Finnish National Championships 2013

[Pongfinity]

The Finnish national championships will be played this weekend (2.3-3.3.2013) in Tampere, Finland.

The defending champion in men's singles is Benedek Olah, who has won the championship title twice in a row now and is rank. 1 this year also.
Rank. 2 is Mika Räsänen, who has won 3 Finnish national championships, and rank. 3 is Pasi Valasti with an amazing 9 (!) won championships titles so far.

Men's singles 8 best seeded:

1. Benedek Olah (2 won titles)
2. Mika Räsänen (3 won titles)
3. Pasi Valasti (9 won titles)
4. Toni Soine
5. Otto Tennilä
6. Samuli Soine
7. Timo Tamminen (1 won title)
8. Roope Kantola

Benedek Olah
Photo is by the courtesy of ITTF



The defending champion in women's singles is Anna Kirichenko, who has also won the title twice in a row now.

Women's singles 8 best seeded:

1. Anna Kirichenko
2. Jannika Oksanen
3. Henrika Punnonen
4. Pinja Eriksson
5. Elli Rissanen
6. Larisa Kogiya
7. Milla-Mari Vastavuo
8. Sofia Erkheikki


The whole EditingSports team is also playing in the tournament and we will update results and hopefully also some videos in this thread.

 

[Pongfinity]

No big surprises after the first day. All the 8 best seeded in men's singles made their way to the quarterfinals and the matches will be played as following:

Benedek Olah (seed 1) - Samuli Soine (6)
Otto Tennilä (5) - Pasi Valasti (3)
Toni Soine (4) - Roope Kantola (8)
Mika Räsänen (2) - Timo Tamminen (7)


In Women's singles quarterfinals Anna Kirichenko, rank.1, was 0-3 down to Elli Rissanen but fought her way back to the match and won the 7th game 12-10. In the semifinals will play:

Anna Kirichenko (1) - Pinja Eriksson (4)
Jannika Oksanen (2) - Milla-Mari Vastavuo (7)

 

[jmillsy2]

how did the ES team get on?

 

[Pongfinity]

Men's singles quarterfinals:

Olah - S. Soine: 4-1
Valasti - Tennilä: 2-4
T. Soine - Kantola: 1-4
Räsänen - Tamminen: 4-0

Women's singles semifinals:

Kirichenko - Eriksson: 4-1
Oksanen - Vastavuo: 4-1

 

[Pongfinity]

The men's singles semifinals were really exciting. In the first semifinal the defending champion Benedek Olah played against Otto Tennilä. It was an exciting match and it went to the 7th set which Olah won 11-6.

1st semifinal, Olah - Tennilä: 4-3 (5,8,-6,-7,4,-11,6)

In the second semifinal Mika Räsänen played against Roope Kantola. Kantola beat the number 2 seeded Räsänen in four straight games and made his way to the final.

2nd semifinal, Räsänen - Kantola: 0-4 (5,4,6,8)

 

[Pongfinity]

In the men's singles final Olah met Kantola. Olah defended his title succesfully and won his third straight Finnish national championship by 4 games to 1.

Final, Olah - Kantola: 4-1 (5,6,-7,8,9)

In the women's singles final Kirichenko met Oksanen. Here also, Kirichenko defended her title succesfully and won her third straight Finnish national championship, this time by 4 games to 1.

Final, Kirichenko - Oksanen: 4-1 (6,8,8,-9,6)

 

[Pongfinity]

Well, Otto (seed.5) played really well. He played in the quarterfinals against Valasti (9 time Finnish champion and rank. 3 this year) and beat him for the first time. At the same time he secured his first medal in seniors' national championship. In the semifinal Otto challenged well Olah (seed. 1), but lost in the 7th game. Miikka (seed. 14) didn't have his best day and lost his match to a lower ranked in the round of 32. I (Emil) lost against Tamminen (seed. 7) also in the round of 32.

 

[Dan]

Well, Otto (seed.5) played really well. He played in the quarterfinals against Valasti (9 time Finnish champion and rank. 3 this year) and beat him for the first time. At the same time he secured his first medal in seniors' national championship. In the semifinal Otto challenged well Olah (seed. 1), but lost in the 7th game. Miikka (seed. 14) didn't have his best day and lost his match to a lower ranked in the round of 32. I (Emil) lost against Tamminen (seed. 7) also in the round of 32.

Wow amazing stuff guys!! Really amazing happy for you all! Did you manage to get your matches on video for us all to see

 

[RIPPER]

Sounds like some good matches guys

 

[Pongfinity]

thanks It was a good tournament for Otto

I'm kinda busy at the moment, but I'll try to upload some match at some point.