Tinian’s star player Mark Ma topped the team category with Luke Lu and Robin Lu, bagging three wins to beat second-ranked Saipan A (Budhi Gurung, Jean Shi, and T.W. Park) last Saturday.
Tinian B’s Charlie Cheng, Su Yongdong, Liang Wei Bin, Alfred Yue, and Mr. Xu lost twice to settle for third place. Team Guam’s Arman Burgos, Edwin Cadag, and Tony Huang won fourth place.
Both Ma and Lu proceeded to Sunday’s doubles event, this time beating Gurung and Shi for the title in five sets: 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 3-11, and 11-3.
Ma and Lu defeated Saipan’s Steven Gardiner and David Yang, 11-3, 11-6, and 11-2 earlier in the quarterfinals. They stormed to the finals with consecutive wins over Park and Marianas Amateur Table Tennis Association president Steven Lim. Gurung and Shi conquered Cheng and Lu to earn their finals seat.
Ma came close to losing the singles division title, but returned after five sets to edge first runner-up Roh Young Soon. Soon took the second and third sets, winning 14-12 and 11-9. Ma triumphed, 11-8 by the fourth set and sealed his victory with a 13-11 win.
Both players eliminated Jean Shi and Luke Lu in the semis, as well as Robin Lu and Budhi Gurung in the quarterfinals.
Team Korea, which topped the 14th edition of the tournament, was unable to compete and will “hopefully” visit in the future, according to Lim.
“Thank you very much for joining the tournament. We are happy to see new faces,” said the MATTA president in a closing remark during Sunday’s award ceremony.
“I’m honored to have been playing with you all,” added Guam’s Cadag, who was pleased with the competition’s turnout.
Kim Yong Gon was also announced as the Korean Table Tennis Association of Saipan’s new president, and will take over T.W. Park. KTTA and MATTA members merged this weekend to represent Saipan.
