only two players in the tournament to win a set against Eugene) before losing 4-1.

Matthew Lehmann Reporting

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45th Annual Frontier Games Table Tennis Titles Decided

This year marked the 45^th hosting of the annual Frontier Games which is a sporting event that brings together 400-500 athletes aged 10-14 years from 40 schools scattered across the East, North and West Sport Regions. The dedication of the teachers, staff and kids to this event is amazing…imagine travelling on a bus for say about 18 hours from Beren’s River to Norway House etc. Players that made these Games in Norway House are the best from the Frontier School Division’s six geographic areas. Sports contested this season were Archery, Cross-Country Skiing, Volleyball, Indoor Soccer, Trap-Setting, Badminton, Snow Shoeing and of course Table Tennis. 24 athletes again contested the table tennis titles; 12 boys and 12 girls, the top 2 finalists from each of the 6 area’s Games. When the ball finally stopped bouncing March 7^th the results were as follows:

GIRLS SINGLES:

Gold: Natahsa Disbrowe, Brochet School;

Silver: Liviyah Semple, Beren’s River School;

Bronze: Deja Tait, Mel Johnson School, Wabowden.

BOYS SINGLES:

Gold: Curtis Flett, Mel Johnson School, Wabowden;

Silver: Owen Hunnie-Menow, Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw Education Resource Centre, Norway House;

Bronze: Leslie Azure, Wabowden.

Congratulations to all players and especially to players from Mel Johnson School and to their Coach Mason Campbell who was one of the players in the M.T.T.A.’s 2019 Canada Winter Games Training Program. Kudos as always to Heather Lowe and Brian McMillan from the Frontier School Division for their tireless efforts in allowing these kids to compete in sport year after year. Also, thank you to M.T.T.A. Referee Mr. Gregory Chan for running the event and to his young helper from Nicaragua Mr. Carlos Cuadro…I had told Carlos that we had a big province and that he was going to see a lot of snow, ice, rock and trees on the way up…he had warm clothes, ear plugs and said that he was not disappointed.

Ron Edwards Reporting

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April 13th - The Crusty Bun Tournament of Champions Player Invitation

The Player Invitation for the Crusty Bun Tournament of Champions can be found here.

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Manitoba Open Titles Decided

The 2019 Manitoba Open was held this past March 2^nd and 3^rd at Daniel MacIntyre Collegiate. This event was our last “Open” event of the season and now the top 16 players from the season long Circuit in the “Pro-Open”, “>40 Active 4 Life”, “Junior Boys” and “Junior Girls” events will be invited to compete April 13^th in the Tournament of Champions.

This year’s event was also held immediately prior to the Canadian Senior Championships. Top Provincial male players Matthew Lehmann, Biruk Bekele and Terry “Tian” Zhang all making the semi-finals along with U of M player Yi Fan Lu. Matthew defeated Biruk in three straight to claim the title and positively prep himself for the Nationals that starts March 7^th.

Michal Rybak won the >40 event making it now four out of four titles for the 2018-2019 season. Number two, Thadeus Jimenez will no doubt go back to his P.C.C.M. club to rethink his strategy. Jeremy Tran-fresh off his 10^th place singles finish at the Canada Winter Games-bested team-mate Gordon Chow in four games to take the Junior Boy’s title and Grace Qi defeated Anna Liu in a very tight 5 game nail bitter to claim the girls crown. RESULTS FROM THE OTHER EVENTS are linked here and to the right. CIRCUIT STANDINGS are also linked to the right.

M.T.T.A. sponsor-Andreas Ingenfeld from THE CRUSTY BUN, will have some exciting prizes for the April event.

Ron Edwards Reporting

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Table tennis coach pleased with Canada Games performance

After a pair of fourth place finishes in table tennis, Team Manitoba head coach Arvin Tronco says the tournament was a major success for his team. “I’m very proud of my athletes,” Tronco said. “Everyone had some ups and downs in their matchups. They lost some tough matches but came back strong.” “These kids work hard,” he continued. “They practice four times a week…I know they put a lot of effort in to win.”

