Winning Sun Lakes table tennis players with their paddles turned to the red side and losing SaddleBrooke table tennis players with their paddles turned to the black side.
David Zapatka
The coveted Robson Cup table tennis trophy is back with its rightful owners, the brave men of the Sun Lakes Table Tennis Club.
The Robson Cup is an annual table tennis team challenge pitting SaddleBrooke against Sun Lakes in an alternating home and away format. The previous two years, SaddleBrooke stormed their way through the Sun Lakes men but this year was different. With a vengeance reminiscent of Tmujin and his band of loyal Borjigin warriors, the Sun Lakes proud and driven fighters returned to their winning ways, fought with focus and lay waste the enemy.
Sun Lakes jumped out to a dominating eight to four margin only to see SaddleBrooke’s second wave of warriors slice and spin our men to pieces tying the score at nine to nine at the conclusion of the singles competition. At the start of the doubles competition, our warriors knew they had to win three of the five remaining matches to return the Robson Cup to its rightful place, Sun Lakes. The first two matches split one apiece. The score then stood at 10-10. But the winning combinations of Bill/Alan and David/Steve each brought home a win in their decisive final matches. The last remaining match of the day proved anticlimactic as the Cup was already won. Regardless, David and David fought gallantly against SaddleBrooke’s top two players only to come up short. The final match result was 12-11.
Table tennis matches create a fiercely competitive atmosphere where your opponent is separated from you by no more than nine feet of table. But in the spirit of friendly competition, both tribes played fair, respected their opponents and complimented each other on great shots and outstanding rallies. There was admirable sportsmanship all afternoon.
Congratulations to David Novikoff, Alan Behr, Steve Weitz, Steve Chambers, Bill Gaston and David Zapatka on their hard-fought victory over SaddleBrooke.