The 2nd Annual SJC Table Tennis Club Tournament took place this past Saturday, January 27, at the Belize Elementary School Auditorium, “the home of table tennis….!!”
Games kicked off at approximately 1:30 p.m. with some 42 students participating in three categories – ADVANCED, INTERMEDIATE & BEGINNERS.
In the ADVANCED category, 12 of the top players from SJC competed in Round Robin competition, with the top 8 finishers advancing to a FINAL Double Elimination competition.
Top seed, Harim Ochaeta advanced to the finals by defeating Leo Carballo, Gian Lisbey & Fabio Carballo; while Fabio Carballo also advanced to the finals by defeating Daniel Sanchez & Mishek Musa. In the Final match, Harim Ochaeta emerged the CHAMPION by defeating Carballo by a score of 3-1.
The final results were:
ADVANCED CATEGORY: 1st – Harim Ochaeta; 2nd – Fabio Carballo; 3rd – Mishek Musa; 4th – Daniel Sanchez.
In the INTERMEDIATE category, 12 players also competed in a Round Robin competition, with the top 8 finishers advancing to a FINAL Double Elimination competition.
Daniel Echeverria advanced to the finals by defeating Michael Teng, Gavin Wong & Zachary Garbutt; while Garbutt also made it to the finals by defeating Johann Ketz, Isaac Hines & Ashley Weller. Daniel Echeverria took the Championship by defeating Zachary Garbutt, 3-0.
The final results were:
INTERMEDIATE CATEGORY: 1st – Daniel Echeverria; 2nd – Zachary Garbutt; 3rd- Ashley Weller; 4th – Issac Hines.
In the BEGINNERS category, 18 students began the Round Robin competition, with the top 8 advancing to the FINAL Double Elimination competition.
Ryan Vellos made it to the FINALS by defeating Alexya Perez, Samuel Ferguson & Denzel Young; while Young made it to the FINALS by defeating Cohen Wong, Brandon Usher & Henry Miguel. In the FINALS, Ryan Vellos took the CHAMPIONSHIP by defeating Denzel Young by a score of 3-2.
The final results were:
BEGINNERS CATEGORY: 1st – Ryan Vellos; 2nd – Denzel Young; 3rd – Henry Miguel; 4th – Samuel Ferguson.
Mr. Yasser Musa, head of the SJC Table Tennis Club, and Mrs. Yolanda Gongora, Headmaster of SJC, were on hand to deliver the medals to all the winners. Musa expressed his sincere appreciation to all the participants and to the support of the BTTA in assisting with organizing of the event. He thanked all the students for their competitive spirit and for making the event a success. President of the BTTA, Tux Vasquez was also on hand to deliver the message to the students that it is the priority of the BTTA to develop the sport of table tennis in the schools. The 2013 calendar of events now includes an exclusive event for the 18 years and younger categories of students.
Medals were awarded to the top four finishers in each category.
CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners, and THANK YOU to all the organizers, participants, spectators, parents and students that took part in this annual event.