Today was too hot to do some yard work even though I should be shredding some tree branches that lay near the easement to the road.  It's time to write another blog entry about the Glendale Friendship Games held last March 1.  Glendale is an enclave where most Armenians reside in Southern California.  The Friendship Games was held at the Homenetmen Ararat facility in Glendale, CA.  The nondescript building is on abusy thorough fare that is next to a police station.  From what I understand, this facility was built through contributions from the Armenian community.  It provides a lot of activies both cultural and athletics.  Basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, chess, table tennis and cultural dance are some of the activities offered.

There are two gyms at the facility.  Previously, the table tennis tournament was held in the larger gym with bleachers.  The downside to this gym for table tennis was the uneven lighting, almost dark in some sections of the gym.  Fortunately, the organizers elected to use the smaller gym.  While there are no bleachers, lighting was excellent. In exchange for better lighting, the playing area was a bit smaller.  The organizers also went out of their way to use a silver colored tarp to line the walls to make for an even background color.  One great aspect of this event is the organizers made sure the cafeteria was open for food and refreshments.  A basketball tournament was being concurrently in the larger gym.

There were 84 participants to this one day tournament.  The downside of a one day tournament with limited tables (12) is fewer events.  Ratings range from a low of 286 for Leon Shahnazari to top seed Jeff Lin Huang 2569.  It was great to see Raul Alto from San Diego bring his 3 kids and several players from his area.

In the U14 SF, John Alto went past Ellen Hwang 3-1.  In the other SF, Justin Nguyen led 2-0 vs Ethan Chua only to see the match tied 2-2.  Justin took the 5th for the match.  The final was set between John Alto and Justin Nguyen.  John came out slugging and could do no wrong.  Accurate placement and continous counter attacks got John the first game  From my vantage point,  Justin slowed his game down and this somewhat messed with John's timing for his shots.  Losing the 2nd game at deuce, it was now John's turn to get frustrated.  This was very evident and John became extremely impatient by trying to end the point quickly.  Justin patiently returned every ball to the table and wins the next 2 games to win the match 3-1.

In the U18 SF, DJ Alto wins 3-0 over Justin Nguyen.  DJ was just too strong and quick on the table.  Anand Engineer dismantled Sang Lien 3-1 in the other SF.  Being steady and quick on the table earned DJ the U18 title in his match with Anand Engineer 3-0.

Earl Alto was the top seed in the U2250 with a rating of 2249.  Though some of us know, Earl has been over 2300 and has had great wins over like Jeff Lin Huang.  In one SF, Earl faced Konstantin Chermonorsky.  Kosta stopped playing table tennis for several years, and in the last two years started training again.  Kosta has one of the wicked side top or side under serves which are hard to read.  But  in his match against Earl, he had difficulty in returning the serves.  Match to Earl 3-0.  Don Angeles beat Jun Valencia in the other bracket.  Don is an interesting player.  He has good strokes but when you observe him play, seems like he never breaks a sweat!  In the final, Earl was just too strong in his serves and a lot of more steady.  Earl wins 3-0 over Don Angeles.

In the Open QF, the matches are as follows:  Jeff Lin Huang vs John Thach Tran; Rudy Miranda vs DJ Alto; Earl Alto vs Jessie Mai and Dr. Tuan Le vs Thilina Piyadasa.

John Thach Tran was smiling all day.  His happy go lucky personality was even more evident in this tournament.  I found why he was all smiles.  He just recently got married and his wife just arrived from Vietnam.  Hopefully his wife will continue to let John pursue table tennis on weekends!  Back to the match.  This was the longest QF match.  Two lefties that play with all their hearts out.  John squeaks by to take the first game at deuce.  Jeff mounts a comeback to win the next 3.

When you hear Rudy screaming in the background, it only means one thing:  the game is not going his way.  Sure enough, DJ cruises 3-0 over Rudy.  The match between Earl and Jessie was a good one and one for Earl to remember.  Leading 2-1 and 10-7 in the 4th, Earl let his guard down allowing Jessie to win the 4th at deuce.  The momentum had changed and it was now on Jessie's side.  Jessie Mai takes the 5th to advance.  Dr. Le has played Thilina in the past, I dont believe he has beaten him.  Thilina has a very forehand oriented game and he mostly blocks with his backhand.  The result for Dr. Le was as in the past 3-0 loss to Thilina.

The SF matches are set with Jeff vs DJ and Thilina vs Jessie.  Jessie is a lefty with a strong forehand loop.  Her backhand are controlled blocks and counters.  Thilina while playing most forehand loops is in great shape.  He has the ability to cover the table and loop with his forehand.  It is a 4 out of 7 match.  With Du ChengYi coaching Jessie, Thilina overpowers Jessie to romp to a 4-0 win.  The match between Jeff and DJ goes all the way to 7 games.  DJ takes the lead at 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2; however Jeff mounts a comeback to even up the games.  Even as he is able to mount a comeback, it is clearly evident with Jeff he lacks the touch from not practising in the last few months as he prepared for taking the SAT.  More important, DJ was taking the match in stride and did not let a cheap point bother him.  On the other hand, Jeff from being rusty made a lot of unforced errors mostly in mistiming the shot.  DJ wins over Jeff 4-3, his first in their last 3 or 4 meetings.

Unfortunately as the finals were about to be played, most of the spectators had left.  The gym was very sparse, probably less than 25 people watching.  Thilina came out strong, attacking constantly.  DJ on the other hand looked flat and was manhandled by Thilina from the beginning.  Easy win for Thilina 4-0.   Thilina avenged his loss to DJ a month before in the Open final.

A great tournament and every one seemed to have a good time. An improvement would be to have the events time scheduled. A few complained about having to wait much longer to play their event.