Whitehorse’s Kevin Murphy, a 17-time Yukon champion, seems to have done too good a job of coaching Ryan Bachli over the years.
For the second year in a row, Bachli defeated his coach in the open singles final of the Yukon Table Tennis Championships, wrapping up Sunday at Whitehorse Elementary.
After beating Murphy in seven sets last year, Bachli produced a more decisive win this time around, taking the match 11-13, 11-6, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7.
Going three-for-three, Bachli also won the open doubles with partner Alex Zheng, defeating Murphy and Mark Preston 11-7, 11-8, 11-8 in the final. Teamed up with Kyle Gonder, who like Zheng represented the territory at the Canada Winter Games in February, Bachli also won the open random team event. Though Bachli and Gonder finished ahead of Murphy and former open women’s champ Edna Knight, Murphy did defeat Bachli in a mini, best-of-three sets singles match.
“Which probably just made him hungrier to prove he was No. 1,” said Murphy. “I wish I gave Ryan more of a battle. I knew he was going to be very strong and I was playing with an abdominal strain that was a week old.”
“I was just really tired yesterday; I wasn’t really trying,” said Bachli. “Today I was more focused and actually tried to win.”
Joining Bachli, who won three bronze medals at the 2008 Arctic Winter Games, in the winners’ circle, were Ehsan Idrees in the junior singles, Matthias Hoenisch in novice singles, Andy Todd in adult novice singles, and Victor Zsohar and Todd in the random team event.
“When we are at a tournament, I still coach him, but he’s getting into that field as well,” said Murphy of Bachli. “He was with me at the Canada Winter Games down in Halifax, and he was coaching as well. It’s a good thing to have the next generation move into the coaching ranks.”
FINAL STANDINGS
Open singles
1st Ryan Bachli
2nd Kevin Murphy
3rd Mark Preston
Open doubles
1st Alex Zheng/Ryan Bachli
2nd Mark Preston/Kevin Murphy
3rd Kamran Idrees/Ehsan Idrees
Junior singles
1st Ehsan Idrees
2nd Alex Zheng
3rd Kamran Idrees
Novice singles
1st Matthias Hoenisch
2nd Abed Rajab
3rd Jassan Rajab
Adult novice singles
1st Andy Todd
2nd Keith Perley
3rd Haider Rajab
Open random team
1st Ryan Bachli/Kyle Gonder
2nd Kevin Murphy/Edna Knight
3rd Mark Preston/Ehsan Idrees
Adult random team
1st Victor Zsohar/Andy Todd
2nd Haider Rajab/Keith Perley
3rd Laurie Sokolowski/Colleen Hoenisch
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com