CALENDAR: CLUB AND EVENT DATES UPDATED REGULARLY 
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 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING INFORMATION PACKAGE
Team Manitoba at the
2017 Canadian Junior & Senior Table Tennis Championships
The
2017 BUTTERFLY CANADIAN JR and SR. TABLE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS were held at the
Markham PANAM Center from July 10th-16th. MTTA sent 15 athletes to compete in
this major tournament. This is my first year as the Head Coach of Manitoba
Table Tennis Association and it is my first time to coach these group of talented
athletes at nationals. All I can say is that, I am so proud to all of you for showing
all your best to compete and perform in this big event.
So
now that we have seen the styles of play from other provinces and have test
their abilities. We will start to train harder and take this experience as our
motivation to improve and become more experienced in match situations. Based on
both my observations and on the results, we need to change a lot of things to
improve fast to compete with the other provinces. For the CADETS we must focus
more on your service and receive and proper stance since all of you start to
stand at the middle of the table and how to attack and set up your 3rd ball.
For the Juniors, I guess we need to develop a strong mindset in game situation
as your skills are already there. This wasn't your first time to compete at
Nationals so you need to become more mature to adapt and adjust in game. To
Matthew Lehmann thank you for setting a good example for the young kids and
also for letting me coach you throughout the tournament. It was fun and so
intense to see you at your best. To Biruk Bekele i want to congratulate you for
winning the bronze medal in the U2400 and helping me encourage the kids to
build up their confidence in game.
I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the athletes, you
were all well organize, disciplined and always on time. I would like also to
thank our Executive Director Ron Edwards and Phuong Nguyen for helping me coach
the Jr. and Cadet Team’s.
Lastly,
I have attached the individual results and YouTube link for some videos for you
guys to watch!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joZCCIzk3vc DAY 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnqlVz78c4A DAY 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCaw8vnOF_Q DAY 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62kU_oh5cWs DAY 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paG8GlW5r8w DAY 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IPRv3tcV1w DAY 6
Coach
Tronco Reporting...be sure to read Nibusha’s report
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS:
2017 BUTTERFLY CANADIAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
1. BEN VU
CAD 15 out round robin 45 players
JR 18 Boys out round robin 71 players
MixDoubles out round robin 42 teams
BoysDoubles round 32 out of 35 teams
2. JULIAN LIU
CAD 15 out round robin 45 players
JR 18 Boys out round robin 71 players
BoysDoubles round 32 out of 35 teams
3. SPARSH AGRAWAL
CAD 15 out round robin 45 players
JR 18 Boys out round robin 71 players
MixDoubles out round robin 42 teams
BoysDoubles round 32 out of 35 teams
4. JINKUN CHEN
CAD 15 out round robin 45 players
JR 18 Boys out round robin 71 players
5. VY TRAN
CAD 15 out round robin 29 players
JR 18 Girls out round robin 45 players
MixDoubles round 32 out of 42 teams
Girls Doubles out round robin 21 teams
6. ANNA LIU
CAD 15 out round robin 29 players
JR 18 Girls out round robin 45 players
Mix Doubles out round robin 42 teams
GirlsDoubles out round robin 21 Teams
7. NIBUSHA LOGANATHAN
CAD 15 out round robin 29 players
JR 18 Girls out round robin 45 players
MixDoubles round 32 out of 42 teams
Girls Doubles out round robin 21 teams
8. TINA LIU
JR 18 Girls out round robin 45 players
MixDoubles round 32 out of 42 teams
Girls Doubles out round robin 21 teams
9. JEREMY TRAN
JR 18 BOYS round 32 out of 71 players
MixDoubles round 32 out of 42 teams
BoysDoubles round 32 out of 35 teams
10. DEVIN CHONG
JR 18 Boys out round robin 71 players
MixDoubles round 32 out of 42 teams
BoysDoubles round 32 out of 35 teams
11. KIERAN BUCHBERGER
JR 18 Boys out round robin 71 players
MixDoubles round 32 out of 42 teams
BoysDoubles round 32 out of 35 teams
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS:
2017 BUTTERFLY CANADIAN SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
1. MATTHEW LEHMANN
U21 round 16 out of 47 players
MEN’S SINGLES round 16 out of 72 players
MEN’S DOUBLES round 16 out of 24 teams
2. BIRUK BEKELE
MEN’S SINGLES round 64 out of 72 players
MEN’S DOUBLES round 16 out of 24 teams
U2400 round 4 out of 12 players (Bronze Medal)
3. JEREMY TRAN
U21 out round robin 47 players
MEN’S SINGLES out round robin 72 players
MEN’S DOUBLES round 32 out of 24 teams
U2000 round 8 out of 22 players
4. PHUONG NGUYEN
U21 out round robin 36 players
WOMEN’S SINGLES out round robin 44 players
U1600 out round robin 50 players
WOMEN’S DOUBLES round 16 out of 20 teams
5. VY TRAN
U21 out round robin 36 players
WOMEN’S SINGLES out round robin 44 players
U1600 out round robin 50 players
WOMEN’S DOUBLES round 32 out of 20 teams
8. TINA LIU
U21 out round robin 36 players
WOMEN’S SINGLES out round robin 44 players
U1600 out round robin 50 players
WOMEN’S DOUBLES round 32 out of 20 teams
9. NAOMI TRAN
U21 out round robin 36 players
WOMEN’S SINGLES out round robin 44 players
U1600 out round robin 50 players
WOMEN’S DOUBLES round 16 out of 20 teams
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My First Experience at a Canadian Junior Table
Tennis Championships
Click here to read Nibusha Loganathan's report from the Canadian Championships.
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$2,500 - 2016-2017 Tournament Circuit
&
League Champions Announced
This past season was a very active one on
the Winnipeg & District Super League and Competition’s Circuit. Players competing earned points towards the
selection of Manitoba Teams for the Canadian Senior and Junior
Championships. This year, for the first
time, Winnipeg & District Super League results counted towards the final
Circuit standings with a double weighting value.
