BELIZE CITY, Wed. June 1, 2016–The 2016 – 2nd Bi-Annual RF&G National Ranking Tournament took place this past Sunday, May 29, at the BES Auditorium.
Some 50 table tennis players, ranging from ages 10 to 65, participated across the A, B, C and Women divisions in this annual National Ranking event.
6 players competed in the A Division category, but only 4 made it into the Double Elimination Final round of the competition. These included Taye Parkinson, Amiri Hoare, Latrell Solis and Jorge Espat.
After heated matches among these top players, the final results were as follows:
A Division – 1st Taye Parkinson; 2nd Amiri Hoare; 3rd Latrell Solis; 4th Jorge Espat.
In the B Division category, 12 of the B category players competed in a round-robin classification event, with the top 7 advancing to the Double Elimination Finals. These included Rohit Pagarani, Luis Bardalez, Joshua Gegg, Kevin Chen, Taye Parkinson, Marion Usher and Jorge Espat. Taye Parkinson made his way to the finals undefeated, overcoming Kevin Chen, Jorge Espat and Joshua Gegg. Rohit Pagarani made his way back to the finals after his first loss to Joshua Gegg in the top half of the draw, by beating out Kevin Chen and Jorge Espat, and by beating Joshua Gegg in their second meeting in the Losers Bracket.
The Final results were as follows:
B Division – 1st Taye Parkinson; 2nd Rohit Pagarani; 3rd Joshua Gegg; 4th Jorge Espat.
In the C Division category, 5 players advanced to a Double Elimination Finals. Up and coming Junior, Devesh Hukmani had his eyes set on his first RF&G title, and played some of his best yet. He beat Kelly Liu, Mihir Karnani and Mihir Karnani again, all 3-0, to win this year’s C Division title.
The results were as follows:
C Division – 1st Devesh Hukmani; 2nd Mihir Karnani; 3rd Manuel Castellanos; 4th Malachi Crawford.
In the Women’s Division, 8 females vied for the top spots. After the round-robin was completed, 4 females made it into the main draw. These included Petie Matus, Kelly Liu, Afeni Lamb and Su Sen.
Petie Matus, current number 1 female in Belize, was forced to make her way back up the losing bracket, after falling to Su Sen in the top bracket semifinals. In the finals, Su Sen played Petie Matus, and lost 3-0. Because of the Double Elimination format, they would play yet again. Petie Matus came out victorius, winning the title over Su Sen in this final match with a score of 3 to 0.
Final Results were as follows:
Women Division – 1st Petie Matus; 2nd Su Sen; 3rd Kelly Lui; 4th Afeni Lamb.
The event ended with trophies being awarded to all winners by BTTA Director, Yasser Musa, and with the help of Ms. Sonia Tun, RF&G Insurance representative.
This is the 6th year that RF&G Insurance has sponsored this event, and they have promised to remain committed to our events and our development for years to come. We thank them greatly for their support.
We’d like to also give a big Thanks to all the players, spectators, organizers and supporters for making this past event another successful tournament.