BELIZE CITY, Mon. Apr. 11, 2016–The 2016 1st Biannual RF&G National Ranking Tournament took place this past Sunday, April 10, at the BES Auditorium, ”the home of table tennis”.
Some 50 table tennis players ranging from ages 10 to 65 participated across the A, B, and C divisions in this annual National Ranking event.
This year, the division rating requirements have changed. “A” Division players are now players with a rating between 1000 to 1499 points; “B” Division players are now 700 to 999 points; and “C” Division players are those with a rating below 700 points. This has allowed several players to play up in a higher division for the first time.
The most significant results of this change took place in the “A” Division.
The ”A” Division category saw 4 players make it into the Double Elimination Final round of the competition. Of the Top 4, three were up and coming junior players, all recent representatives of Belize at the Central American Games. The fourth finalist was last year’s Champion, Carlos Cui. These juniors, who for the first time were able to play at this highest level division, demonstrated their skill by not only making it into the top four, but Latrell Solis also managed to take the top spot by placing 1st, overcoming the defending champion, Carlos Cui, in the finals.
The results were as follows:
“A” Division – 1st Latrell Solis, 2nd Carlos Cui, 3rd Taye Parkinson, 4th Amiri Hoare.
In the ”B” Division category, 15 of the “B” category players competed in a Round Robin classification event, with the top 8 advancing to the Double Elimination Finals.
Results were as follows:
“B” Division – 1st Amiri Hoare, 2nd Joshua Gegg, 3rd Taye Parkinson, 4th Fabio Carballo.
In the ”C” Division category, 18 players competed in a Round Robin classification event, with the 8 players advancing to a Double Elimination Finals.
The results were as follows:
“C” Division – 1st Kevin Chen, 2nd Rohit Pagarani, 3rd Tarique Reyes, 4th Terry Su.
The event ended with trophies being awarded to all the winners by BTTA President Tux Vasquez on behalf of the sponsors, RF&G Insurance.
Latrell Solis’s win marks the first time a Junior level player (age 15) has won at the highest level in a National Ranking event held in Belize by the Belize Table Tennis Association (BTTA). His win, along with Taye Parkinson’s (aged 10) and Amiri Hoare’s (aged 14) 3rd and 4th place wins, respectively, demonstrates the significant improvement that our junior players have made.
Huge congratulations go out to them for their hard work and dedication!
The President also remarked on the continued support of RF&G Insurance, now going over 6 years, and thanked them for their continued support to the development of table tennis in Belize.
We’d like to once again give a tremendous Thank You to RF&G Insurance Company Ltd. for their continued support, as well as to all the players, spectators, organizers and supporters for making this past event another successful tournament. “the development continues…..”