Jimmy Butler dominated the 230 member field at the 25th Annual Meiklejohn North American Seniors Open Table Tennis Tournament held June 4-7, 2015 in Laguna Woods, California.
Butler bested Khoa Nguyen (6, 11, 4, -8, 8) to win the Over 40 championship and (-8, 10, 6, -5, 3) to win the Senior Elite event. He also won over Bin Hai Chu (11, 17) to win the Hard Bat championship.
The 33 events held over the four-day period included 11 singles rated events, 12 singles age events, six doubles rated events, two age doubles events, a draw doubles event, and a hard bat event.
The strong field included in addition to Butler and Nguyen, two other USATT Hall of Famers—Patty Martinez who won the Women’s Over 60 event and placed third in both Women’s Over 40 and Women’s Over 50 events; and Si Wasserman who placed first in the Over 90 event.
The 230 entrants included 43 players with ratings of 2000 or higher. Other significant winners include: Women Over 40 – Gina Dole; Women Over 50 – Diane Chen; Over 50 – Perry Schwartzberg; Over 60 – Bin Hai Chu; Under 2400 – Tri Dinh; Under 2300 – Avishy Schmidt; Under 2050 – Thong Nguyen; Under 4800 Doubles – Michael Hyatt and Avishy Schmidt; and Under 4200 doubles – Voltaire Benedicto and Marina Leitman.
Tournament results can be found at: http://omnipong.com/T-tourney.asp?t=103&r=171 (Click on each event for full results).
More than 500 photos of players in action at the tournament can be found at: http://ocnature.smugmug.com/LagunaWoods/2015-Meiklejohn-Tournament.
As one of the largest USATT sanctioned senior (40+ years of age) table tennis tournaments in the nation with a large amount of prize money ($17,000) and an ideal location near beautiful Laguna Beach, many players return to the Meiklejohn year after year. Advertised as the “The most friendly tournament in the West – NO KIDS!” great fun and spirited competition was had by all.
Next year’s tournament is scheduled for June 2-5, 2016. Start making your plans to attend.
Ray Landis, President
Laguna Woods Village Table Tennis Club
