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Whitehorse table tennis player bags first tournament title

Oddly enough, Daniel Li took up table tennis after moving to Whitehorse from China — a country where the national sport is table tennis — in 2011.
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Oddly enough, Daniel Li took up table tennis after moving to Whitehorse from China — a country where the national sport is table tennis — in 2011.

After three years of playing, the 23-year-old now has his first title.

Li won the men’s division of the Whitehorse Table Tennis Club’s Handicap Tournament at Whitehorse Elementary School on Jan. 22.

Li left without knowing he won and first learned of his success in a phone call from the News.

“Ok, that’s good. I didn’t know that,” said Li. “I’m surprised.”

Under the handicap format rules, for every 50 points a player is higher ranked, that player begins each set with negative one point.

So when Li, who has roughly 1,700 ranking points, played Ryan Bachli, who has about 2,000, Bachli began each set at minus-six.

Li won four matches and lost one for the title. He beat second place’s Bachli, a four-time Yukon men’s singles champ, two sets to one.

Li also beat third place’s Kevin Murphy, a 20-time Yukon men’s singles champ, 2-0.

Li’s one loss was to fourth place’s Taras Yurkiv. Hu Hui Huang placed fifth and Thomas Brenner sixth.

Rogan Parry went undefeated in four matches to win the mixed division. Annie Nie placed second, Kaleb Parry third, Christina Nie — a three-time Yukon women’s singles champ — fourth, Ashley Harris fifth and Ming Huang sixth.

Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com