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Goodwil table tennis tourney tomorrow
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Posted on Oct 20 2011
The 16th Marianas Goodwill Table Tennis Tournament will take place tomorrow at the Northern Marianas College Gymnasium with three teams competing in the biannual event.
On top of the list is defending champion Tinian, which will bring in five players. Saipan will have another visiting team from Guam, which is fielding seven entries. The host has four players and could possible add one more on the day of the tournament.
Tinian, which swept the singles, doubles, and team events in the 15th edition of the goodwill meet that Saipan also hosted last March, will be bannered by brothers Luke and Robin Lu. Completing the squad are Liang Wei Bin, Charlie Cheng, and Xu.
The Lu brothers joined forces with Mark Ma to top the team event last March. In the doubles, Luke Lu and Ma prevailed, while Ma also won the singles competition against a Korean player.
Guam is expected to give the defending champion a big challenge this weekend, as the former will be represented by players who saw action in regional and world tournaments the past months. One of them is Edwin Cadag, who is a member of the Guam National Senior Team and played in the 2011 Pacific Games in Noumea, New Caledonia. Also on the list are Eddie Huang and John Matias, who are on the Guam Junior and Cadet national teams and competed in the ITTF World Junior Circuit Tournament in Guam in April this year.
Joining the three Guam national players are Hiromitsu Hamamoto and Pablo Rodriguez. Hamamoto is the founder and president of the Guam Large Ball Table Tennis Association, which has been holding large ball table tennis tournament in Guam annually since 2006. Rodriguez is a former Saipan resident and member of the Marianas Amateur Table Tennis Association.
Saipan will be led by 2006 Micronesian Games gold medalist Jean Shi. Also on the team are Budhi Gurung, Steven Lim, and David Yang. Gurung and Shi teamed up in the doubles and lost to Ma and Luke Lu in the finals. Shi also bowed to Ma in the singles semifinals. Yang, the youngest member on the team, will be competing in his first goodwill tournament. He also played in the ITTF World Junior Circuit Tournament in Guam six months ago.