Winnipeg
& District Super League:
The league commenced mid-fall 2016 and ran
for 26 weeks. Players moved up and down
divisions of play based upon their previous weeks results. Alex Mendoza dominated league play for most
of the year but slowly and surely young Jeremy Tran hacked away at him and
ending up with a 62-5 record to claim the $250 top prize. Alex took home $150 for second place with a
60-12 record. Rounding out the top five
were Czar Caguoia, Naomi Tran and Phuong Nguyen. Complete results are attached here and at the right side.
Tournament
Circuit:
Four Circuits categories were contested
this past season as part of the five provincial level tournaments hosted: The “Pro-Open”, The “Active 4 Life” />40
Years, Youth Singles and Cadet Singles.
Congratulations to Biruk Bekele who just edged out Jeremy to take the
$250 top prize in the “Pro-Open” category.
Alex was third. However, with his
strong showing in the League, Alex edged out 2016 Canadian > 50 Years
Singles’ Champion Michal Rybak to claim the Over 40/ Active 4 Life crown. Jeremy took home top spot in the Youth
Circuit edging out team-mate Yunyang Deng and his “pesky” sister Naomi who he
is always afraid to play; apparently he loses 90% of the time in their
basement. Ben Vu dominated the Cadet
Circuit going undefeated and edged out Sparsh Agrawal and Julian Liu. Complete results are attached here and at the right side.
Absent in the winner’s circles were
notables Matthew Lehmann and Terry “Tian” Zhang. Matthew finished up a very successful year
playing based out of Austria where he competed in regional as well as several
International Open events hooking up with former Coach Milcho Uzunov for some
doubles and team events. Terry, although
he beat Biruk in 3 out of 3 Pro-Singles finals, didn’t compete in the season’s
first two events. Also not playing in
tournaments-and I wish she would-was former Canadian #6 for Woman Rongge
Zhang. Information on the upcoming
season will be released in 2-3 weeks.
Ron Edwards Reporting
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2017 Canadian Table Tennis Championships
Information regarding the 2017 Canadian Senior and Junior Championships can be found here.
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2017 Cardinal Capital North American Racketlon Championships
Racketlon Tournament! Challenge your
racquet sport skills against fellow racquet sport players! Hosted
by: The
Winnipeg Winter Club Dates: June
16-18, 2017 What
is it: 4
Racquet-sport event! Compete against your opponent in a game to 21 in each of
table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis. Where
and when to enter: Enter
at www.racketlon.net (click on tournaments) or the following link http://fir.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=FBBD9F39-175D-48FF-843E-D8A4D1FEC6A3. Entry deadline is Monday June. 5th at 6am. All players must register
online.
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Fans Treated to High Level Table Tennis at
Tournament of Champions
Manitoba
players were at their best this past Saturday April 8th at the
Tournament of Champions. The top 16 players in each of the Open,
A4L/>40, Youth and Cadet Circuit categories were invited to compete
and they did not disappoint. Terry “Tian” Zhang bested Biruk Bekele to
claim the Open title. However, unlike the see-saw match at the Manitoba
Open, Terry won this one 4 straight…6, 12, 13 and 11…really a much
closer match than the 4-0 game score would indicate. In simple terms,
Terry dropped back to the second position and used an array of depth
and trajectory change shots to not allow Biruk to get in with his
fast-over-the-table attacks that usually put Terry on the defense
early. Biruk was feeling the pressure as he muffed a few easy balls at
critical junctures that could have changed the outcome of the match.
Jeremy Tran and Alex Mendoza dropped their challenges in the
semi-finals to Terry and Biruk respectively.
The
Active 4 Life final was again another absolute classic match between
Alex Mendoza and Michal Rybak. Rally after rally of spectacular shot
making and “cho-ing” and sreaming-fist-pumping and looks of disbelief
were displayed by both players. In the end, Michal prevailed in a 5-set
marathon at 12 in the fifth.
Some
upsets were in the making in the Youth Singles event. Rumor has it,
that at home, in the confines of their basement, one sister regularly
kicks her little but “better” brother’s backside. Well, here it was on
display for all to see! First off, Naomi knocks out the always tricky
second seed Yunyang Deng before knocking off the “one-and-only,
inside-outside-lefty extra-ordinaire” Jeremy Tran in a five-set final.
Well done Naomi, and I do hope that Jeremy is talking to you still?
In
the Cadet event, young ben Vu bested Sparsh Agrawal in a five-set final
that really could have gone any way…-9,10, -8, 10, 8…can’t get much
closer than that. Top five results are posted to the right.
A
reminder that double Circuit Points are still up for grabs in the
Winnipeg & District Super League that will run till June 16th or
23rd and updated standings can be found to the right…Alex Mendoza and
Jeremy Tran in a real war for league dominance.
Ron Edwards Reporting
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MTTA on CityTV
Check out CityTV feature on table tennis in Manitoba.
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Frontier Games Table Tennis Championships
Starting last fall, players from 39 schools
from Eastman, Interlake, Parkland, Norman and Eastman sport regions began their
school play-downs. The schools of course
belong to the Frontier School Division that runs from Falcon Lake in south-east
Manitoba up the East side of the Province encompassing Stevenson Island, God’s
Lake, Norway House, Gillam up to Churchill and then across to South Indian
Lake, Leaf Rapids, Brochet and then
south & east to Cranberry Portgage, Wabowden, Grand Rapids, Moose Lake, Camperville,
Pine Creek etc…you get the picture-HUGE SCHOOL DIVISION…FRONTIER GAMES IS HUGE! …so the schools all have their play-downs
with the top two boys and two girls each advancing to one of 6 Area
playdowns. From these 6 area playdowns,
the top two boys and two girls all come together for these finals along with
players contesting seven other sports including trap-setting, archery,
snowshoeing, indoor soccer, badminton etc.
