Table tennis players from Dawson City just confirmed last spring’s Yukon championship was no fluke. They really are that good.
Members of the Gaw family from Dawson claimed four of seven titles at the inaugural Whitehorse Open Table Tennis Championships on Sunday at Whitehorse Elementary School.
Teenager Emily Gaw picked up two titles with wins in junior girls and open women singles. Emily captured three titles, including open women, at the Yukon Table Tennis Championships in May. She also won a bronze at the Arctic Winter Games last March in Greenland.
Emily defeated Whitehorse’s Ashley Harris in the junior girls final and came back from down a set to defeat Whitehorse’s Grace-Anne Janssens in the open women’s final.
Brother Ethan Gaw topped the junior boys division with a straight-set win over Whitehorse’s Thomas Brenner in the final. Ethan won a high school boys title at the territorial championship in May.
Father Irwin Gaw went undefeated in the adult rookie division for the title. Wife Carmen Dubois placed second.
Four-time Yukon champ Ryan Bachli defeated 20-time Yukon champ Kevin Murphy 11-3, 3-11,11-5, 11-7 in the final for the men’s singles title on Sunday. Bachli defeated Daniel Li in his semifinal and Murphy downed Ethan in four sets in his semi to reach the final. Ethan picked up third with a win over Li in the bronze match.
Bachli and Brenner teamed up to win the men’s doubles title with a win over Murphy and Li. Harris and Ming Huang pocketed women’s doubles gold with a victory over Emily Gaw and Cornelia Brenner.
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com