Doubles partners Jeremy Tran and Carol-Jean Wong narrowly missed out on a bronze medal, losing to Alberta on Thursday morning. Tran also played in a men’s team event bronze medal match earlier in the week.

“Disappointing I lost both of them but overall it was still a pretty good tournament,” Tran said.
With the tournament now complete, Tran says he enjoyed his experience in Red Deer.

“It was fun,” he said. “Met a lot of new people, you get to know people from different places in Canada, trade pins, obviously that’s a lot of fun. Now we get to relax and go watch other sports.”

Tran, 17, has now played in two Canada Games. He says he wants to stay involved with the sport in some capacity moving forward.

“I’m definitely going to stick around, maybe not competitively, but definitely just as a hobby, go out and have some fun, maybe coach a bit.”

Tronco added that the sport is growing in Manitoba, with 60-100 players competing on the Manitoba circuit every year.

Like Tran, Tronco enjoyed the Canada Games experience. It was his first time as a head coach at the event.

“Lots of planning and organizing, it’s overwhelming and it’s stressful but at the same time it’s enjoyable,” he said. “I enjoy coaching kids, I enjoyed watching them. I felt good every time they won a match. The most important thing for me is to see them at their best, that’s a good reward on my part.”

Now that the competition has wrapped up, Tronco is looking forward to getting back to Manitoba.
“Yeah, I miss my daughter,” he laughed.

Interview courtesy of TEAM TOBA

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TTEAM TOBA at Canada Winter Games 2019: 5th Overall

CANADA WINTER GAMES 2019 fever has finally come to an end! It's been a week since we got back here in Winnipeg but seems like I still didn't recover with all the excitement and unforgettable experience when I'm coaching everyone during games. I would like to congratulate you all for a job well done!
I guess I already said all the things I want to say in my interview at Sport Manitoba/ “TEAM TOBA” press so I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for a great performance at the Canada Winter Games. Even though we didn't bring home any medals, I’m proud of you all. "It's all about the journey, not the outcome." At the end of the day, the finish line is not the goal. The goal is to have the best start to finish you can possibly have. If you give everything in your game, then you've won, regardless of the matches you came up short in. When you have the best journey, you win!

Here is my short message to all of you:

GORDON CHOW - Every match, every game, every moment is a blank canvas. What you do with your opportunity can either be a kindergarten finger painting experience or it can be The Persistence of Memory. Whatever you do with those opportunities defines the way you’ll be remembered as an athlete and as a competitor.

YUNYANG DENG - when you are in competition, you have to leave everything on the table of competition. You can’t hold back and hope that you have enough for tomorrow. The best competitors leave the table with no regrets and with nothing left in their tank. That’s the type of effort you have to give every match.

JEREMY TRAN - When you have the ability, that is the first part. Next, you have to develop your mental strength and intestinal fortitude. That’s what pushes you to reach the next level. When you have nothing left in the tank, your mind can reach down into the depths and pull out another round you didn’t even know was there.

CAROL JEAN WONG - Everyone wants to win. You never run into someone who is trying to lose or even happy to lose. When people say “it’s how you play the game,” they quit a long time before that. Preparing to win is much more difficult than wanting to win. Preparing to win starts in the mind and the heart and then it proceeds into the training room and the practice field.

Anna Liu - That's what learning is, after all; not whether we lose the game, but how we lose and how we've changed because of it and what we take away from it that we never had before, to apply to other games. Losing, in a curious way, is winning.

Nibusha Loganathan - When you reach that next level, it’s when you believe in yourself. You simply know that you’re better than your opponent. It doesn’t matter how talented they are, you have to face them down and reach inside to give more than you have. When you finally bring that maximum effort, you will unlock your fullest potential.