So this tournament featured the best of the best of young athletes in
grades about 5 through to 7/8. This year, congratulations go out to
players from Frontier Mosakahiken School in Moose Lake. Their players captured Boy’s Gold &
Silver and 4th in the girls.
Thanks again to the tireless efforts of Heather Lowe and Brian “Big Mac”
McMillan…no easy task rescheduling these Games for over 500 people due to last
week’s snow storm to this week. RESULTS: Boys: Gold: Peter Dorion, Moose Lake/ Silver: Taylor Buck, Moose Lake/ Bronze: Jonathan Fourre, Mel Johnson
School-Wabowden. Girls: Gold: Krista Bird, Black River Anishinabe
School/ Silver: Delaina
Sutherland, Skownan/ Bronze: Mary
Prest, Wanipigow.
Ron Edwards Reporting.
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Valley Garden School "Sets the Table" Ron Edwards and Arvin
Tronco visited Valley Garden School on February 13th to kick of the
schools table tennis club program. Valley Garden is in the River East
Transcona School Division where there is a rich history of table
tennis…Bernie Wolfe, John Pritchard, John Henderson Jr. High, Munroe Jr.
High and Miles Mac all have lots of activity. Garden Valley teacher
and Communtiy Initiation Certified Coach Elizabeth Edwards wanted to
institute a club at her new school. After the club kick-off and several
weeks of practice, she organized several tournaments. Here are the
prize winners…count the fingers to figure how they fared…well done!  TOURNAMENT A: 1st-Jazmyn Villarba/ 2ND - Lucas Nowasat/ 3RD - Bithanya Hailu . 
TOURNAMENT B: 1ST - Colm Balez/ 2ND - Harman Aulakah/ 3RD -Sam Richardson. 
TOURNAMENT C: 1ST - Polina Romadanova/ 2ND - Carter Mykachik/ 3RD - Sam Adesuyi. 
TOURNAMENT D: 1ST - Lucas Presniaka/ 2ND - Jaden Stephens. Ron Edwards Reporting
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Down to Business at the Manitoba Open Provincial Championships
Four times a Canadian Cadet Champion, Terry
“Tian” Zhang is used to living in the fast lane…(I think he even drives a
Porsche?)...but I digress…at the Manitoba Open, he started slowly but then put
the pedal to the “medal” winning the maximum prize monies offered for the
Pro-Open, Pro-Doubles and 2-Player Team events.
In the Open, he dropped the first two games to a very, very tricky and
crafty Biruk Bekele but then got going to take the next four straight
games. The same pattern occurred in the
doubles final where partnered with Youth Champion Yunyang Deng they dropped the
first game but then stormed back three straight to shock Bekele and young
Jeremy Tran. In the 2-Player event, Zhang
partnered with former Provincial Team player Rick Ward of St. Andrews defeating
Tran and Gordon Chow in an exciting final thus sweeping three of three events
he entered.
This year’s tournament featured record
entries with players from not only Manitoba but also the Yukon, a player from
France as well as a strong contingent from Saskatchewan under the guidance of
former Bundesliga coach Paul Noel. Kudos
to Marin Pinku and Howard Liou for the tough fight they put up right to the end
in their events…all of Saskatchewan had departed but these two stayed to do
battle.
Complete results are attached here and
Circuit Standings as well.
Next up is the season ending Tournament of
Champions scheduled for Saturday April 8th and a reminder to all
players that the Friday night Winnipeg & District League counts for
DOUBLE-CIRCUIT WEIGHTINGS for Manitoba
Circuit Standings. Contact Coach Tronco
to get involved!
Ron Edwards Reporting
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Road Trip: Fort Qu'Appelle Saskatchewan
February 17-19
Saskatchewan
Table Tennis hosted a joint athlete training camp and Introduction to
Competition Coaching Course for coaches. Selected are five athletes
from our “Squad and Hopefuls” with a good performance and attendance
record with a rating close to 500 were sent to attend the Saskatchewan/
Manitoba joint Canada Winter games camp last February 17th to 19th at
Fort Qu’Appelle, SK. They were supervised by Arvin
Tronco as their head coach and Phuong Nguyen as their female
chaperone/apprentice coach. Meng Yu and Raul Bernales also joined
the team to attend a coaching course together with Phuong. The
coaching course was run under the auspices of the Coaching Association
of Canada and Table Tennis Canada. Course conductor was former
Bundesliga coach Paul Noel. Paul integrated a lot of hands-on practical
components as opposed to just class-room theory.
Everyone
had a great time as the cadets immediately blended with their
Saskatchewan counterparts the moment the camp started Friday 7pm.
We all thought that we’re going to have a rest that evening, but they
made everyone work right away which was a good decision at the end.
While the squad are training in the gymnasium, Phuong, Meng, and Raul
started their coaching course at the school’s library. They were
joined by four aspiring coaches from Regina and Saskatoon.
All
in all we learned a lot from our coaching course as it made us realize
that coaching is not knowledge on the sport. Coaching is making
us open our minds that not everyone has the same skill level and should
be always ready to adopt to the situation that is presented to
you. Hope to see the same set of coaches in the next course or
even more so we can all make a difference in our community.
Raul Bernales Reporting
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Team Phillipines Downs
Team Poland in Manitoba Cup Play!
