Eighth Annual Utah Valley Open

by John P. Pratt

Other Utah Valley Tournament Results

The Eighth Annual Utah Valley Open in Pleasant Grove, Utah


The Eighth Annual Utah Valley Open Table Tennis Tournament was held on Saturday, April 19, 2008, sponsored jointly by Pleasant Grove City Recreation and the Timpanogos Table Tennis Club. We are very grateful to Pleasant Grove City for provided the gym free of charge, and for paying half of the cost of the awards medals.

Again this year the tournament was nationally sanctioned. That means that all entrants in any singles event will receive a national rating. Eleven events were completed in just one day, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. All events used the Round Robin format. Matches were the best 3 out of 5 games.

Olympic style medals were again given for Gold, Silver and Bronze. The medals will be engraved after the tournament with the names of those desiring it. Pictures of winners are included below, and each photo can be enlarged by clicking on it.

Preliminary ranking in the events was done either by 1) national rating, 2) results of earlier matches today, 3) results from last year's matches, or 4) estimating by watching players in a practice round. After a preliminary ranking of all entrants was completed, the Division Singles was divided into Open, A, and B divisions of five players each, by having players play a preliminary round robin of 3 players, one from each division, to verify their division assignment. The original entry list for all events, including Singles, and the final cut into divisions for Singles are all listed on line. The national rating of each player, if any, is given in parentheses after their name. Ratings are such that higher ratings are better, and usually the difference of 100 points means the higher player will usually win.

Under 14

L-R: Jason, Austin and Kenton
  1. Austin Gridley (686)
  2. Jason Jung (832)
  3. Kenton Hartle (unrated)
  4. Hayden Brown (unrated)
  5. Colin Misbach (613)
Name A B C D E W-L Rank
A. Jason XXX L-3 W-3 W-3 W-3 3-1 2
B. Austin W-3 XXX W-3 W-3 L-5 3-1 1
C. Colin L-3 L-3 XXX L-3 L-3 0-4 5
D. Hayden L-3 L-3 W-3 XXX L-3 1-3 4
E. Kenton L-3 W-5 W-3 W-3 XXX 3-1 3


This was a hard fought event. There was a three way tie in matches for the medals, which was decided by the win-loss record in games. Kenton Hartle was a new player. He is a tennis player who wanted to see how he could do in table tennis. He made some astounding returns of killer slams, and was able to beat Austin, who won the gold, in five games. That was quite a feat because Austin went on to go five games with players rated over 1300.

Under 18

L-R: Jason, Jilin & Jordan
  1. Jilin Guo (1070)
  2. Jason Jung (832)
  3. Jordan Hymas (unrated)
Name A B C W-L Rank
A. Jilin XXX W-3 W-3 2-0 1
B. Jason L-3 XXX W-3 1-1 2
C. Jordan L-3 L-3 XXX 0-2 3


Women's Singles

L-R: Meg & Carol
  1. Batchimeg (Meg) Tsedenbal (1809)
  2. Carol Davis (1444)
This was a close match, in which Carol took Meg to five games: 6, -6, 9, -5, 6. Congrats to Carol for making Meg sweat so hard in her first match of what would be a long day for the top seed in the Open.


Age 40-49

L-R: Tim, Starry & Sami
  1. Starry Chantharath (unrated)
  2. Tim Jung (1545)
  3. Sami Kergaye (1411)
Name A B C W-L Rank
A. Starry XXX W-3 W-5 2-0 1
B. Tim L-3 XXX W-4 1-1 2
C. Sami L-5 L-4 XXX 0-2 3

Age 50-59

L-R: Rainer, Byron, & Carol
  1. Byron Davis (1873)
  2. Carol Davis (1446)
  3. Rainer Eysser (1645)
  4. Paul Ng (1366)
Name A B C D W-L Rank
A. Byron XXX W-4 W-3 W-4 3-0 1
B. Rainer L-4 XXX L-5 W-3 1-2 3
C. Carol L-3 W-5 XXX W-4 2-1 2
D. Paul L-4 L-3 L-4 XXX 0-3 4


Age 60+

L-R: John, Grant & Lonnie
  1. Grant Misbach (1437)
  2. Lonnie Lockhart (1461)
  3. John Pratt (1430)
Name A B C W-L Rank
A. Lonnie XXX L-5 W-3 1-1 2
B. Grant W-5 XXX W-4 2-0 1
C. John L-3 L-4 XXX 0-2 3


Kudos to Grant who is 77 for winning the 60+ category. John is fifteen years younger than Grant. They have played together for nearly 30 years now, during which Grant usually wins. John has been waiting for Grant to get "old" so he could win. He had hoped this would be the year, but Grant continues to play extremely well. Maybe next year!

