BELIZE CITY–The Belize Table Tennis Association’s (BTTA) 2014 BNE National Championships took place this past Sunday, December 7, at the BES Auditorium. Over 50 players came out to compete across four categories – the Men’s Singles, Female Singles, Men’s Doubles, and Mixed Doubles events.

Men’s Singles

In the Men’s Singles category, 32 males competed for the top spot. Tyrone Tun, Zhi Chen, Billy Musa, Jr., and Sen Sen were this year’s top seeds going into the event. Billy Musa, Jr. was unable to make the event, leaving the draw open for other players to step up to the plate and try to make their way to the finals.

In the top half, top junior player Latrell Solis did just this, making his “run” by beating out Daryl Palacio (3-0), SP Chen in the Round of 16 (3 – 0), and Taye Parkinson (one of our youngest junior players, only 9) in the quarterfinals (3-1). Unfortunately, his run came to an end in the semis against top seed Tyrone Tun, but not without first putting up a fight in what turned out to be quite an impressive match.

Latrell opened the match playing very aggressively, winning the first game, 11-6. Tyrone answered by counterattacking, winning the next game, 11-8. Latrell regained his focus in the third game and took that, 11-7. Tyrone then changed his strategy a bit and began playing a bit more conservatively, winning points by forcing the error. He took the penultimate game, 11-6. With the score now tied, 2-2, both players had to bring out their best game in order to move on to the finals. In the end, experience won, with Tyrone Tun doing just enough to hold off Latrell’s attacks, while playing aggressively himself, finishing the game, 11-8. Tyrone Tun thus moved on into the finals.

In the bottom half, Jorge Espat made a grand comeback, after  experiencing some poor results over the course of the Brother’s Habet Team League Tournament, which recently finished just over a month ago. He made his way to the semis by beating Cody Rivero (3-1), upsetting #4 seed Sen Sen in the Round of 16 (12-10, 9-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-4), and beating 5th seeded player Nicholas Martin (3-0) in the quarterfinals. Jorge Espat’s impressive run came to an end in the semis, losing 3-0 to #1 seed Zhi Chen. Zhi Chen made it into the finals by beating out Asyel Lopez, 3-0; Jason Lin in the Round of 16 (3-0); Joshua Gegg in the quarterfinals (3-1); and Jorge Espat in the semis.

In the finals, top seed and defending champion Tyrone Tun played #2 seed Zhi Chen for the title of the 2014 BNE National Champion. Zhi Chen proved victorious with a convincing win of 3-0.

The final results were as follows: 1st Place – Zhi Chen; 2nd Place – Tyrone Tun; 3rd Place – Jorge Espat & Latrell Solis.

Women’s Singles

In the Women’s Singles, Petie Matus and Su Sen came in as the top seeds. Like in the Men’s Singles, both top seeds made it into the finals. Petie Matus made it into the finals with a bye in the first round, and then by beating out Samira Pott in the semis, 3-0. Su Sen made her way to the finals by beating Therese Dawson in the first round (3-0), and then Toyola Casimiro in the semis, (3-0). Petie Matus and Su Sen then played for the Women Championships Title in the finals, with Petie Matus emerging victorious with a win of 3 games to 1.

The final results were as follows: 1st Place – Petie Matus; 2nd Place – Su Sen; 3rd Place – Samira Pott & Toyola Casimiro.

Men’s Doubles

In the Men’s Doubles category, 16 Men’s Doubles teams came to contest this year’s title. Zhi Chen/SP Chen paved their way to the finals by winning over Luis Bardalez/Denzel Young, John Delcid/Samron Pott in the quarterfinals, and Jorge Espat/Marion Usher in the semifinals. Jaylen Nicholson/Nicholas Martin earned their spot in the finals by beating out Francis Gegg/Jason Lin in the first round, Charlton Roches/Tyrone Tun in the quarterfinals, and Harold Young/Joshua Gegg in the semis. Zhi Chen/SP Chen won in the finals over Jaylen Nicholson/Nicholas Martin, 3 games to 1, and took home the title of 2014 BNE National Doubles Champions.

The final results were as follows: 1st Place – Zhi Chen/SP Chen; 2nd Place – Jaylen Nicholson/Nicholas Martin; 3rd Place – Jorge Espat/Marion Usher and Harold Young/Joshua Gegg.

Mixed Doubles

In the Mixed Doubles category, 7 Mixed Doubles teams competed for the top spot. In the first semifinals, the brother-sister duo, Marion Usher/Petie Matus played the mother-son duo, Samira Pott/Samron Pott, with the sibling team emerging victorious, 3-0. In the second semifinals, husband and wife, Sen Sen/Su Sen played Jorge Espat/Lucy Jaramillo. Sen Sen and Su Sen won, 3-0, advancing to the final round. In the finals, Marion Usher/Petie Matus pulled off the win over Sen Sen/Su Sen by winning 3 games to 1.

The final results were as follows: 1st Place – Marion Usher/Petie Matus; 2nd Place – Sen Sen/Su Sen; 3rd Place – Samron Pott/Samira Pott and Jorge Espat/Lucy Jaramillo.

BTTA President, Arturo Vasquez led the award ceremonies, with Technical Director, Gabriel Guerrero assisting with the presentation of trophies. 24 trophies were presented to all the winners.

Marion Usher, representing the sponsor, Belize Natural Energy, thanked the BTTA for the opportunity to support the development of table tennis, and promised to continue to sponsor both the Junior National Championships and the National Championships events.

BTTA Educational Assistance

Additionally, in an effort to further encourage our Junior Players and show our commitment to their development, the BTTA has initiated the BTTA Educational Assistance Program, which is an initiative to promote financial assistance to our junior players who not only show exemplary sportsmanship and perform well in the game, but also work equally as hard in their school work. Latrell Solis was presented with a certificate honoring him as the first beneficiary of this program. He will receive financial assistance over the next four years, provided that he continues to play and does well in his studies.

Congratulations and thanks

Congratulations to all the winners, and a big Thank You to Belize Natural Energy for sponsoring this event.

Thank You also goes out to all the players, participants, spectators and organizers of this year’s events.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we hope to see you again next year.