CANADA WINTER GAMES 2019 RESULTS:

Jeremy Tran - Boys Singles 10th place out of 33
Yunyang Deng - Boys Singles 17th place out of 33
Gordon Chow - Boys Singles 19th place out of 33
Carol Jean Wong - Girls Singles 13th place out of 33
Anna Liu - Girls Singles 26th place out of 33
Nibusha Loganathan - Girls Singles 21st Place out of 33

Boys Doubles - 8th Place
Girls Doubles - 6th Place
Mix Doubles - 4th Place
Boys Team Event: 4th Place
Girls Team Event: 6th Place
TABLE TENNIS FLAG POINTS STANDING: 5TH OVERALL

Coach Tronco Reporting

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P.C.C.M. to Host Table Tennis Coaches Course - April 20, 2019

The Philippine Canadian Centre of Manitoba, 737 Keewatin Street, will host a coaching course for all parents, teachers, players, community club workers who want to learn about table tennis. Registration is $50 but it is restricted to the first ten sign-ups. The Course Conductor is Mr. Mario Potvin who is the Coach Development Manager for Table Tennis Canada. On hand to help, will be Mr. Arvin Tronco-of the P.C.C.M. and Head Coach for the Manitoba Table Tennis Association. CLICK HERE FOR THE SIGN-UP FORM. Hope to see you out.

Ron Edwards Reporting

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The Ball Keeps Bouncing in La Broquerie

This past Wednesday February 6^th Ron Edwards, Coach Tronco and visiting player Carlos Cuadra from Nicaragua travelled to the Hylife Centre in La Broquerie, Eastern Sport Region to drop off a third table for their table tennis program and to do a coaching/ skills clinic for the local kids and Club Coordinator Ian Dickey. The club got started last winter when the M.T.T.A. donated 2 tables, nets, paddles and balls with funding we receive from Sport Manitoba under it’s “Sport Initiation” level of programming. Last year the after-school club was a great success with an average of 10-12 players per night. This Wednesday the response was pretty good considering how cold it was and the kids were enthused by the games, drills and robot that we utilized to introduce this group of players to the sport. The club will run after school this year on Wednesday nights from 3:30 to about 5/ 5:30 pm and interested local players can contact Ian Dickey at the Leisure Services office at 204-424-5251 for more details.

Ron Edwards Reporting

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U of M Table Tennis Players Dominate Golden Boy Open

Matthew Lehmann took the Men’s Singles title this past February 2^nd at the Golden Boy Open. Matthew, a University of Manitoba student and organizer of the local U of M table tennis club, was expecting to face perennial opponents Biruk Bekele, Terry “Tian” Zhang or perhaps top Junior Jeremy Tran. However, this was not to be. Instead, he faced fellow U of M player and his sparring partner Yi Fan Lu in the final. Lu, who had bested Bekele in the semi’s, was no match for his school-mate falling in three straight sets. Lehmann teamed up with young Grace Qi to capture the doubles title over Bekele and U of W player Phuong Nguyen. Jeremy defeated his Canada Winter Games team-mate Yunyang Deng to take the Boy’s Under 18 title. On the Junior Girl’s side, Grace proved too strong for Anna Liu who fell in four games. Michal Rybak continued his season-long dominance over Thadeus Jimenez to take the over 40 years singles title. Although the weather was cold, the turnout was good with players from Morden, Warren, St. Andrews making the trip. Complete results can be found here.

Ron Edwards Reporting

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Area 3 Regional Frontier Games - Table Tennis

Wanipigow School in Hollow Water played host to the Regional’s this past January 30^th to February first. Despite the frigid temperatures, athletes from 7 schools contested table tennis, badminton, archery, volleyball, soccer, trap-setting, cross country skiing and snowshoeing. The table tennis event featured the top 11 boys and 10 girls who had qualified from their schools. Three schools captured two medals each. These were Beren’s River, Little Black River and Falcon Beach. Congratulations to the players from these schools and their coaches Florencio Castillo, Richard Shead and Sven Divay respectively…and again a loud shout-out to Heather Lowe and the Frontier School Division for making this excellent and unique sporting event a reality ever year! The winners from this Regional event advance to the finals’ March 6-8^th in Norway House against the winners from the 5 other regions…and, last but not least, thanks to Danielle Brown and her Phys. Ed. partner Anthony Seymour for the excellent job they did hosting these games.

