Tinian regains Goodwill tourney title

The Saipan vs. Tinian Goodwill Table Tennis Tournament championship trophy returned to the hands of the Tinian players after the team defeated Saipan Sunday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Saipan, however, still had something to be proud of, as female standout Jean Shi was able to top the singles competition.

After the Marianas Amateur Table Tennis Association was given the green light to occupy the gym the entire day, the group decided to duke it out in not only the singles competition, but doubles, and team competitions as well.

After all the smoke cleared, Tinian was able to regain possession of the prized cup after recording 26 victories compared to Saipan’s 23 wins. The two teams played a total of 49 matches in singles and doubles competition.

Each team comprised of seven players, and all 14 competed in a long and intense round-robin competition.

Tinian delegation head Wei Bin Liang had nothing but positive words about the tournament and the experience.

“The way this tournament was organized was as good as before,” he said. “It’s really successful and it’s something that we should continue from year to year. It’s very good communication between Tinian and Saipan.”

The assistant to the chairman of the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino explained that while he is pleased that the title is returning to Tinian, he is satisfied knowing that the two teams have shown signs of improvements in their play.

“I’m so happy that we’re going to take trophy back this time, but what is more important is that now, the level of the two teams is very close and games are very tight, so it’s very interesting now,” he said. “It’s very obvious that both sides improved a lot, and that’s one of the main goals of having something like this.”

For her part, Shi, who won gold for the CNMI in the 6th Micronesian Games, was crowned singles champion after edging teammate Su Yong Dong and Tinian’s Ma Zheng, who served as the national coach for the CNMI gold medal winning team in the Micro Games.

It was tough for officials to determine a winner as all three finished with identical 6-1 win-loss match records. With that, officials had to turn to win-loss sets records.

After the tabulation, it was determined that Shi was champion with a 20-7 record. Ma placed second with a 20-9 record, while Su took third with a 20-10 record.

The doubles title went to Tinian as Zheng and Luke Lu joined forces to win the title, while Su Yong Dong and Chen Lin Ying of Saipan placed a strong second.

After the competition, participants went to Seaman’s Restaurant in Lower Base for the awards banquet.

During the banquet, MATTA president Steve Lim offered words of appreciation to all, including the game officials, members of the media, supporters, and all the players for another successful friendship competition.