BUTTERFLY 2021 Grand Opening San Antonio Fall Open
The 2021 Butterfly San Antonio Fall Open marked the Grand Opening of SATTC’s new 8,000sqft facility. The 3-star USATT Sanctioned Event lined up 118 players, from Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, California, Alabama, and Mexico, who competed in 15 events.
The Tournament kicked off with the Friday 6-players Round Robin Event which was won by the Texas A&M Top Player Ben Hartwiger who defeated Cesar Serna in the final.
The Under 2400 RR event was the first event to take place on Saturday. This Event was dominated by the younger generation. On the top side semifinal match included one of the most improved Juniors in Texas, Andrew Cao (13, 2337) who battled Kobe Couyoumjian playing out of the Orange County Table Tennis Academy, California (20, 2245). It was Andrew Cao who advanced in the final after a solid performance. On the bottom side of the draw, Oliver Wang (19, 2215) defeated veteran player, Lukmon Oseni, former Nigerian International that now resides in Mexico (49, 2253). Andrew Cao went on to capture the $200 cash prize by winning the final score 3-1.
The Open Singles RR Event had 36 entries, top 3 seeds: Bruno Ventura (2543), Li Kewei (2512) and Deng Zhen (2460) received a BYE to the Elimination Stage. In the Semifinal Stage we had a battle between Texas Wesleyan Alumni Bruno Ventura Dos Anjos and another student that is currently attending the same university, Deng Zhen. Deng pulled off the upset win after a brilliant performance and advanced to the final to face Li Kewei, who won against Lin Jiaqi in the bottom side semifinal. Before the Grand Final, all the participants gave U.S. Paralympian Jenson Van Emburgh a standing ovation for winning the Bronze Medal in the Tokyo Paralympics. Interesting match-up in the final with both players using short-pips rubber, although having completely different styles. Li Kewei won the battle after being down 3-1 and was crowned 2021 Butterfly San Antonio Fall Open Champion.
Dylan Delcol, of Oklahoma University was the surprise player of the Tournament. He came in with a rating of 1116 and went on a 16-1 record to win the U1300, U1450 and to place 2nd in the U1600.
SATTC’s Lia Morales who is just 11 years old had a great performance winning the U1750 (event with 32 entries) and had a couple upset wins to place 2nd in the U1900. Great performance for the Junior Girl who aims to be the first San Antonian to make National Team.
Overall, it was a great weekend with a lot of fun matches, great vibes. We want to give a special thanks to John Muhich for giving SATTC the opportunity to develop in this large facility. Also thanks to our equipment sponsor Bowmar Sports who helped us run this event.
Our next Butterfly Featured Event is the 4-star USATT Sanctioned “Texas Two-Player Team” which has a Total prize Money of $5,250. The event will be held between 19th and the 21st of November right before the World Championships, so if you plan to travel to Texas you can stop by and get some action yourself.
Vlad Farcas