Table Tennis Results – Boy’s:

GOLD: Nathaniel Bird, Little Black River;
SILVER: Tyvon Disbrowe, Beren’s River;
BRONZE: Challen Carlson, Falcon Beach.

Table Tennis Results – Girl’s:

GOLD: Liviyah Semple, Beren’s River;
SILVER: Delany Turner, Falcon Beach;
BRONZE: Kadence Starr, Little Black River.

Ron Edwards Reporting

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Manitoba Sets the Table For Canada Winter Games

After three eventful tryouts that commenced last March, Manitoba announced its lineup for the 2019 Canada Winter Games: Boy’s Under 18 Team: Yunyang Deng, Jeremy Tran, Gordon Chow and first alternate Devin Chong. Girl’s Under 18 Team: Anna Liu, Carol-Jean Wong, Nibusha Loganathan and first alternate Joyce Liu. Congratulations to these athletes and a thank you to everyone who tried out at the Manitoba Games last winter and this past fall at the Red River and Manitoba Championships. Good luck to all and Head Coach Tronco and Coach/ Manager Nguyen who depart for Red Deer, Alberta on February 14^th with play kicking off on the 15^th. Go TOBA GO!

Phuong Nguyen Reporting

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Quebec Circuit Canada Winter Games Warm-up Event

After three years of missing the “Big Bang” tournament in Quebec, TEAM TOBA finally came back to Laval to play Quebec’s Circuit #4 this past January 25^th and 26^th. Exams prevented Carol and Yunyang from participating, so we brought dedicated up-and-comers Grace Qi and Jeremy Huang to round out our team. Both these youngsters played well in their single’s matches on the first day and on the second day, they two ended up beating three teams to win first place in their team group match. Anna and Nibusha both played very well in singles matches as well and had super close team matches, almost beating all the teams in their group. The older boys Jeremy and Gordon were in tough but overall played well in both singles and team event. It was great to be back in Quebec surrounded by so many players and parents. We hope to be back soon to face the many, many competitors Quebec has but first it will be off to the Canada Winter Games!

Phuong Nguyen Reporting

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Manitoba Closed Championships ... Upsets Abound...

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

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Lehmann Bounces Back & Canada Games Tryouts Continue

Doubles Finals: Yi Fan Lu, Alejandro Pelaez, Matthew Lehmann, Carol-Jean Wong

Manitoba’s top-ranked player-Matthew Lehmann-is back in Winnipeg after two years of training and competing abroad in Europe; his experience was capped with his participation in the World Championships last spring in Halmstad, Sweden. Matthew is now entering his first year of study at the University of Manitoba where he is of course heading up the U of M table tennis club where he hopes to challenge the University of Winnipeg team headed up by his female counterpart Phuong Nguyen…but more on this another time….

Saturday November 17th saw the first Manitoba tournament of the year come down-the Red River Closed and Canada Games Tryout’s #2. Participation was good with 56 players from the Winnipeg, South, East and West sport region’s competing. Matthew was entered in two events-the Open Singles and the Open Doubles. In the Open he defeated Biruk Bekele three straight at 11-9, 11-8, 11-8. He then partnered with Carol-Jean Wong to defeat U of M doubles players Yi Fan Lu and Alejandro Pelaez in four games. Carol for her part easily won the Girl’s C.W.G. Tryout’s #2 besting Anna Liu 3-0. In Boy’s C.W.G. tryout action Jeremy Tran defeated Yunyang Deng 3-1 to virtually assure his spot in February in Red Deer.

In the >40 Years/ Active 4 Life Circuit event final, perennial favorite Michal Rybak defeated Thadeus Jimenez of the Filipino Club 3-1.

