Mount Ararat (Ararat Table Tennis) defeated Oaks (Thousand Oaks TTC) 5-0

Robert Shahnazari defeated Alex Melekhov 3-0 (7, 9, 4)
Rolland Garabidian defeated Grace Zhou 3-2 (9, 3, -7, -7, 5)
Robert Shahnazari/Varujan Jamagocyan defeated Alex Melekhov/Grace Zhou 3-1 (-9, 8, 9, 6)
Robert Shahnazari defeated Grace Zhou 3-0 (12, 8, 8)
Erick Shahnazari defeated Alex Melekhov 3-2 (7, -8, -10, 7, 6)

Alex, Grace, Roland, Varujan & Robert

Grace Zhou & Robert Shahnazari

LATTA 2 (LATTA) lost to David Sassoon (Ararat Table Tennis) 1-4

Ryan Lov lost to Areg Manasian 1-3 (-6, 8, 9, 0)
David Lin lost to Tomik Mesrkhani 1-3 (5, 8, -9, 7)
Matthew Leung/Ryan Lov lost to Chris Haghverdian/Tomik Mesrkhani 0-3 (6, 8, 6)
Matthew Leung lost to Tomik Mesrkhani 1-3 (-5, 7, 2, 4)
Wesley Yuen defeated Areg Manasian 3-2 (10, -10, 8, -11, 8)

Tomik, Chris, Areg, Matthew, Ryan, David, Wesley

Areg Manasian preparing to hit the ball

The Westside International (Westside TTC) defeated South Bay Dragons (South Bay Table Tennis) 3-2

Ryousuke Adachi defeated Stephen Bunker 3-2 (9, -6, -13, 13, 11)
Milan Obradovic lost to Arun Mohan 1-3 (10, -7, 7, 5)
Mark Hezinger/Peter Clarke lost to Arun Mohan/Stephen Bunker 0-3 (5, 6, 6)
Ryousuke Adachi defeated Arun Mohan 3-0 (9, 5, 4)
Mark Hezinger defeated Stephen Bunker 3-1 (5, 5, -8, 11)

Adachi, Milan, Mark, Peter, Arun, Stephen

Arun serves to Milan

South Bay Eagles (South Bay Table Tennis) lost to Golden Ninjas (Anaheim Community Center) 2-3

Paul Limburg lost to Minh Lu 2-3 (-4, 10, 1, -5, 10)
Lisa Joe lost to Steven Noh 0-3 (2, 4, 7)
Paul Limburg/Millie Drake lost to Midori Pesyna/Fred Liao 0-3 (5, 5, 5)
Steve Sakurada defeated Warren Hoo 3-2 (-9, 12, -3, 7, 7)
Scott Salisbury defeated Midori Pesyna 3-2 (-7, 4, -11, 12, 12)

Minh Lu, Steve Noh, Fred Liao, Warren Hoo, Midori Pesyna, Paul Limburg, Lisa Joe, Millie Drake, Steve Sakurada, Scott Salisbury

Scott Salisbury and Midori Pesyna in action

Checkout this great slideshow and writeup from the recent Ararat Open in Glendale …

Slideshow

Glendale Armenian Organization hosts International Table Tennis Tournament

It’s not everyday that an Armenian organization in Glendale, California, can host a nationally sanctioned Table Tennis tournament that draws international champions from around the world. Yet, on June 14th & 15th, Homenetmen Glendale Ararat Chapter held a competition that rivaled official regional and national tournaments.

100 top rated athletes travelled to Glendale specifically to attend the tournament at Ararat, while international and local national players represented China, Germany, Jamaica, India, Korea, Iran, and Vietnam.

Newly elected Glendale City Councilmember Paula Devine attending Sunday’s all-star competitions: “It’s so wonderful to see the different countries represented and also playing together, enjoying each other, and meeting one another. It’s a fabulous tournament and a great venue. I’m so happy to be here and see this wonderful venue.”

The tournament also including former Iranian team member Zaman Molla and current German team member Lenart Wehking, both of whom had travelled to the states for the table tennis tournaments.

Lenart Wehking, a 2800 (out of 3000 possible) level German table tennis star stated: “after I finished the season in Germany, I decided to travel for a longer period, like three months, and decided to look for which tournaments are successful. I played in Australia, in an open invitational tournament, then decided to come to LA and check out this tournament here and I was really glad. The guys organizing it have been really helpful, I emailed them and I got immediate response, so I thought it would be a chance to not only play table tennis but also meet people. I’ll be playing in Santa Monica next weekend, and then one more tournament in Canada.”

