Saipan sweeps ping-pong tourney

Micronesian Games gold medalist Jean Shi bested the men’s field in the singles division to complete Saipan’s sweep of the 16th Marianas Goodwill Table Tennis Tournament last Saturday at the Northern Marianas College Gymnasium.

Shi, who won gold medals in the 2006 Micro Games here, topped last weekend’s singles event after beating Tinian’s Luke Lu in the championship match in four sets. Shi, the lone female competitor in the one-day tournament, took the opening set, 11-9, lost the second, 11-9, and then swept the next two, 11-6, 11-2, to end the title game.

The Saipan ping-pong player advanced to the finals after downing Tinian’s Charlie Cheng in semifinals, 11-6, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5. Lu foiled an all-Saipan finals in the singles after outclassing Budh Gurung in the other semis duel, 6-11, 11-0, 11-4, 11-6.

Sixteen players from Saipan, Tinian, and Guam joined the single-elimination singles event with Luke Lu defeating Saipan’s Todd Montgomery and Steven Lim in his first two games to book a semis outing against Gurung, who prevailed over Guam’s Tony Huang and Red Ordonez.

In the lower half of the singles event, Shi ousted Guam’s John Matias and Tinian’s Liang Wei Bin to nail a semis seat against Cheng, who eliminated Guam’s Pablo Rodriguez and Tinian’s Su Yong Dong.

Last weekend’s goodwill competition also featured a doubles event with Shi teaming up with Budhu Gurung in sweeping Guam’s Hiromitsu Hamamoto and Matias in the championship game, 11-6, 17-15, 11-9.

The Saipan duo made it to the finals after winning over Guam’s Edwin Cadag and Ordonez in the semifinals, 11-3, 11-8, 11-3. Hamamoto and Matias notched the second finals berth after outclassing Tinian’s Cheng and Luke Lu in five sets, 11-8, 9-11, 14-12, 9-11, 11-8.

The runners-up were at the lower half of the eight-team doubles field and topped Tinian’s Robin Lu and Liang in the first round to advance against Luke Lu and Cheng, who defeated father and son Tony and Eddie Huang of Guam.

Gurung and Shi won over Lim and Rodriguez in the other first round pairing to set up a semis duel against Ordonez and Cadag, who beat Su Yo Dong and Mr. Xu in the other first round match of the upper half bracket.

After reigning both in the singles and doubles competitions, Saipan recorded its first sweep of the goodwill tournament in years, following a victory in the team event. The host won over Tinian in the finals.

Trophies were given to the champions, runners-up, and semifinalists in the three events with Lim, president of the organizing Marianas Amateur Table Tennis Association, handing the awards in a brief ceremony at Great Restaurant in Garapan.