Cheolwon DMZ National Open Results and a few pics

[Der_Echte]

Some of our Korea Foreign Table Tennis Club went to Cheolwon for the DMZ Open. There were singles, doubles, and a 4 player team event.

Mr Kim from TAK9.com won Mens Singles Div 1&2 and KFTTC Greg won Mens Div 3&4. They combined divisions and the lower div gets a 2 point handicap, example, div 3 player spots 2 points to eth div 4 player.

I had my chances but crashed out of singles and doubles, however, I came through in the clutch in the round of 8 in the team event. The team event format is Singles/Double/Singles. We had already lost the first singles match, so if we lost the doubles match, we were going home. We got down 0-1, then came back with a lot of good BH and FH loops to take control of the match and give us a chance, which worked as our 3rd player won his singles match to get us into the semis.

We failed to make the finals, but 3rd place and a certificate isn't so bad, neither is the bag of premium Cheolwon rice we got.

I came to the court of our two 1st place winners in their matches and brought the power of really loud cheering to the venue and helped silence or over-cheer the opponents' supporters. That city has learned some new cheers.

We all had meat/veggie dinner and on our second run through the town for a few beers, the owner of the place we went to recognized Greg from the tourney and invited us to the local club for some friendly play. Yes, play we did and it was a blast. The owner of the club and the top female J-pen player challenged me and Greg to a doubles match with a stake of the loser buying ten drinks for the winners. That was all the motivation we needed and 20 of that TT club went with us on the 3rd mission to the town for those 10 drinks.

Half of our group of 4 crashed on the floor of a local motel room and we got up and went to battle on day 2 for the Singles final and the team event.

All in all, a great mission and we met a ton of friends if we ever make it back up there again. Country folks are great.

Thanks KFTTC friends and Nexy for sponsoring us for this tourney!

 

[strangeloop]

3rd place? Not bad at all. A Top 4 finish is always great.

The challenge for 10 beers is awesome. What's a sport that doesn't bring people together! Korea seems to have a great TT culture and spirit. Have fun!

 

[Der_Echte]

There was NO WAY me and Greg were gunna lose and pay for TEN beers, absolutely NO WAY. The club owner had his bet hedged by being close friends with the owner of the place we went to and more than lived up to his end of the bet. Every male present for that last mission went home seriously needing some recuperation.

 

[Der_Echte]

If you look at the pic of the table I posted on Facebook, not here... I think the owner already had ten beers before we played, but so did me and Greg from our previous mission to the drinking hole where we met the owner of the place to get the invite to the TT club.

 

[Der_Echte]

Well, here is that pic. I was in the background in Blue playing as Greg's doubles partner to avoid the financial blow of buying all that for a thirsty crew.

never say no to free beer sez us... or at least avoid losing a large bet fro some...

Those country folks in Cheolwon really know how to have a blast.

There was only 16 people in that 2 table club, but they were laughing all night louder than 100.

 

[strangeloop]

That's way too cool! Food, beer and TT at the same place. Eat, drink, play! You guys rock!

 

[Der_Echte]

Yes, that is how they roll in the country over there, but they are not this loose in the city so often.

 

[Der_Echte]

Can anyone identify the TWO TTD members in THREE of the pics in this thread... ???