This past Saturday February 11th,
X-Cues Café Lounge on Sargent played host to the inaugural “MANITOBA CUP” Table
Tennis Team Challenge. Table tennis fans
were treated to an exciting see-saw battle which saw Eric Hernandez’s Team
Phillipines triumph 7-4 over the tough Polish squad lead by M.T.T.A. President
Darek Mikita. The match really could
have gone either way with 4 ties going to deuce in the 5th and
deciding game. Key factors in the
Phillipine’s win were Hernandez and Alex Mendoza who each won both of their
singles matches. Team Poland however
dominated doubles play winning both these matches. However, Mendoza, during one
of the doubles games, made a shot that all only wish had of been captured on
camera…Rybak and Kusal for Team Poland were on the attack and had driven Mendoza
and Manalo back from the table…several exchanges into the rally, a smash by
Kusal hit the top of the net, trickled over and caught the table beside the net
post…Mendoza came diving down the side of the table, managed to get his bat
under the ball and somehow made it go up and under the post set to skid across
the table leaving Polish ace Michal Rybak absolutely speechless. Rybak was quoted as saying “ Holly, I have
only ever seen Jan-Ove Waldner do a shot like that”. Thanks off to Hernandez and Mikita for
getting their crews together. Hats off
to Sal Infantino and his X-Cues crew for providing the venue and to Butterfly
for provision of some prizes. Any crew of M.T.T.A. Active Members,
hailing from one country, are free to challenge Team Phillipines, for the right
to hoist “The Manitoba Cup.” Ron Edwards Reporting
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Golden Boy Open Results Tighten Up $2000 Manitoba Circuit Standings
The
Golden Boy Open was held on Saturday February 4th and featured a
massive entry of players from not only Winnipeg but also Central,
Eastman and Interlake Sport Regions as well as a player form the N.W.T.
and another from Puerto Rico. Several players made their first
2016-2017 appearance and took home titles. Their results of course
tightened up some of the Circuit Standings. Terry “Tian” Zhang knocked
off Pro-Open leader Biruk Bekele in 6 sets. Bekele remains in firm
control of the standings with a comfortable margin over 2nd place Jeff
Kitong. Yunyang Deng and Alex Mendoza are tied for 3rd-4th. In the
deep and intense Active 4 Life Division, Duc Dao Tran knocked off Alex
Mendoza in one semi and then knocked off Canadian Over 50 Champion
Michal Rybak in the final. Michal holds onto top spot in the standings.
Yunyang Deng captured the Youth title defeating Vy Tran in a 5 set
nail-bitter with every game going to deuce. Yunyang has opened up a
commanding lead over Jeremy Tran. Young Ben Vu continues to dominate in
the Cadet Division going 3 for 3 now in title wins. He again bested
Sparsh Agrawal in the final. Complete results are attached here for the
Golden Boy and Circuit. See Golden Boy results here. See Circuit Standings here. Ron Edwards Reporting. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Powerview - Pine Falls "Ping Pong" Kick-off Ron
Edwards and Arvin Tronco traveled to Powerview School to introduce
table tennis on February 6th and 7th. As part of our “Sport Initiation”
programming, “New Clubs Development”, we delivered 2 tables and
net-sets and ran 1 and a half days of clinics for about 150 kids aged
10/11-17/18. For many kids, table tennis was a new activity but not for
others…hailing from Little Black River, twins Jesse and Jade Abraham
proved that they had not lost their skills nor lost their appetite for
table tennis that they had gleaned while students at Little Black… they
both should make great helpers to Phys. ED teachers Mr. & Mrs. Larry
Sharpe. Ron Edwards Reporting. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Frontier Games Area 3 Results Area
3 held their qualifiers for the Frontier School Divisional finals on
February 2nd and 3rd in Little Black River. 13 boys and 10 girls
contested the table tennis event. They represented 7 different
communities from the Eastman, Norman and Interlake Sport Regions.
Referee for the event was Ron Edwards and again thanks to Heather Lowe
from the F.S.D. for their continuing support and promotion of our great
sport…every year the level of play is improving. Boy’s Results: Gold: Brady Bushie, Wanipigow/ Silver: Peyton Moneyas, Wanipigow/ Bronze: Marcus Abraham, Little Black River. Girl’s Results: Gold: Krista Bird, Little Black River/ Silver: Mary Prest, Wanipigow/ Bronze: Sylvia Semple, Beren’s River. The finals for all of the area winners will be held March 8-10 in Norway House. Ron Edwards Reporting. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Table Tennis Alive & Well in Central Sport Region Even
before the communities of Morden/ Winkler hosted the 2014 Powersmart
Manitoba Games, table tennis had a strong presence in the Region. Linda
and Jerry De Vlieger have been running the St. Alphonse and Bruxelles
table tennis club for over a decade, Bob Kowalchuk has been running his
club for almost as long based out of the Seniors centre in Carman. They
also play at the “Back Door” in Carman as well as at the elementary
school, the Christian school and the collegiate. There used to be a
small group playing as part of the Pentecostal Youth Group as well. In
Winkler, Dave Goertzen ran and organized players in Winkler playing
out of Garden Valley Collegiate. This school is still a “ping-pong”
hot-bed and I am hoping to be able to facilitate inter-school play
between Garden Valley and their rivals over at Northlands Parkway
Collegiate. Table tennis is/was used to be played also at Elm Creek,
Sanford and William Morton Collegiate in Gladstone. More
recently, a group has started to play Tuesday and Thursday nights in
Lowe Farm under the guidance of Jonathan Breanne…but the main centre
remains the Monday night club operating out of the Access Event Centre
in Morden. Ron Edwards and Provincial Team Head Coach Arvin Tronco
paid a visit to the club on Monday January 30th after a day of clinics
at N.P.C. David Charriere is the man in charge of this club along with
“side-kick” Victor “Big Nasty” Klassen…so named for his absolutely
miserably hard to return wide-angle cross-court blocks! The club now
features 6 Butterfly Europa tables and they average about 20 players on
any given Monday night. Moving forward, working with David, Victor and
the good folks at the A.E.C. , we hope to hold an annual “Central Region
Open” potentially good to start for either the 2017-2018 or 2018-2019
seasons. Below is a group shot of the Morden gang. Ron Edwards Reporting.
