Local Sandpaper Ping Pong Tournament Success

Sunday afternoon the Patty Gym rang in the holiday season with resounding “ping…pong…ping…pong”. A half a dozen tables were busy with players challenging each other to keep the ball landing on the opponent’s side leading to long rallies and good exercise.

Newcomer to the Fairbanks community, Jonathan Belmonte, knows how to play ping-pong. Winning his round robin pool, then defeating Eric Carvalho in the semi-finals and Rick Robertson in the finals. Belmonte, a recent Ft. Wainwright transfer, went undefeated to capture the Men’s Open Singles Championship.

Craig Partyka and Eric Carvalho finished 3^rd, other participants were: Alan Armbruster, Jerry Phillips, Scott Kennedy and Dennis Hedgecock.

Belmonte then teamed up with Andrea Gelvin to land success in the Random Doubles. Gelvin and Belmonte were consistent in their play defeated 5 teams to take the Championship over second place finishers Dennis Hedgecock and Diann Darnall. Other teams were Alan Armbruster/Eric Carvalho, Aporn Stein/Doron Partyka, Jerry Phillips/Rick Robertson, Chirk Chu/Ruby Baxter, and Scott Kennedy/Craig Partyka.

The Women’s Open Singles competition had five women going toe to toe. Diann Darnall edged out Doron Partyka in the round robin format for the Women’s Championship. Other participates were Ruby Baxter, Aporn Stein, and Andrea Gelvin.

Six Fairbanks Interior Table Tennis players will represent Alaska at the USA Table Tennis Nationals in Las Vegas, Nevada December 14-19. Members participating in the Tournament include Jane Parrish, Jamo Parrish, Dave DeMay, Andrea Gelvin, Aporn Stein, and Diann Darnall. In addition to entering in sponge events, all four women will be competing in the first ever USATT Women’s Hardbat Championships.