It was good to see so many young up-and-comers…lots and lots of players pushing the older more established ones across all of the events.

CIRCUIT STANDINGS, WINNIPEG & DISTRICT SUPER LEAGUE STANDINGS, COMPLETE RED RIVER CLOSED RESULTS and of course CANADA WINTER GAMES TRYOUT STANDINGS can all be found and linked to below right.

Keep you rubber fresh, hope to see everyone out and active at our many clubs and programs.

Ron Edwards Reporting

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Annual General Meeting - October 24th

NOTICE: ANNUAL MEETING OF MEMBERS & 2017-2018 SEASON AWARDS will be held Wednesday October 24^th, 6-10 pm, at Sport Manitoba, 145 Pacific Avenue. Click here for complete details.

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New Outdoor Tables for Morden!

Tim Harsant, Facility Maintenance and Rick Paracholski, By-Law Officer were the first to try the new table at the Access Event Centre.

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.

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2018 Canadian Table Tennis Championships

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!

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Winnipeg Super Leage & Manitoba Circuit Titles Decided

Earlier this summer, the ball stopped bouncing in the year-long Winnipeg & District Super League and the Manitoba Tournament Circuit. Winnipeg’s young Jeremy Tran -a leading candidate for Manitoba’s 2019 Canada Winter Games Team- won three out of the three titles that he was in the running for. In the Winnipeg Super League, he had a record of 88 wins and only 3 losses to claim victory over Aldwin Dinoso of the Filipino Table Tennis Club who had a record of 57 wins and 26 losses and young up-and-comer Grace Qi in third place with 34 wins and 19 losses.

With his win in the Super League -and it’s double weighting for the Manitoba Circuit- Jeremy vaulted past Manitoba table tennis royalty Terry “Tian” Zhang and the cagey veteran Biruk Bekele. Jeremy also won the Youth Circuit crown finshing ahead of top female player Phuong Nguyen and Junior team-mate Yunyang Deng. All in all, young Jeremy took home $500 of the total pot of $2,500! Well done!

Complete final standings are linked on the right under “2017-2018 Results.”

Ron Edwards Reporting

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MTTA Summer Junior Camp

This is the last week to register for the MTTA Summer Junior Camp. The Beginner Camp is open to young players who are new or relatively new to the sport. The Intermediate Camp is for more experienced players - please contact Matthew Lehmann if you are unsure which camp to register for.

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Winnipeg Table Tennis Training Centre Now Open!

Hello all Winnipeg table tennis and “ping pong” players. For decades now, the Manitoba Table Tennis Association has been running programming for athletes of all ages and abilities from the entry level up to Provincial Team level. We travel to schools and deliver fundamental coaching clinics, we book gym time at local schools and community centres and offer Junior Developmental lessons for those recruits who want to try. We run comprehensive training programs for athlete’s hoping to make Manitoba’s provincial teams (the “Hopefulls” Program) and of course our Provincial Squads Training Program to develop our best players to represent the province at Canadian Championships and the Canada Winter Games. We also book gym time for recreational play 3-4 times a week at our “Active 4 Life” program and run the $2,000 Manitoba Tournament Circuit and the $500 Winnipeg and District Super League. However much this is, it is often not enough…a lot of our programming happens evenings and weekends at local schools and community centers. What about persons on shift work, what about players of all ages that are really keen and would love to play even more, what about those players who would love to take private lessons in their quest to become the best…

...well, it has arrived. THE WINNIPEG TABLE TENNIS TRAINING CENTRE opened their doors earlier this month at 3525 Pembina Highway as you enter St. Norbert on the right-hand side. The club is affiliated with the M.T.T.A. and offers semi-private and private lessons for players of all ages and ability levels. Players receive instruction and lessons from 4 x Canadian Cadet Champion Terry “Tian” Zhang, Shaun “Xiang” Guo and Poyz Riankasemsakul. All these coaches are N.C.C.P. and R.I.S. certified (National Coaching Certification/ Respect In Sport) and they are in constant contact with Provincial team Head Coach Arvin Tronco to ensure that players get the best programming possible. To get MORE INFORMATION PHONE 204-890-5139/ EMAIL; Winnipegtabletennis@gmail.com or click on their log/ link on the bottom left side under Partners.