Open Doubles

L-R: Dale & George, David and Tom, Mike and Bruce
  1. Ryan Gubler & Batchimeg (Meg) Tsedenbal (3839)
  2. Jordan Yu & Tim Jung (3457)
  3. Rainer Eysser& Bruce Majors (3267)
  4. Byron & Carol Davis (3151)
Name A B C D W-L Rank
A. Ryan & Meg XXX W-4 W-4 L-3 2-1 1
B. Jordan & Tim L-4 XXX W-4 W-4 2-1 2
C. Rainer & Bruce L-4 L-4 XXX W-3 1-2 3
D. Byron & Carol W-3 L-4 L-3 XXX 1-2 4


This was an extremely close Doubles match, even between the Open and A categories. In the Preliminary Round to verify the seeding, Lonnie & Sami nearly upset Byron & Carol, taking them to five games. Then Byron & Carol beat the top seeds Ryan and Meg three straight. In the A category. Lonnie and Sami, who had nearly played in the Open only took third place. So it was a tight race indeed.

"A" Doubles

L-R: Sami & Lonnie, Nanda & Kelvin, Bryce & Matt
  1. Nanda Yadav & Kelvin Lau (2692)
  2. Bryce Parkinson & Matt Pugmire (2576)
  3. Lonnie Lockhart & Sami Kergaye (2872)
  4. Gordon & Austin Gridley (2030)
Name A B C D W-L Rank
A. Lonnie & Sami XXX L-4 L-5 W-4 1-2 3
B. Kelvin & Nanda W-4 XXX W-5 W-3 3-0 1
C. Bryce & Matt W-5 L-5 XXX W-4 2-1 2
D. Gordon & Austin L-4 L-3 L-4 XXX 0-3 4


Open

L-R: Bruce, Meg, & Starry
  1. Batchimeg (Meg) Tsedenbal (1809)
  2. Starry Chantharath (unrated)
  3. Bruce Majors (1622)
  4. Rainer Eysser (1645)
  5. Sami Kergaye (1411)
Name A B C D E W-L Rank
A. Meg XXX W-3 W-3 W-3 W-5 4-0 1
B. Bruce L-3 XXX L-5 W-4 W-3 2-2 3
C. Starry L-3 W-5 XXX W-4 W-4 3-1 2
D. Rainer L-3 L-4 L-4 XXX W-4 1-3 4
E. Sami L-5 L-3 L-4 L-4 XXX 0-4 5


Class "A" Singles

L-R: Bryce, Gordon and Kelvin
  1. Gordon Gridley (1344)
  2. Bryce Parkinson (1406)
  3. Kelvin Lau (1373)
  4. Lonnie Lockhart (1461)
  5. Paul Ng (1366)
Name A B C D E W-L Rank
A. Lonnie XXX L-4 L-3 W-4 L-5 1-3 4
B. Bryce W-4 XXX W-5 W-3 L-4 3-1 2
C. Kelvin W-3 L-5 XXX W-3 L-3 2-2 3
D. Paul L-4 L-3 L-3 XXX L-4 0-4 5
E. Gordon W-5 W-4 W-3 W-4 XXX 4-0 1


Class "B" Singles

L-R: Matt, Carol & Gordon
  1. Nanda Yadav (1319)
  2. Jilin Guo (1070)
  3. Matt Pugmire (1170)
  4. Tye Taber (unrated)
  5. Austin Gridley (686)
Name A B C D E W-L Rank
A. Nanda XXX W-5 W-3 W-4 W-5 4-0 1
B. Matt L-5 XXX L-4 W-4 W-5 2-2 3
C. Jilin L-3 W-4 XXX W-3 W-4 3-1 2
D. Tye L-4 L-4 L-3 XXX W-3 1-3 4
E. Austin L-5 L-5 L-4 L-3 XXX 0-4 5