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Mendoza Dominating
Winnipeg & District Super League
 Alex Mendoza We
are now 7 weeks into the Winnipeg & District Super League which is both a 2
Star Rating event and double weighted one counting towards Manitoba Circuit
Standings. It designed to allow all
players from entry level to high performance improve the level of their
game. Results will factor into the
selection of Manitoba’s Provincial teams for major events such as the Canadian
Table Tennis Championships! Rising
to the top, undefeated so far, is Alex Mendoza.
Mendoza is off to a blazing start with twenty wins/ zero loses. In second, is fellow W.F.P.P.G. club member
R.J. Averillah with a record of 18-2.
Junior Jeremy Tran sits in third with a record of 14-3 followed by
Phuong Nguyen at 18-7. A
reminder to the numerous top-level players hoping to make our team for major
events…it is really hard to make our teams if you are not in the gym! Athletes are selected to our Provincial Teams
for major events based upon objective level of play criteria such as Circuit
Standings and rating level. The
Provincial Team Head Coach also has power to select athletes. Once selected, how much an athlete pays, then
depends upon their participation levels.
Full details can be found in the document to the right: “2016-2017 Performance Pathway: Squad & Hopefulls Program Information.” Lots
of time left to try and qualify…Golden Boy Open Feb. 4th, Manitoba
Open March 11-12, Tournament of Champions April 8th…and of course
the double weighted Winnipeg & District Super League every Friday night
6:30-9:30 pm. Coach Tronco and I hope to
see you out. Ron
Edwards Reporting.
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Finland Open 
Antoine, Milcho, Matthew, Marko Here are some words
about Finland! So, I was very excited to meet Matthew in Europe and play team
together, like representing Manitoba in Europe:). The tournament was huge, players from
34 different countries, like a Marathon race! In the team event we
played against Spain (Spain had six teams:)).
I think we played the longest team match in the tournament - more than 3
hours and a half! We lost by 3:2 , the crucial moment was in the doubles game,
we were leading by 2:0 and also in the third set, unfortunately we lost 3:2,
but for first participation in kind of this tournament was not bad I
think. In the singles event matches were the best of seven
and the young Matthew made his international wins against the good
players from Europe and played very tired matches with very good shaped players:). For me was
an extreme challenge with all these long matches... lost many games with 4:3
and still hurts..., but I am happy, it is still passion! It was great to see again Canadians who
are practicing in Europe…Antoine Bernadet, Marko Medjugorac and of course
Manitoba’s Matthew. I wish a Merry Christmas, successful and all the
best in the New Year to everybody in our MTTA family! Happy Holidays, Ron, Executive, Coach Tronco
and parents and players.
Coach Milcho
----------------------------------------- Fall Competitions Roundup Well,
here we are, winter solstice just passed and the holidays upon us…the
fall Block of the MTTA’s 2016-2017 season is over. The Manitoba
Circuit Standings are attached…after 2 tournaments, Biruk Bekele is in
firm control of first place in the Pro-Open Division followed by Jeff
Kitong playing out of the W.F.P..G. Young Jeremy Tran sits
in 3rd place just ahead of junior rival Yunyang “The Hammer” Deng…but
where is Terry Zhang?...Matthew Lehmann we know is playing in Austria
this year! In the over 40 years, “Active 4 Life Division”, Alex
Mendoza and Michal Rybak are knotted at first with 180 points
each. However, I think they will each have to watch Thadeus
Jimenez, the man with pips both sides who could be the “sleeper” in
this event.
Jeremy holds down top spot in the Youth Circuit ahead of
Yungyang and Phuong Nguyen. In the Cadet Division, young Ben Vu
is a perfect 2-0 with victories in each of the Red River Open and
Manitoba Closed events; (results attached to the right). Next
Circuit event will be Februaries Golden Boy Open. Please remember
to register and pay on time.
The Winnipeg and District Super
League meets every Friday night. This year the League counts for
“double-weighting” in the Circuit Standings. M.T.T.A. Head Coach
Arvin Tronco has the athletes fighting hard in the 6-8 divisions of
play that are contested each night. Tied for first overall are
three players…all with a perfect record…Alex Mendoza (11-0), Naomi Tram
(11-0), and R.J. Averilla, (12-0). They are just ahead of
Jeremy Tran and Thadeus Jimenez. Also perfect, with a record of
4-0, is former #7 Female in Canada, Rongge Zhang. But, right now,
she is out of the hunt for the $500 prize monies as she has not played
enough overall matches.
The M.T.T.A. will be holding Xmas and
New Year’s training camps out of Cornerstone Alliance Church.
Preparations are long-term for the Nationals and the 2019 Canada Winter
Games. Early in the New Year, Coach Tronco hopes to select
players for out-of-province events in Saskatchewan and Quebec. So
if you want to impress the coach, better make the New Year’s resolution
to train very hard…physical conditioning and sport science programming
starts up as well. -----------------------------------------
Manitoba Closed Table Tennis Championships Saturday December 10, 2016
Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Lower Gym
Pro-Open Sgls: Biruk Bekele def. Jeremy Tran
6,9,5,-3,-8,9.
A Sgls: Yunyang Deng def. Alex Mendoza 8,9,-8,-6,7.
B Sgls: Michal Carrillo def. Juanito Sioson
4,7,-7,-8,7.
C Sgls: Sparsh Agrawal def. Anna Liu 3,-7,8,-11,6.
D Sgls: Tianyi Xiong def. Victoria Shevchenko
4,6,4.
Pro-Open Dbls: B. Bekele/ Michal Rybak def. Arvin Tronco/ Devin
Chong 2,10,6.
A Dbls: Naomi Tran/ Phuong Nguyen def. Noel
Cantada/ Marcos Sioson -7,-9,6,6,9.
Youth A Sgls: J. Tran def. Y.Y. Deng 10,9,9.
