Alabama Teams Championships & Hardbat Table Tennis Tournament

By Michael Wetzel
Northeast Alabama Table Tennis

ANNISTON — The top-seeded Mr. Sushi team of Ernesto Kawamoto and David Landry gobbled up its competition to claim the $402 first prize in the inaugural Alabama Teams Championships in Anniston on May 20.

Landry went undefeated dropping only three games throughout the day in the 16-team event.

Mr. Sushi stopped the Spintech team of Bill Mobley and Jason Denton 3-0 in the finals. Spintech picked up $214.

Finishing third was the Robbins Table Tennis Specialties team of Olivier Demaneuf, Chip Patton and Michael Wetzel.

BumperNets of Birmingham (Adam Brown, Duke Stogner, Chris Jackson) defeated Chick-Fil-A of Anniston (Barry Putman, Mike Harris) in the Class A finals.

BumperNets, the tournament’s second seed, suffered two upsets in the preliminaries and failed to qualify for the championship division.

The Smashers (Chris Batt, Ashraf Muhammed and Praveen
Viswanthan) won Class B and $187 over Crispy Duck (Torin Alter, Mark Scala, $94).

In the state singles hardbat championship, Kawamoto defeated Stogner in the finals 21-11, 21-7. Kawamoto pocketed $80 in the win and Stogner collected $40.

Each player received a free T-shirt, pizza lunch, Pepsi products and a chance at door prizes.

The Anniston Star and Decatur Daily newspapers provided coverage of the team championships.

Hosting the event was the Northeast Alabama Table Tennis Club, the Anniston Army Depot and the IMWRF.

Tournament directors were Mike Harris and Carol Mitrisin. Michael Wetzel was the tournament referee.

Sponsors were (no endorsement implied by the U.S. Army or Anniston Army Depot) Pepsi, China Luck Restaurant, Anniston Foot Care, AFGE Local 1945,the Civilian Welfare Fund and BumperNets.

Final results:
Championship
1. Mr. Sushi (David Landry, Ernesto Kawamoto)
2. Spintech (Bill Mobley, Jason Denton)
3. Robbins Table Tennis Specialties (Olivier Demaneuf, Chip Patton, Michael Wetzel)
4. TNT (Tommie Dailey, Terry Hamilton, Kui Zhang)
5. Dothan Physical Therapy Specialists (Chuck Outlaw, Warren McNeil)
6. Pens R Us (Danny Crowson, Kin Chan)

Class A
1. Bumpernets (Adam Brown, Duke Stogner, Chris Jackson)
2. Chick-Fil-A of Anniston (Barry Putman, Mike Harris)
3. Pips and Pops (Ted Melton, Chet Ray)
4. Anniston Foot Care (Tim Stremmel, Jason Stancil)
5. Knot 2 Old (Donnie McGinnis, Bob Balch)

Class B
1. The Smashers (Chris Batt, Ashraf Muhammed, Praveen Viswanthan)
2. Crispy Duck (Torin Alter, Mark Scala)
3. Young Brothers (Hanson Chan, Tyson Chan, Trevor Chan)
4. Spike and Ralph (Rick Ferguson, Kim Ray)
5. The Beginners (Jeff Brown, Barry Pruett)

Hardbat singles championship
Finals: Ernesto Kawamoto ($80) defeated Duke Stogner ($40) 21-11, 21-7.
Semis: Kawamoto def. Chuck Outlaw (default); Stogner def. David Landry 2-1.