BELIZE CITY, Mon. Mar. 30, 2015–The 2015 4th Annual DUTCH LADY Primary School Table Tennis Tournament took place this past Friday, March 27, at the BES Auditorium.
This year, 90 students participated from 8 of our local primary schools. These included St. Joseph, Trinity Methodist, St. Mary’s, Hummingbird, Belize Elementary, Wesley Upper Primary, Ephesus, and Holy Redeemer.
This year was also the first year that the primary school tournament has included a Girls Division, with 18 girls from 4 different primary schools participating. These schools included Belize Elementary, St. Mary’s, St. Joseph, and Hummingbird….
Over 200 matches were played throughout the event.
Boys Division
In the Boys Division, 24 juniors advanced to the Main Double Elimination Draw….
Top seed junior player Bjarne Gabourel from St. Joseph made it to the finals by defeating David Portillo (2–0), Eric Li (2-1), Samron Pott (2-1), and Taye Parkinson (3-1).
Taye Parkinson, also from St. Joseph, made it to the finals by defeating Jose Castellanos (2-0), Jeran Perez (2-0), Jonah Chebat (2-0), and Sergio Pech (2-0). He lost to Bjarne Gabourel in the Winner’s Bracket Semifinals and fell into the loser’s bracket, but made his way back to the finals by defeating Samron Pott (3-1). The Finals was an all-St. Joseph affair, with Bjarne Gabourel emerging victorious after an impressive match of offense over defence… Bjarne took the match 3 games to 2.
Samron Pott from Hummingbird and Terry Su from Belize Elementary played for third and fourth, with Samron Pott winning over Terry (2-1)…
In the Boys Consolation Draw, … The Finals was a Holy Redeemer and Belize Elementary match-up, with Belize Elementary taking the Boys Consolation – Vinay Hotchandani winning over Anthony Usher, 3 games to 1.
Girls Division
In the Girls Division, 6 juniors made it to the Main Double Elimination Draw….
Allika Forman made her way to the finals by defeating St. Joseph’s Jazira Butler (2-0), falling to the loser’s bracket at the hands of Belize Elementary’s Kelly Liu (0-2), only to return back to the finals after defeating Jazira Butler yet again in the loser’s bracket semifinals. Kelly Liu advanced to the finals with a bye in the first round, then by beating Aejelee Thurton of Hummingbird (2-0), and then Allika Forman (2-0) in the Winner’s Bracket Semis. Kelly then waited in the finals for Allika Forman, who had made her way back to the finals and won over Allika Forman, 3 games to 1.
6 Juniors also made it into the Girls Consolation Knockout Draw… Afeni Lamb of St. Joseph won the Girls Consolation, beating out Fiona Yang of BES (2-0), and Irene Hung also of BES, 2 games to 0.
The final results of all Divisions were as follows:
Boys Division: 1st – Bjarne Gabourel (St. Joseph); 2nd – Taye Parkinson (St. Joseph); 3rd – Samron Pott (Hummingbird); 4th – Terry Su (Belize Elementary).
Boys Consolation: 1st – Vinay Hotchandani (Belize Elementary); 2nd – Anthony Usher (Holy Redeemer); 3rd – Edward Matus (St. Joseph); 3rd – Johun Reyes (Belize Elementary).
Girls Division: 1st – Kelly Liu (Belize Elementary); 2nd – Allika Forman (St. Mary’s); 3rd – Jazira Butler (St. Joseph); 4th – Aejelee Thurton (Hummingbird).
Girls Consolation: 1st – Afeni Lamb (St. Joseph); 2nd – Irene Hung (Belize Elementary); 3rd – Fiona Yang (Belize Elementary); 3rd – Hailey Thurton (Hummingbird).
Trophies, medals and gift packages
Last year’s Primary School Tournament was an all-St. Joseph affair, with all places, 1st to 4th, going to St. Joseph Primary. This year, as the results show, more schools are sharing the top positions….
Mrs. Aisha Rudon, representing the sponsors, Santiago Castillo’s DUTCH LADY, was on hand to present the trophies and gift packages to the winners of this event….
BTTA President Tux Vasquez also gave thanks to the sponsors and welcomed their continued support of this event.
Trophies were awarded to the top four finalists of the Main Draws for both Boys and Girls Divisions, and medals were presented to the top performer in both Consolation Draws. Gift packages of products from DUTCH LADY were also presented to all winners in each division.
St. Joseph reclaims Cup
This year’s the Championship Cup was reclaimed by St. Joseph Primary, who won the Cup last year, as Bjarne Gabourel of St. Joseph was the overall Winner in the Boys Division.
This makes for St. Joseph’s second win. If they manage to win for a third year in a row, they get to keep the Cup. For now, St. Joseph gets to hold on to the Cup until next year’s event.
We thank all the players, participating schools, parents, spectators, organizers and especially the sponsors, DUTCH LADY, for another successful primary school event….
Congratulations & Thank You!!!!