Youth B Sgls: Phuong Nguyen
def. Dave Hose 4,8,4.
Cadet A Sgls: Ben Vu def. Kieran Buchberger
3,5,-12,-11,10.
Cadet B Sgls: Jason Li def. Jeremy Huang 4,9,7.
Active 4 Life >40 A Sgls: M. Rybak def. A. Mendoza 4,9,9.
Active 4 Life >40 B Sgls: M. Carrillo def. Irwin Raymundo 16,-9,9,10. Ron Edwards Reporting
-----------------------------------------
Greetings from Austria 
Gruess
aus Oesterreich! Greetings from Austria. As you may know, I
am spending the season playing, training, studying, and living in
Europe. I train twice a day at my club
and play league matches once a week. The club is considered the
most successful club in the Women's European Champions League and there
are usually around four Olympians training in the gym at any time.
I will be playing a team tournament in Finland with Milcho - we
always said we would play doubles together some day! I am
enjoying my time here - everyone is very nice and I have made a lot of
new friends. The training is very good - and my German is getting
better! Matthew Lehmann
------------------------------------------ Manitoba 2016-2017 Competition Season Starts Up with the Red River Open 
The
2016-2017 Manitoba competition season kicked off with the Red River
Open Provincial Championships held Saturday November 19th at Daniel
MacIntyre Collegiate. This tournament was the first of 5 provincial
level events which when coupled with the season-long Winnipeg and
District Super League comprises the 2016-2017 Manitoba Competitions
Circuit with over $2,500 in cash and prizes. Results from the Circuit
are used to help select Manitoba’s teams for major events such as the
Canadian Championships.
The “Pro-Open” Singles title again went
to Biruk Bekele. Biruk dominated this event last season and with
Matthew Lehmann playing in Austria and Terry Zhang absent (?)…who will
challenge…perhaps former Canadian Female #7 Rongge Zhang who
unfortunately had to work Saturday. Regardless, Biruk won the event
relatively easily over last season’s Junior Boy of the Year award
winner Yunyang Deng. Yunyang-also one of last year’s most improved
players-knocked out #2 seed Jeremy Tran in the quarter finals. The
other two semi-finalists were Alex Mendoza and Jeff Kitong who lead a
large contingent of players from the Winnipeg Filipino Ping Pong Group.
Mendoza topped over 40 years favorite Michal Rybak to capture the
Active 4 Life crown. Tran took a measure of revenge in knocking Deng
out of the Youth event and then won in straight sets over a fast
improving Gordon Chow. Phuong Nguyen proved to be the tournament’s top
female player placing in the Open and Youth events. Tina Liu was
playing injured and young Vy Tran and Anna Liu show great promise.
RESULTS:
"Pro"-A Sgls: Biruk Bekele def. Yunyang Deng 7-11,11-8,11-4,11-2,11-4.
B Sgls: Jerzy Kusal def. Phuong Nguyen 10-12,11-9,6-11,11-7,11-7.
C Sgls: Tina Liu def. Thadeus Jimenez 18-16,8-11,11-9,11-6.
D Sgls: Trysten Dyce def. Paul Devitt (N.W.T.) 11-5,11-9,11-3.
Youth A Sgls: Jeremy Tran def. Gordon Chow 11-7,13-11,11-8.
Youth B Sgls: Vy Tran def. Devin Chong 11-5,11-8,11-7.
Cadet A Sgls: Ben Vu def. Sparsh Agrawal 11-8,11-7,11.9.
Cadet B Sgls: Julian Liu def. Anna Liu 11-9,8-11,11-6,7-11,11-9.
Active 4 Life >40 A Sgls: Alex Mendoza def. Michal Rybak 3-11,12-10,11-8,7-11,11-8.
Active 4 Life >40 B Sgls: Andrezj "Bob" Wiewiora def. Evelyn Aldaba 11-6,12-10,11-9.
A Doubles: B. Bekele/ M. Rybak def. Y.Y. Deng/ J. Tran 14-12,11-6,11-7.
B Doubles: D. Chong/ G. Chow def. Noel Cantada/ Marcos Sioson 0-11,11-7,11-7,10-12,12-10.
Ron Edwards Reporting
------------------------------------------
M.T.T.A. Annual General Meeting and 2015-2016
Season Awards Night
Wednesday November 2, 2016
Sport Manitoba Sport 4 Life Centre 
Player or the Year: Michal Rybak Last night, the Manitoba
Table Tennis Association held their 2016 A.G.M. and an awards recognition night
to honor our 2015-2016 season champions!
Unfortunately the nasty weather and construction kept a lot of members
away…indeed, City of Winnipeg Parking Ticket Predators were of more abundance
than members were with many members upset about receiving tickets when they
exited. The Sport 4 Life Centre will be
one of the show pieces for next summer’s Canada Games and 150th
Canadian birthday celebrations. The
construction mess is terrible and it is quit pathetic that the City are out
giving out so many tickets to the same bodies that will be needed to volunteer
to drive the Games in 2017. Shame on the
City and their insidious ticketing policies!
