$7550 Stiga Pacific Rim Open

Portland, Oregon · Nov. 9-10, 2002

By Mark Kobernick 

Mark Hazinski serves to Fan Yi Yong in the semifinals. Photo by Les Sayre ©2002

The fourteenth Stiga Pacific Rim Tournament took place November 9-10 at Portland Community College. Sponsors, patrons and helpers, together with Tournament Director Jim Scott, have made the event possible and successful. Escalade Sports especially and Paddle Palace and PCC once again provided the equipment and the venue, while patrons have boosted prize money to $2000 for first place in Men’s, $1000 for first place in Women’s, and $7550 total.

180 players plus paying spectators enjoyed Veteran’s Day Weekend in the Rose City, with competition on 20 Stiga Tables in 27 events starting from Under 300. Players from all regions of the U.S. and from British Columbia participated in the four-star tournament.

In Men’s Singles, Fan Yi Yong and Atanda Musa met in the final. As we’ve seen before, their match has fireworks with looping, counter-looping and counter-hitting. This time Fan prevailed 9, 7, 5, 10, though with 9-9 in the first and a 10-8 lead in the fourth Musa had a chance for a different outcome.

But Fan was in powerful looping form, and he likewise beat Mark Hazinski four straight in the semifinals, 6,7,9,7. Play was excellent with Hazinski scoring on numerous powerful backhand punches quick off the bounce.

Atanda Musa and Sasa Drinic, who played in the semifinals. In the final, Fan defeated Musa. Photos by Les Sayre ©2002

Musa’s semifinal with Sasa Drinic was the most suspenseful of the tournament. Early in the match, Musa controlled position with spin variation and counter-looping, and he won the first two at 6 & 5. Drinic then notched up his attack and counter-attacks to win the next two at 12 & 4. Game five is the best of all, with a one-point spread most of the way. But Musa’s curve-blocks and counterhitting prevail. In game seven, Musa again controls the court. Further helped by his loop off the edge and Drinic’s net push just missing the edge, he gains a commanding 6-2 lead. With controlling loops Drinic fights back to 4-6, but a couple of Musa’s surprise plays and unforced misses leave a final gap of 11-5.

In Women’s Singles, Wang Chen, a former national team member of China, breezed to a 7,8,3 victory in the final over Caribbean champion Kibibi Moseley. In a hard-fought semifinal, Moseley bested Simone Yang -6,11,8,-8,7. The match displayed looping and counterhitting rallies, Moseley scoring on numerous inside-out backhand punches wide to the forehand.

Open Doubles featured an exciting upset, with Killerspin partners Hazinski and Drinic overcoming the #1 rated man and #2 rated woman in the U.S., former teammates Fan Yi Yong and Wang Chen. (With Chang Jun Gao playing overseas for much of this year, Wang is arguably the top ranked woman in the U.S. – and is so listed in the Nov/Dec issue, due to Gao’s inactivity in the U.S.) Scores were -9,7,6,-3,6.

We give great thanks to the many tournament helpers: Referee and mailing director Bill Mason, Jim Scott’s control desk assistants Sam Ignazzitto and Ken Ping, reception desk recorders Fumi Onchi and Judy Bayley, equipment transporters Bruce Bayley and Jim Macfarlane, table assembler Ken Leatherman, name-sign writer and hanger Dan Vi, food providers the Ping family, equipment-booth attendents the Hoarfrosts, tournament shirt provider and attendant Vuong Vi, and others.

Men’s Singles – Final: Fan Yi Yong d. Atanda Musa 9,7,5,10; SF: Fan d. Mark Hazinski 9,8,7,4; Musa d. Sasa Drinic 6,5,-12,-4,12,-6,5; QF: Fan d. Samson Dubina 7,2,7,3; Musa d. Misha Kazantsev 5,4,5,11; Hazinski d. Peter Miraflor 6,7,9,7; Drinic d. Danny Ho 3,5,7,5.

Women’s Singles – Final: Wang Chen d. Kibibi Moseley 7,8,3; SF: Wang d. Michelle Do 2,2,4;  Moseley d. Simone Yang -6,11,8,-8,7.

Open Doubles – Final: Mark Hazinski/Sasa Drinic d. Fan Yi Yong/Wang Chen -9,7,6,-3,6; SF: Hazinski/Drinic d. Atanda Musa/Khoa Nguyen -6,13,11,8; Fan/Wang d. Samson Dubina/Auria Malek 6,6,6.

Mixed Doubles – Final: Fan Yi Yong/ Wang Chen d. Mark Hazinski/Simone Yang 7,6,5; SF: Fan/Wang d. Sasa Drinic/Tiffany Qu 3,3,4; Hazinski/Yang d. Khoa Nguyen/Michelle Do 8,9,4.

U2500 – Final: Misha Kazantsev d. Peter Miraflor 8,8,8; SF: Kazantsev d. Avishy Schmidt 8,8,10; Miraflor d. Kibibi Moseley 9,-6,10,14.

U2300 – Final: Samson Dubina, Shuja Jafar split; SF: Jafar d. Avishy Schmidt 6,10,8; Dubina d. Steve Nguyen, def.

U2100 – Final: Enoch Yiu d. Michael Wang 9,2,5; SF: Yiu d. Bernardo Iturriaga 10,10,7; Wang d. Joseph Chen -11,12,-10,11,11.

U1900: Greg DiMarco d. Ken Lin 8,11,-7,-11,12.

U1700: Jerry Li d. Biser Asenov -7,-7,7,4,5.

U1550: Quang Zhang d. Charlie Aebersold 2,3,2.

U1400: M.K. Wong d. Don Svetich 4,5,12.

U1250: York Chan d. Eric Chen 8,7,5.

U1100: Chris Trinidad d. Tan Tang -5,2,-9,5,5.

U900: Chris Trinidad d. Bo Liu -8,8,9,9.

U700: Andre Berning d. Joy Yiu 2,-9,8,3.

U500: Sean Beebe d. Peter Chen 8,5,8.

U300: Cynthia Tan d. Daniel Gerig 8,-8,8.

Over 40: Ken Lin d. Alex Berenbeym 5,9,7.

Over 50: Phieu Tran d. Phil Goldsmith 8,-9,9,-8,5.

College: Roger Castle d. Hoa Binh Do 3,-5,6,10.

High School: Enoch Yiu d. Kevin Phung -9,3,10,5.

Under 16: Katie Poon d. Donovan LeDoux 5,-4,9,10.

Under 13: Joy Yiu d. Thomas Nguyen -7,5,14,4.

Hard Bat: Harold Fredrickson d. Les Sayre 14,13 of 21.

U4000 Doubles: Sakda Timsuwan/Roel Aguanta d. Masaaki Tajima/Derrick Poon 13,6,4.

U3200 Doubles: Greg DiMarco/Gary Voth d. Jerry Li/Tu Huynh 14,11,-7,-8,7.

U2400 Doubles: Joe Kay/M.K. Wong d. Nhu Dong/Tan Tang 4,8,8.