Introduction
The PTT Canadian Championships were held this year in Ottawa the weekend of July 7-8 at the TTC National Training Centre. Athletes from Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia participated this year. John Macpherson, Para TT National Team Head Coach welcomed everyone on behalf of TTC and the Para TT Committee and expressed his excitement at seeing all the new players.
Although the number of Provinces/Territories was down slightly from previous years the number of participants jumped significantly with thirteen players, including Youth and Class 11 athletes, attending for the first time and performing very well. Currently 90% of active Para TT athletes are from Central and Eastern Canada but we are working actively to expand the player base across the country.
One of the new developmental initiatives involves development of nation wide activity for Class 11 eligible athletes. Table Tennis is one of only three sports currently offering Paralympic level competition for persons with an intellectual disability and TTC has been working to develop competition level athletes. One such athlete competed at this year's championships and did extremely well winning two matches to lay claim as the premier Class 11 player in Canada.
Singles Results
Wheelchair Classes 1-2 Event (QUAD)
In rr action players finished in the following order (the top two players are new):
Harmandep Singh (ON) - GOLD
Umair Pirzada (ON) - SILVER
George Simpson (ON) - BRONZE
Wheelchair Classes 3-5 Event
Top seeds Muhammad Mudassar (ON) and Barry Butler (ON) made it out of the rr stage to join Asad Murtaza (ON) and promising newcomer Mohsin Ali Watoo (ON) in the SF. Murtaza displayed dramatic improvement in his physical and mental game, surprisingly mounting a solid come back effort to upset top seed Mudassar 3-2 (10, -7, -8, 8, 9). Butler overcame a very slow start in his match against a very consistent Watoo eventually winning 3-1 (10, -5, 3, 3). Another all Ontario medal grab was on.
In the Championship Final Butler defeated an enterprising Murtaza 3-0 (10, 4, 6) to retain his national singles title while Mudassar won the Bronze Medal Match 3-0 (4, 7,7) over Watoo who finished fourth.
Standing Open Class Youth
This event was held for the first time and provided lots of
excitement as closely matched players produced a three-way tie with identical
2-1 records. Congratulations to all!
Tie-breaker implementation results:
Shawn Cesar (ON) - GOLD
Mike Drozdowski - SILVER
Curtis Carton - BRONZE
Standing Classes 6-8
The top two players from each rr group advanced to the QF. In the QF George Crhak (ON) defeated Raghu Kondatasula (ON) 3-0 (6, 10, 6) and Stephanie Chan (BC) won over Francis Osei-Bonsu (ON) 3-0 (8, 4, 8) while Real Poudrier (QC) and Masoud Mojtahed (BC) drew byes. In the SF Poudrier overcame a first game loss to defeat a very game Crhak 3-1 (-7, 6, 8, 3) while Mojtahed took a 3-1 victory over Chan (8, 6, -12, 9).
The Championship Match saw Mojtahed take a decisive 3-0 victory over Poudrier (6, 6, 4) to seize the title while Chan earned the Bronze with a 3-0 win over Crhak.
Standing Classes 9-10
Last year’s Standing Open Champion proved to be the class of
the field and went undefeated in rr play.
Syed Asad Hussain (ON) - GOLD
Martin Pelletier (QC) - SILVER
Xiaoyang Zhu (ON) - BRONZE
Wheelchair Team Open Class Event
In SF play defending Champions Murtaza/Mudassar (ON) swept Watto/Singh/Pirzada (ON) 3-0 to advance to the Finals while Butler/Simpson (ON) defeated Dunn/Lohnes (NS) 3-0 to set up another all Ontario Championship Match.
In the Finals Murtaza/Mudassar successfully defended their National Team Championship title with a closely fought 3-2 win over Butler/Simpson. In a battle of new players Watto/Singh/Pirzada took the Bronze 3-1 over a very game Nova Scotia team that had to settle for fourth place this year.
Standing Team Open Class Event
QF action saw Kondatasula/Hussain (ON) take a 3-1 win over Osei-Bonzu/Crhak (ON) to move on to the SF where they met top seeds Pelletier/Poudrier and lost 2-3. The key to their loss was an exciting doubles match where Pelletier/Poudrier eked out a very narrow 3-2 result (7, - 8, 10, -8, 10). In the other SF match Mojtahed/Macpherson (BC/NS) took a clean 3-0 victory over Chan/Zhu (BC/ON).
Tied at 2-2 in matches the Championship Title came down to the final highly pressurized singles match eventually won by Poudrier 3-1 resulting in a 3-2 Pelletier/Poudrier victory. In the Bronze Medal match Kondatasula/Hussain earned a 3-1 result over Chan/Zhu.
Kudos
Many thanks to: TTC staffers Mireille, Steve and YanBin for their efforts to keep things running smoothly; Referee Norman Tang and his umpire and ball retriever crew for their vital and tireless efforts; the hospitality crew for the preparation and serving of those deliciously healthy and hardy lunches; Michael of the SpinBin for the enjoyable Saturday night gathering of the pong people; and last but certainly not least, George Crhak, Standing Gold Medallist at the Paralympics in Toronto in 1976 and Bronze Medallist in Arnhem, 1980 who returned to Para Table Tennis this year in his seventies after an absence of thirty-two years. Well, not quite the last: many thanks and welcome to the many new players that came out this year to compete at the 2012 Para Table Tennis Canadian Championships!