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Manitoba Dominates the SITCO International Teams Open

This past May long weekend, the Manitoba team went to compete in the annual Saskatchewan Teams Tournament called “SITCO.”. It was a great experience for many of the younger players (whom for many was the first time going on a trip with the team), and a great opportunity for the older players, and our beloved Coach Arvin to show off their skills. We all played our hardest and we won 2 out of the 3 divisions only losing to Saskatchewan in the finals of the B Division.

The higher-level players played some impressive matches, making amazing shots, and had us all awed. Of course, the younger players also won many heated matches. They played against some talented young Edmonton players and in the end prevailed. Myself and my team members Jason Li, and Julian Liu made many upsets against some higher rated players too and surprised them by taking many games where they thought they had us. We also had some good teaching moments as Coach Arvin made some of the higher-level opponents look like Childs play.

At the end the results were more than decent. In the C Division we had our girls’ team “Demigodz” consisting of Anna Liu, Grace Qi, and Joyce Liu coming in at second place only losing to another one of our teams, the “Titanz” which was made up of Benji Dueck, Hongjun Feng, and Kieran Buchburger. My team which was called “We Smash Hard” came in at 2nd place in the B division, with myself (Jeremy Huang), Jason Li, and Julian Liu putting up a good fight against the Saskatchewan Team for the finals. Finally, we have team “Battle Pass” consisting of Jeremy Tran, Gordon Chow, and Yunyang Deng coming in at 1st place in Division A pulling of a extremely close 5-4 win against some of the top players from Alberta or Saskatchewan?... ( I don’t know which province Jeremy and the others played against for the finals)…but I do know they won $750 first place prize…should they pay their Coach?...maybe buy him a drink at least?

We all enjoyed the trip and had some fun too. We went out for some amazing food every day and tried some Asian Cuisine as well. Shout-outs to Coach Arvin for coaching us when we needed it the most, I would also like to thank Song, Trevor and Norman for driving the long trip here and back. I would like to thank the MTTA and everyone who organized the trip for giving us such a great opportunity, and learning experience.

Jeremy Huang Reporting.

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World Team Championships

From April 29 to May 6, I had the honour of competing at the 2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Halmstad, Sweden. I was one of five Canadian Men sent to be a part of the team representing Canada at the tournament. Canada also sent a team of 5 women.

The Table Tennis Team World Championships take place every two years. This edition had 87 different countries participating and 595 players competing! Fans from around Sweden and the world flocked to Halmstad to see the event live.

The small city of Halmstad was completely transformed for the event, with signs and posters on every street and in every shop window in the city centre.

There are 3 divisions at the World Championships. Canada competed in Division 2. It was a tough division for a very young team. We will be working hard to come back stronger in two years!

I'm back to training now, and am looking forward to representing Manitoba at the Canadian Championships in British Columbia in July!

Matthew Lehmann

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Welcome to Andi Ingenfeld and "The Crusty Bun"

When one thinks of Germany you often think of delicious cold beers, tremendous football teams (i.e. “real football” that is in Canada called “Soccer”) top level table tennis players and also yummy food products. Well, here in Winnipeg we have a combination of the later two. Andreas Ingenfeld – or Andi – for short, is one of the M.T.T.A.’s most active recreational players. When he is not out knocking the ball around, he can usually be found at one of his two bakeries…The Crusty Bun on St. Mary’s Road or the second location on Headmaster Row. The M.T.T.A. welcome Andi and “The Crusty Bun” and we invite you to drop in to either location for coffee and freshly baked goods. www.crustybun.com

Ron Edwards Reporting

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President Mikita Honoured at the Table

Long-time M.T.T.A. President Darek Mikita was recently doubly honored. First-off, he represented Canada as our Blue Badge Umpire on duty at the Commonwealth Games held on Australia’s Gold Coast and he was then nominated for Sport Manitoba’s Official of the Year Award. Here is a picture of Darek with his compatriots in Australia; Darek is immediate top-left off of the “G” in Gold Coast. Well done Darek. Next up - Darek, Gregory Chan and Greg Dzioba - will be working at the Canadian Junior Open in Vancouver and Greg Dzioba is off to the Australian Open in July. Congrats to Darek and the rest of our Blue Badge International Level Umpires.

