– Christophe captures 2350 event; Wayne Gaskin on the comeback trail
Guyanese Paul David smashed his way past Puerto Rico’s David Fernandez 4-1 recently to win the New York City-sponsored Brooklyn Open table tennis tournament at the Brownsville recreation club in Brooklyn.
David, who the previous week had toppled a strong field to capture the Tic Tavern Open in Queens, was up 3-1 in the final match when Fernandez, a former CAC silver medallist conceded defeat in front of a fairly large and vocal Caribbean crowd of mainly Guyanese supporters who cheered both players on.
David’s triumph in the final followed up his huge semi-final win 4-0 against Filipino’s Ernesto Ebuen Jr. who is currently the No.10 ranked player in the USA.
Ebuen, who before the match against David had won seven of his last 10 tournaments in the USA and appeared in the final of two looked stunned by the blistering speed and power of the Guyanese.
Another Guyanese player on the comeback trail, former Caribbean champion Sydney Christophe lost by a narrow margin to Fernandez in the other semi-final of the Open 4-2 but slammed his way back to take the 2350 event from Pakistani player Kunal Shah 3-0.
It was southpaw Christophe’s third straight win in as many tournaments at the 2350-2400 level.
Christophe had earlier overcame tournament No.3 seed and former US Olympian Tahl Lebovitz in the quarter-final 3-0 while David turned back the challenge of Guyanese Shawn `Milky’ Embleton 3-2 in his quarter-final match.
Embleton left soon after his match with David for a tournament in Manhattan – the NYTTF event – where he outlasted USA Pro Tour player Wally Green in the final of the 2400 event.
The Guyanese players are stepping up their preparation for the prestigious North American Open Teams championships to be held in Baltimore in November.
Last weekend the players were in action at the New Jersey Open and this weekend they will compete in the FIT Tournament in Manhattan.
Results of the TIC TAVERN Open:
Date: September 21, 2008
Open Singles:
1st: Paul David
2nd: Matthew Khan
3rd: Sydney Christophe
3rd: Shawn Embleton
‘B’ Class
1st: Shawn Abrams
2nd: Ricky Ali
3rd: Francine Abrams
4th: Vereen Boodram
Over 45
1st: Wayne Gaskin
2nd: Vibert Williams
Results of Brooklyn Open
Date: Oct 5, 2008
Open Singles
1st: Paul David (Guy)
2nd: David Fernandez(Pur)
3rd: Sydney Christophe (Guy)
3rd: Ernesto Ebuen (Phi)
2350 Event
1st: Sydney Christophe (Guy)
2nd: Kunal Shah (Pak)
3rd: Wayne Gaskin (Guy)
3rd: Colin Lemessey (Tri)
2150 Event
1st: Marlon Joseph
2nd: Conan Belle
3rd: Kelvin Duesbury
3rd: Vibert Williams
