The 2023 Table Tennis Yukon Championships was held May 13 and 14 at École Whitehorse Elementary School.
It was the first time the competition took place since 2019 due to the pandemic.
“We are excited to be back,” said Table Tennis Yukon president Kevin Murphy. “The hiatus was a blow to us.”
The competition, which drew a number of players interested in the 2024 Arctic Winter Games (AWG), had a total of 24 players in the open doubles, junior (U17) singles and doubles, novice singles and open singles, open men singles and open women singles.
In the mens’ open singles, defending champion Ryan Bachli was upset by his doubles partner Daniel Li who won 8-11, 11-6, 13-11 and 11-9. Krish Sharma and Iman Gharraie tied for third place. Murphy said he chose not to have Sharma and Gharraie playoff so they were both awarded third place.
“It’s better than having only three winners,” he said. “It creates a positive environment for people to compete when they get to win something. This was me trying to keep more of these players coming back to the club because they were rewarded for their hard work.”
In the womens’ open, defending champion Raghvi Sharma was upset by former champion Christina Nie who won 14-12, 11-7 and 11-6.
In the open doubles, Daniel Li and Ryan Bachli came first with Iman Gharraie and Kevin Murphy in second. Raghvi and Krish Sharma placed third.
In the junior doubles, Krish Sharma won first place over second place Elden Wickham who upset Canada Winter Games team member Victor Li to get to the final. Alvin Ly and Victor Li won third place. Murphy explained that Ly and Li were in the final and lost their respective matches to Sharma and Wickham. Both players didn’t play each other and were awarded joint-third place.
In junior women’s singles, it was Melody Qiu in first over second place Naki Nartey.
Tommy Skelton won the junior novice singles over second place Matthew Fournier at 9-11, 11-7, 11-5 and 11-6. In third place was Henry Skelton and Zakk Fournier. The same joint-third place rule was applied for Skelton and Fournier in the junior novice.
Krish Sharma and Misa Svaboda won first place in the junior doubles over second place Elden Wickham and Everett Stuart. Victor Li and Alvin Ly finished in third place.
Murphy said the competition saw former club member, Noel Dela Cruz, a resident of Fort Nelson, play in the men singles and former Arctic Winter Games team member Sam Crockett of Dawson City drop by to watch the competition.
Murphy said they had a good number of juniors which was “something we look forward to because they are the next generation of players.”
“I’m pleased with the game. The kids were quite competitive,” he said, adding that he would be working with some of the junior and novice players to develop their skills and aim to participate at the next AWG.
“I’m glad we pulled off a successful event and everyone had fun,” he said. “We want to get more people interested to participate in the sport.”
Contact Patrick Egwu at patrick.egwu@yukon-news.com