How do they expect to attract people to core areas like the Waterfront
& Exchange District with antics like this? AWARD WINNERS: Manitoba Order of Sport
Excellence Awards: The following players who represented
Manitoba at the University of Winnipeg Canadian Championships this past summer all
receive this award certificate. They
will also all receive recognition from the Province of Manitoba. Congratulations to: Biruk Bekele, Terry “Tian” Zhang, Matthew
Lehmann, Phuong Nguyen, Jeremy Tran, Yunyang Deng, Jacie Liu, Naomi Tran, Tina
Liu, Vy Tran, Manuel Zaki, Victor Yu, Matthew Fossay, Devin Chong, Joyce Liu,
Gordon Chow, Kieran Buchberger, Sparsh Agrawal, Carol-Jean Wong, Anna Liu, Asha
& Ria Donnelly. Order of Sport Excellence
Bronze & Silver Medal Winners: Veteran player Garry Eng won the highly
esteemed “Bronze Medal Award” for his
third place finish in the over 60 Year’s singles at the Nationals. Manitoba’s only Canadian Champion at the
event was Michal Rybak who received the “Silver Medal Award” for his Canadian
dominance in the over 50 years singles event. Major Award Winners: Junior Girl of the Year: Jacie Liu. Junior Boy of the Year: Yunyang Deng. Player of the Year: Michal Rybak. Volunteer of the Year: Phuong Nguyen. Liam Barclay Memorial Award
for Junior Sportsperson: Carol-Jean
Wong. Congratulations to all
winners. Coach Tronco will present awrds
at upcoming practices to those who were unable to attend. M.T.T.A. 2016-2017 Season
Executive: The following officers were
elected last night: President-Darek Mikita.
Vice President-Osama Zaki.
Vice President-Greg Dzioba.
Treasurer-Ha Nguyen.
Secretary-Royle Derbitsky.
Athlete Representative-Don
Kokan.
Member-At-Large- Anil
Contractor. Well done everyone and Arvin
and I look forward to working with you all in order to develop our sport. Ron Edwards Reporting
------------------------------------------Manitoba's Newest International Umpire:
Mr.
Royle Derbitsky has been an official for Manitoba Table Tennis
Association and Table Tennis Canada for fourteen years. Royle wrote
his Club Umpire exam in 2002 and subsequently obtained his Provincial
and National Umpire status. The International Umpire Exam is
administered every two years by the International Table Tennis
Federation. Royle wrote the IU exam on January 8, 2016 and passed. He
is now a fully certified ITTF International Umpire.
Congratulations and all the best in his new Umpire career.
Gregory Chan Reporting
MTTA Official Committee Chair
------------------------------------------ Saskatchewan Open The
Saskatchewan Open Table Tennis Championships will be held on October 29
and 30 in Saskatoon. The entry form and tournament details can
be found here. ------------------------------------------- Louise Page Park 
Former M.T.T.A. Executive
member and "SUPER-DUPER VOLUNTEER" Louise Page was recently honored by
having a park named after her in Transcona. Besides her 15 yearlong
involvement with the M.T.T.A. (Executive member, 1990 Western Canada
Summer Games, Manager 1991 Canada Winter Games Team, Protocol Officer
1999 Pan American Games, mother of players Susan and Stephan Page, wife
to player/ honorary Life Member Roger Page who still helps with our
bingo volunteer program) Louise was involved with multiple other
organizations...and I mean multiple! Louise always had a ton of energy
and this was reflected in her looking after our numerous players...Larry
B./ Glen M./ Kadar N.A./ Dave K./ Nuno T./ Boris R. etc...you all had
Louise on you guys keeping you under control (LOL) the
"good-old-days". Besides the strong-arm enforcer for our
Squads Program, Louise volunteered for: Transcona Memorial United
Church, Age & Opportunity Centre, Operation Christmas Child,
Manitoba Horticultural Association, Breast Cancer Fundraising, Transcona
Food Bank, Christmas Cheer Board, Transcona Garden Club, Transcona
Hi-Neighbour Festival, Feed My Lambs Street Mission, Rotary Club
International, Park Manor Personal Care Home. Well done Louise and our
continuing thanks to Roger for his continued help despite the horrible
MS. Appreciate it a ton!
------------------------------------------- Manitoba Table Tennis Annual General Meeting
The Manitoba Table
Tennis Annual General Meeting will be held at Sport Manitoba on
November 2, 2016 at 6pm. All the details can be found here. -------------------------------------------
2016-2017 Manitoba Table Tennis Season Start-Up
Hello all Manitoba Table Tennis players, in many towns
the table tennis season has begun, this coming week of September 19th,
it begins in Winnipeg. The M.T.T.A. have
been working through some challenges this late summer/ early fall period after
the hosting of a very successful Canadian Championships. A couple of our gyms are under repair/
construction so we have had to look for replacements. Also, Tomas Chromec, our Athlete Development
Director at the end of last season, replacing Ian Kent, accepted a new job in
his home country of the Czech Republic; refer to Tomas’s farewell post below. Welcome
Arvin Tronco, Athlete Development Director: I am very pleased to announce the hiring of Mr. Arvin
Tronco as our new Athlete Development Director.
Arvin brings many years of professional experience working as a coach in
the Philippines. In his position, Arvin will be working to
develop athletes from the entry level up through high performance with
particular emphasis on preparing our 3 boy/ 3 girl team* for the 2019 Canada
Winter Games. Another area of focus will
be on the development of coaches. If you
would like to help coach any of the following programs, please contact Arvin. Children ,
Youth & Adult Senior Team Tennis Lessons & Training: The M.T.T.A. will again be running three levels of
programming for children and youth:
Junior Developmental (entry level to table tennis), Hopefull’s ( already
acquired basic skills) and Provincial Squads (Canada Winter Games) training
program. For many, these groups will be
in the gym at the same time and inter-mingling with players from the other
groups. Saturdays Crescentwood Community Centre: Junior Developmental program kicks off Saturday
September 24th from 9-10:30 am.
For the next 10 weeks - except Oct. 8-long weekend – until Dec. 3rd,
the program hours will be 9:30 – 11:30 am.
Sign-up is through the City of Winnipeg Leisure Guide (info on p. 21) 311 phone or online
Winnipeg.ca/leisureonline. Canada Winter
Games Coaches Arvin Tronce and Phuong Nguyen will be running this program. It is suitable for newcomers to table tennis
or younger players with limited experience.