While most attendees expressed their desire to play the tournament, meet new players and enjoy the game, a team of Chinese national players had other intentions. Bob Chen, rated 2749 out of a possible 3000, and Zhang Wen Tao, have been playing for 20 years and 14 years respectively. Traveling from China specifically to attend the tournament at Ararat, when asked what their intention was for the tournament, Chen responded “we want to put a spectacular show.” Tao later took home first place in the open singles category.

Ararat Table Tennis Executive Director Victor Shahbazian mentioned: “I was very pleased to see so many great players come out to our tournament during Father’s day weekend… I am so honored to see my friends and the Glendale community business owners sponsoring our tournament.. We could not have done this major event without their support.” Glendale business sponsors included: Raffi’s Place Restaurant, The Habit Burger & Grill, Glendale Car Wash, Americana Pacific Theaters, Sarkis Bakery, Pizza Man, Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Panera Bread, Porto’s Bakery and Cafe, Jersey Mike’s, Office Depot, Staples, Home Depot, Best Buy, and Cheese Cake Factory, Homenetmen Ararat has been a registered with the United States Association of Table Tennis (USATT) since 2007. Now sponsored by Butterfly, the program now boasts quarterly tournaments that draw participants in the hundreds, and offer private and group table tennis lessons taught by local club champions Eric Shanhazari and Robert Shahnazari.

ALN eSMASHERS (USA Valley TTC) lost to Blackline TT1 (USA Valley TTC) 2-3

Erez Bustan defeated Tyler Weitz 3-1 (2, 4, -10, 6)
Suresh Naganathan lost to Russell Mullin 0-3 (8, 3, 8)
Wallace Ng/Ofri Shalom lost to James Kim/Russell Mullin 0-3 (3, 4, 5)
Erez Bustan defeated Russell Mullin 3-0 (6, 7, 5)
Chris Olsen lost to James Kim 0-3 (7, 4, 5)

Russell, Tyler, James, Erez, Chris, Suresh, Wallace, Ofri

Erez scores against Tyler.

Team Zest (Gilbert TTC) defeated AAAZA (SPiN Standard) 5-0

Marick Sinay defeated Dominic Jun 3-0 (8, 6, 2)
Rohan D’Souza defeated Steve Parker 3-0 (1, 5, 4)
Rohan D’Souza/Ian Hall defeated Dominic Jun/Steve Parker 3-0 (10, 1, 2)
Ian Hall defeated Steve Parker 3-0 (10, 9, 3)
Rohan D’Souza defeated Dominic Jun 3-0 (3, 1, 7)

Steve, Rohan, Marick, Ian, Dominic

Rohan, Steve

AAAZA (SPiN Standard) lost to Team Zest (Gilbert TTC) 1-4

Steve Parker lost to Rohan D’Souza 0-3 (5, 2, 6)
Dominic Jun defeated Ian Hall 3-1 (-10, 9, 10, 8)
Steve Parker/Dominic Jun lost to Marick Sinay/Rohan D’Souza 0-3 (6, 2, 5)
Steve Parker lost to Marick Sinay 0-3 (7, 3, 6)
Dominic Jun lost to Rohan D’Souza 0-3 (6, 3, 5)

Steve, Rohan, Marick, Ian, Dominic

Ian, Steve

Mount Masis (Ararat Table Tennis) defeated South Bay Dragons (South Bay Table Tennis) 5-0

Edik Haghverdian defeated Arun Mohan 3-0 (5, 6, 8)
Andre Aghamalian defeated Stephen Bunker 3-1 (2, -6, 5, 8)
Razmik Mesrkhani/Andre Aghamalian defeated Arun Mohan/Monica Kosinska 3-0 (8, 5, 3)
Edik Haghverdian defeated Stephen Bunker 3-0 (7, 9, 11)
Razmik Mesrkhani defeated Arun Mohan 3-0 (7, 8, 7)

Bruins (Gilbert TTC) lost to Mount Ararat (Ararat Table Tennis) 0-5

Rudy Esparza lost to Hrach Javadian 0-3 (4, 2, 7)
Bowen Rao lost to Erick Shahnazari 2-3 (8, 7, -7, -7, 5)
Max Lai/Taiyu Guo lost to Hrach Javadian/Rolland Garabidian 1-3 (8, 5, -10, 5)
Rudy Esparza lost to Rolland Garabidian 2-3 (6, -8, 8, -12, 10)
Max Lai lost to Hrach Javadian 0-3 (2, 3, 4).

Rudy, Max, Bowen, and TaiYu vs. Hrach, Erick, and Rolland

Laughing about “Ralph’s Special” while warming up