Lawn and table netters share spotlight

Lawn and table tennis players shared the spotlight for the past week winning their respective events on Saipan and Tinian.

Ji Hoon Heo led eight other division winners in last week’s Pacific Islands Club-Gatorade Tennis Championships held yesterday at the PIC tennis courts.

Heo defeated Peter Loyola, 6-3, 6-3, to successfully defend his men’s open title while Thea Minor won the women’s open after going undefeated in the round robin play without dropping a set.

Joining Heo and Minor in the winner’s circle are Chris Cajigan and Emily Jones (boys’ and girls’ 9-and-under); Christian Miller and Theecel Minor (boys’ and girls’ 13-and-under); Lope Padilla and Matty Buenaventura (men’s and women’s 4.0).

Tinian table tennis players once again reasserted their dominance beating teams from neighboring Guam and Saipan to win the 9th Goodwill Table Tennis Tournament held at the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino.

Tinian A’s Mark Ma and brothers Luke and Robin Lu lost only four games in 40 head-to-head matches against two teams from Saipan, Guam, and their sister team, Tinian B, en route to winning the team competition of the tournament.

Six teams were crowned champions in different age groups in the boys and girls division of the 2008 Spring Break Youth Volleyball Festival at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Brotherhood and Powerpuffs topped the 18-and-under division, while Umangs won the boys’ Under-12 and -14 age groups with Bwii Bwiis and Hilitai duplicated the feat in the girls’ side.

Eli Torgeson and Mieko Carey continued with their amazing run in the multi-sport scene finishing strong in the 2008 XTERRA Guam. Torgeson finished second overall to 7th XTERRA Saipan Championship and 19th Tagaman Triathlon winner Andrew Noble while Carey came in fourth behind the Top 3 finishers to claim the women’s crown.

Other Saipan triathletes that competed in XTERRA Guam were Butch Sublemente (3:02:13), Russ Quinn (3:06:22), and Kevin Carey (3:15:17).

No Fear and YoYo’s won the 2008 Indoor Volleyball Winter League titles beating separate opponents at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

No Fear, which enjoyed a twice-to-beat advantage after going undefeated in the double-elimination playoff round, suffered a 25-21, 17-25, 7-15 loss to Fanians in Game 1 but recovered with a 25-20, 23-25, 15-9 triumph in the rubber.

In the women’s division, YoYo’s squeezed out a 25-15, 23-25, 15-12 victory against pennant winners Pikan Gaga.

Organizers of the 2008 Micronesian Basketball Tournament decided to cancel the scheduled event in Kolonia, Pohnpei this year since only three island nations committed to field their respective teams.

Only Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Guam agreed to participate. Pohnpei and Guam are the only teams that will be competing in the men’s and women’s divisions, while Kosrae will only send a men’s team.

Chuuk, Yap, CNMI, Nauru, and Kiribati have already informed Tobin about their inability to send teams to the competition.

Andy Nepail led his team to win the coveted yellow Hawaiian jacket in the Inaugural Dan Hughes Memorial Tournament of Fools Golf Tournament at the Laolao Bay Golf Course east course.

Nepaial, who won the 2007 season-ending RGA Cup in December last year, teamed up with Richard Pierce, Alex S. Sablan, and Dan Harding to win the tournament, which is held in memory of former Coffee Care owner Dan Hughes.