Koreans top Goodwill ping-pong tourney

 A visiting team from South Korea took home the team championship of the 17th Goodwill Table Tennis Tournament held last Saturday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

The three-person Korean A team made up of Cheon Yeong Cheol, Jeong Mi Jeong, and Choi In Kyu finished with an immaculate 5-0 win-loss record in the round-robin competition.

Jeong is the owner of a table tennis academy in South Korea, while Choi is the vice president of the table tennis club in Korea.

The Korea A team started off with a 3-1 victory over a Guam made up of Hisamitsu Hamamoto, Tony Huang, and David Yang. The latter is the son of Saipan A’s Jean Shi but loaned to the squad from the U.S. territory, while Hamamoto is the president of the Guam Large Ball Table Tennis Association.

Guam’s only win against Korea came courtesy of Huang who beat Choi.

Saipan A, which aside from Shi is composed of Budhi Gurung and Marianas Amateur Table Tennis Association president Steve Lim, was the next to fall against Korea A, 1-3.

Lim gave Saipan A its only win when he triumphed over Choi.

Korea A made it 3-0 after sweeping a Saipan B squad that is composed of Saipan-based Koreans Kim Jung Suk, Park Sung Ae, Kim Sung Taek, and Hwang Mi Ok.

Tinian gave some semblance of fight against the powerhouse Korea A team, losing 1-3 as Su Yong Dong got the better of Choi.

Su’s teammates include Lian Wei Bin, Charlie Cheng, and Robin Lu.

Korea A then completed the perfect 5-0 record with a walkover win over Korea B.

Finishing second to Korea A was Saipan A with a 4-1 record, followed by Tinian (3-2), and Guam, Saipan B, and Korea B with identical 1-4 cards.

Guam finished fourth because of its 6-12 individual matches won-lost with Saipan B (4-13) and Korea B (3-13) bringing the rear.

In the doubles competition, Korea A’s Cheon teamed up with Saipan B’s Park Tae Won to win the division.

Cheol and Park beat Saipan’s Kim Ki Jo and Korea B’s Hwang Mi Ok in the first round then took out Saipan A’s Budhi Gurung and Jean Shi in the second.

In the semifinals, Cheon and Park got the better of Tinian’s Charlie Cheng and Liang Wei Bin.

In the finals, Cheon and Park took the championship by dispatching Saipan B’s Park Tae Won and Korea A’s Jeong Mi Jeong.

While the organizing MATTA wasn’t able to conduct a singles competition, the club still awarded individual best performers to Korea A’s Cheon and his teammate Jeong, while Saipan’s A Shi finished third place.