2016 Sizzling Summer Open Sponsored by Pong Mobile

Posted by: admin | on August 6, 2016

2016 Sizzling Summer Open

25 players gathered at Cassel’s Sport Complex in Herndon on Saturday 6th August 2016, home of Smash Table Tennis for the 2016 Sizzling Summer Open. The event was sponsored by Pong Mobile.

The competition was organized as a giant round robin event. 134 matches were played. With the exception of the seeds, participants played 11 or 12 matches in the 6 hour event. The top 4 seeds Khaleel Asgarali (2383), Sutanit Tangyingyong (2307), Bojun Zhangliang (2252) and Michael Levene (2154) were seeded straight into the Open Championship division. They were joined by preliminary group winners William Waltrip (1959), Gaurav Sharma (1838), Thomas Olausson (1815) and Daniel Gong (1802). Daniel and Thomas overcoming higher rated players in their initial groups to claim a spot in the top group.

Despite the best efforts of the qualifiers fighting hard, the seeds dominated the group, dropping only 2 games against them.

Khaleel who plays professionally in Prague, was in total control of the group overcoming all challengers 3-0 with the exception of a single stolen game by Michael. Against Bojun lightning fast forehand-to-forehand looping rallies were fitting of a great final. However, his 2-winged attack proved to be too consistent and too strong for the rest of the field. A solid performance, he was a worthy winner, collecting the $300.00 check and trophy for first place.

The other seeds all managed to beat each other for a 3-way tie which Bojun won as a result of having the best games difference. Michael overcame Bojun 19-17 in the 5^th game. Having previously been wiped out by Bojun in the last tournament he was able to find his form, saving multiple match points prior to landing a big spin laced forehand winner to upset the form book. Sutanit edged out Michael 3-2 with clever deceptive defensive play mixed in with some strong forehands. Bojun was too quick for Sutanit winning 3-0 and securing second place and the check for $150.00

In the final match in the 8 player Class B group, the 2 undefeated players who were also the top seeds in the group played off for the title. Louis Levene overcame Rajul Kansara 3-1 by the finest of margins. Youth versus experience; can go either way but on this occasion youth won out. At critical points Louis’s ultra-fast reactions made the difference. In Class C Mossa Barandao our sponsor from Pong Mobile claimed the trophy over Mikhail Merkulov. Both players on their day are great players who were not able to advance to Class B on this day, but were duly compensated with trophies to take home.

A final note Appaiah Kuppanda (1389) had 5 great wins over players rated significantly higher at 1545, 1598, 1637, 1758 and 1807. Well done! On a good day anything is possible.