Tinian ping-pong players in the lead

Tinian reasserted its dominance over Saipan, winning the first 17 of 25 head-to-head matches Saturday in the opening day of the 2004 Marianas Friendship Table Tennis Tournament at the Northern Marianas College Gymnasium.

Tinian, represented by crack ping-pong practitioners from the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino, took the first six matches of the two-day event before Saipan’s Su Yong Dong snapped the visitors’ winning skein.

The hosts, represented by players from the Marianas Amateur Table Tennis Association, would win just seven more race-to-three games matches through the course of the day, which ended well past 5pm. Games resumed yesterday morning but results were not available as of press time.

Charlie Chang and Luke Lu led Tinian during the first day with four victories against no losses. Chang defeated Su, Chen Lin Ying, and Peter De Leon in three sets before getting into trouble somewhat against Budhi Gurung, which he beat in four sets.

For his part, Lu won against Gurung in three tightly contested sets and dismissed the trio of De Leon, Steven Lim, and Mario Espeleta in three straight sets.

Tinian’s No. 1 player Chang Zhan Xue was only second in the win chart after the first day of competition but nonetheless also sported an immaculate 3-0 slate.

His victims include Su, Chen, and Liu Wei. All three were no match against Chang as they even didn’t reach double figures in all three sets much less win a game against the two-hold specialist.

Making up the rest of the Tinian team, with their records after the first day in parenthesis, are Robin Lu (2-1), Liang We Bin (1-1); and Alfred Yu (1-2), and Liu Fu Liang (1-4).

With two wins in five matches, Gurung on top of the win column for Saipan. The host team’s No. 1 player won against Yu and Liang in three sets. Su equaled Gurung’s victories with two, while Liu and Mario Espeleta also got a win each. De Leon and Chen have yet to ring the bell for Saipan.

The 2004 Marianas Friendship Table Tennis Tournament got off to a rough start when Guam cancelled at the last minute, according to Lim, who is MATTA president.

Lim said that spoiled preparations for the whole tournament, which called for MATTA to rent the NMC Gym as well as set up two international-standard table tennis arenas at the site.