 "Photo: The Olympian/ Aaron Gould")
 "Photo: The Olympian/ Aaron Gould")
Olympic College recently held the Ping Pong Championships in the Bremer Student Center gym with several players looking to compete for the title.
With many people in attendance watching, 32 players battled in the double elimination tournament on Feb. 24.
“It’s great putting the tournament on and having students come together like this in one setting,” said Spencer Stark, recreation and athletic specialist.
Students in the gym debated early upon who they thought would be crowned champ.
“Chike Obi is definitely the favorite,” said OC student Preston Bennett. “He’s got this in the bag for sure.”
Once the paddles started flying and balls were bouncing in every direction, the field slowly began to whittle itself down until only the top players were left.
When a player finally did lose their first game, it was a rough road to try to reach the championship game since they had to come up through the losers bracket.
“I imagine it’s kind of tough to lose early and still play your way through the field,” said on looking student Joel Vaa. “You know you can’t lose another game the rest of the way, and it probably effects the way they play.”
The complex bracket is not your standard tournament you see in many sporting events today.
“We use official ping pong rule guidelines in a double elimination format,” said Stark. “With the exception being that all the games until the final are only to 11, not 21.”
A few players had their records remain unscathed until they had a deep tournament run, when they finally lost and only had to win a match or two to reach the title game.
Mark Porras lost in the third round and had to work his way up through a long losers bracket.
“Once you lose, you know you can’t lose another one,” said Porras. “I just did my best not to lose another.”
Which is exactly what he did. He handled Eric Eley, Matt Foxworthy and Anthony Rinard en route to a match-up with Chike in the championship.
In the final game, Chike got off to an unusually slow start unlike his previous matches, and struggled against Porras. Chike suffered his first loss 21-14.
Fortunately for Chike, the last undefeated player standing, Porras needed to beat him twice to win the championship.
“I knew if I lost the first, I could still take it,” said Chike.
In the second do or die match, Chike gathered himself together and dismantled Porras 21-7 to win the championship.
“It’s cool to win,” said Chike. “It’s really fun just to play.”
The gym in the BSC is open to students almost every morning to enjoy some friendly games of ping pong.
For more information on ping pong, or to see results, please the OC Recreation Web site at visit www.olympic.edu.
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