The program will repeat in the winter, from Jan. 14 to March 18th. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Open Athlete Tryouts
for Junior Developmental, Hopefull’s and Squad Players: Starting Tuesday September 20th, Thursday September 29th at Darwin
School (175 Darwin St.) and Wed. Nov. 2nd at Dufferin School (545
Alexander) there will be open tryouts for athletes of all ages and all
levels. ● 6- pm to 7:30 pm will be for children and youth who
are new to the game. ● 7:30-10 pm will be for advanced level juniors and
senior aged players who have already been part of our Hopefulls & Squads
programs. ● Friday nights, 6:30-9:30 pm, Daniel MacIntyre
Collegiate…open drop-in play for all advanced players until the Winnipeg Super
League kicks off on Nov. 7th…all Hopefulls & Squads should be
out and A4L players welcome to play as well. Head Coach Arvin Tronco will be tracking attendances
and interest and after 3-4 weeks of practices, will formalize his training
groups. Each night we have 7-8 tables at
our disposal and will have at least 2 coaches on duty at all times! Fees will be similar to last season but may
be reduced in some cases; more information will follow. Active 4
Life Program: This program we have run for years and is for players
of all ages who want to come out and play for fun. There is no formal coaching per se, however
the Club Coordinators we have are more than welcome to help players who ask for
skill development tips and drills. More
serious players often play matches and they count for player ratings and
ratings; “Club Individual League Program.” Gyms & Nights: ● John Pritchard Jackson Gym, (1490 Henderson Hwy),
6:30 – 10 pm, starts Tuesday October 4th and will run every Tuesday
(excepting cancellations that are already posted on MTTA calendar) until May 30th. ● Dufferin Public School (545 Alexander) will feature
Monday and Thursday A4L play from 6:30-10 pm starting Thurs. Nov. 3 and Mon.
Nov. 7. Practices will run through to
June 19 & 22. ● Daniel MacIntyre Collegiate, Friday nights 6:30-9:30 pm
commencing Friday September 23rd… all A4L players are free to play
until the Winnipeg & District Super League kicks off on Nov. 7th. ● Tuesday & Thursday nights at Darwin from 7:30 –
10 pm…all Active 4 Life players are free to come out and knock until Coach
Tronco and the M.T.T.A. have finalized the training groups…so basically the
month of October A4L can come and knock until Dufferin opens up. Fees: A4L
fees will be reduced slightly this year to compensate for the facility
changes. Club Coordinators:
We still are in need of a couple people to
oversee these clubs on a regular basis.
If interested, please contact Ron at 925-5690. Winnipeg
& District Super League: Play will occur Friday nights at Daniel MacIntyre
Collegiate 6:30-9:30 commencing in November.
To start, Head Coach Arvin Tronco will be overseeing the running of the
league. The league will again be
individual in nature designed for players of all ages and all ability
levels. Players move up and down
divisions and statistics are kept.
Participation is expected from our high level players hoping to
represent Manitoba on the inter-provincial scene. More information will be provided moving
forwards. Manitoba
Circuit Tournaments: The team tournament will be dropped for this year due
to lack of entries last year plus due to the later start this season. We intend to increase our events next season
with hopefully one out-of-town Circuit event added; Morden or Winkler. All 5 Circuit events will be held at Daniel MacIntyre
Collegiate this season. The tournaments
feature events for all ages and abilities with players advancing from the first
round-robin in events into final round-robins based on ability…don’t be scared
to play tournaments…they are for everyone.
Players living in Winnipeg hoping to represent Manitoba at the
inter-provincial level, must play in the Circuit tournaments. More information will follow. ● Sat. Nov. 19th, Red River Open ● Sat. Dec. 10th, Manitoba Closed
Championships ● Sat. Feb. 4th, Golden Boy Open
Championships ● Sat. & Sun. March 11 & 12, Manitoba Open
Championships ● Sat. April 8th, Tournament Of Champions.
Coach &
Officials Development: The M.T.T.A. are always looking for new coaches and
umpires and referees. Officials: Persons wanting to help umpire at our tournaments and league can start off by taking their Club
Umpire Seminar & Exam that is free and can be accessed on the Officials Page. Once they have done this, one of our many
fine National and International Level umpires will take you under their wing
and help train you a the competitions we host…once you have attained your
Provincial (Level 2 status) you are eligible to be selected for events such as
the Canadian Championships and Canada Winter Games. Coach Development: The MTTA are always looking for person to get involved
as coaches. We hope to offer 1-2
training courses later this season plus Head Coach Arvin Tronco will be working
with volunteer coaches on a regular basis at the above programs. Now is the time to get involved! Respect In Sport: This free, online program is mandatory for
all coaches in Manitoba. It has recently
been reworked and all coaches who took the course prior to 5 years ago, MUST
REDO the course. You can link from here. Annual
General Meeting of Members & 2015-2016 Season Awards: Our yearly AGM and awards will be held at the Sport 4
Life Centre, 145 pacific Avenue, on Wednesday November 2nd
commencing at 6pm. Full details will be
mailed out shortly. Kudos: …congratulations
and good luck to Matthew Lehmann who is playing this season in
Austria for the Froschberg Club (TTCAN Article). Matthew started out his table tennis career
over ten years ago with Coach Andy Bachmann playing out of Winakwa and in the
last couple seasons is threatening to make Canada’s Senior Men’s team with a 10th
place finish in Canada’s Rio qualifier…remember Matthew, “Get to 11 First!” ANY AND ALL
QUESTIONS…PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT RON @ 92505690 OR ARVIN @ 925-5943. www.mtta.ca is
regularly updated with information on all programs…and we welcome articles by
all players for posting! The Calendar of
Events at the top is updated constantly for all known gym cancellations. Yours in Manitoba Table Tennis, Ron Edwards & Arvin Tronco
----------------------------------------------- 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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2014-2015 News Archive---------------------------------------
2013-2014 News Archive
2013-2014 news and articles can be found here.---------------------------------------
2012 News
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Old news and articles can be
found here.
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