Ron Edwards Reporting

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9th Annual Frontier High School Games

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

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Manitoba Tournament of Champions
Bekele Bounces Zhang!

Saturday April 14, 2018
Daniel MacIntyre Collegiate

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

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Valley Gardens School Table Tennis

Each winter, teacher and Community Initiation certified table tennis coach Elizabeth Edwards runs a table tennis program deep in the bowels of Valley Garden School. Down there the school has 10-12 table tennis and “ping Pong” tables in varying conditions. Anyways, each spring after she delivers the program, she runs some tournaments for the grade 6-7 students. This spring the winners were as follows:

GRADE 7 TOURNAMENT: 1ST= Lucas Prezniak/ 2nd=Corbin Sutton/ 3rd=Gurshan Ubhi.

GRADE 6 TOURNAMENT: 1ST=Jordan Johnston/ 2nd=Easton Kutcher/ 3rd=Marina Hagos.

Marina Hagos, one of the happy winners

Congratulations to all players.

Ron Edwards Reporting

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Frontier Table Tennis Titles Decided

Joseph H. Kerr School in Snow Lake played host to the 44^th Frontier Games. This year’s event attracted 386 athletes, coaches and chaperones from 30 different schools. The table tennis event was contested by the top 12 boys and 12 girls who qualified through their Regional playoffs; top 2 boys and top 2 girls from each of six regions. This represented athletes from 11 different schools from Norman, Eastman, Parkland and Westman Sport Regions.

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

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Manitoba Winter Games - Results

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

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Seniors Still Competing at Table Tennis

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

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Coaching Course - April 28, 2018

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.

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Golden Boy Open - Tran Bounces Bekele!

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

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Manitoba Athletes Get Canada Cup Experience

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

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US Open Table Tennis Championships

Greg Dzioba Umpiring on Court 1

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.

Huang/Lehmann vs Jha/Chen

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.].

Pavlovic/Lehmann vs Shoji/Morimoto

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

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Terry's Revenge at the Manitoba Closed Table Tennis Championships

Sam Charach receiving award from Coach Tronco at the MB Closed

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

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King Bekele Starts Defence of His Crown

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.

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Athletes Wanted

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.

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Continued Success in Europe

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

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Congratuations Coach Tronco!

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

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2016-2017 Season Table Tennis Awards
&
Annual General Meeting

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

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"Lefty-Lehmann" Reaches Podium in Europe for 1st Time!

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

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Table Tennis Season Start Up and Annual General Meeting

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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Reporters Wanted

Contribute to the sport you love, write an article and get it published right here!!!

We would love to get stories and articles from the people that are involved in the sport of Table Tennis. If you are a player, coach, parent, umpire, referee, spectator, or involved in the sport in any capacity, why not tell us your story, share your experiences, provide some tips and knowledge. If you have something to share, we would love to hear from you. Submit your story, articles, ideas to Ron Edwards.

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2016-2017 News Archive

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2015-2016 News Archive

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2014-2015 News Archive

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2013-2014 News Archive

2013-2014 news and articles can be found here.

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2012 News Archive

Old news and articles can be found here.

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2011 News Archive

Old news and articles can be found here.

M.T.T.A. Mission, Vision, Values

2019 - 2020 M.T.T.A.

STAFF CONTACTS
Ron Edwards
Executive Director
Tel. 925-5690 Fax 925-5916
table.tennis@sportmanitoba.ca