Players from 25 competing doubles teams posed for a group photo before competition began at the Paddle Battle 2018 ping pong tournament event, Saturday, Oct 6th at the Eugene YMCA.
The Paddle Battle 2018 ping pong tournament fundraiser was a huge success, generating new funds for Looking Glass programs and showcasing some major local table tennis talent! In the end, from sponsors and participants, more than $5,000 was raised and a lot of fun was had.
Looking Glass would like to thank everyone involved in putting this event on: our title sponsor, Northwest Community Credit Union; our event venue sponsor the Eugene Family YMCA; our amazing group of staff and volunteers who helped assemble 8 ping pong tables and coordinate the matches; our food truck vendors Vinnie’s Smokin’ BBQ and Most Wanted Espresso; our prize donors including Bi-Mart, Brenner’s Furniture, Hop Valley Brewing, Grocery Outlet, Big City Gamin’, Play it Again Sports, Sequential Fuel and the YMCA; and last but not least, thank you to the roughly 80 event participants and spectators who were on hand to witness some amazing and tense matches.
Our tournament champions won the final match with a sweep 3 games to none, but it was an intense battle between Samir Patel and Tian Wei Chen of team TS Paddle and Larry Benedick and Kevin Murphy of team Ping Pow. Samir and Tian took home the trophy. Congrats to them and to all the teams that played on Saturday. We look forward to doing this event again next year (and we will likely offer a Singles option, after much feedback, along with some other event tweaks).
Paddle Battle 2018 Champions Tian Wei Chen (left) and Samir Patel embrace their 1st place trophy after their hard fought victory over team Ping Pow!
If you missed the event and want a taste of the experience, watch the Facebook like video we shot of the final match: https://facebook.com/LookingGlassCommunityServices/videos/250112292237428/
We also wish to thank two of the area’s prolific table tennis clubs (the Eugene Table Tennis Club and Blazing Paddles) for their assistance in this event and their participation and support.
Also, check out this brief video clip (below) of 10-year-old Yuhan Dai practicing with Tian Wei. Yuhan played in the tournament as well, making it into the 2nd round. Amazing talent from a young up-and-comer in the local table tennis circles.
