Houston is situated in the south of the United States and has relatively warm weather year-round. Tennis has become one of the most popular sports in this city. On April 15-16, the J-Tech Digital Tennis tournament was held at Missouri City Recreation and Tennis Center. As the name indicated, this tournament was sponsored by J-Tech Digital Inc. It has attracted about 50 tennis players from the great Houston area to take part in this tournament. The majority of the participants are Chinese, but several other ethnical groups also have played in the tournaments. Many couples both signed up and played together or separately in different groups. The tournament had 4 different groups, Group A Advanced Men’s Doubles, Group B General Men’s Doubles, Group C Mixed Doubles, and Group D Women’s Doubles.
This tournament has an age requirement for male players over 40 years old and female players over 30 years old. A player can choose either doubles or mixed doubles to participate. Interestingly, many couples play mixed doubles at this tournament. The first day, April 15 Saturday is a subgroup round-robin, 4 teams in a subgroup play against each other in a pro-set match. The competition is very intense and winning or losing a match can be determined only by a point. In Group B and C, only the first two winners enter the next day, April 16 playoffs, semi-final, and final. The semi-final and final are 3-set elimination matches and all players have tried their best to win the matches. Unfortunately, only one team from each group wins the championship.
After the first and second competitions, the Group A winners are Adam Liu and Jie Chen, and the runners-up are Steven Burns and Mu Liu; the Group B winners are Jim Fang and Wayne Fan, and the runners-up are David Lee and Yan Wang; the Group C winners are Emily Chang and Chao Ning Zeng, and the runners-up are Yu Liang and Yi Zhou; the Group D winners are Olivia Wan and Michelle Chang, and the runners-up are Grace Shi and Ying Wang. The J-Tech CEO Jeff Wang presents a trophy for each tournament finalist.
This tennis tournament is a successful social event. All of the players, volunteers, and visitors had a good time and tons of fun during the tournament. Many players get a chance to meet and play tennis with friends who have not seen each other for years and some participants have made new friends through the event. The mission of the tournament, building friendship through tennis is well accomplished regardless of winning or losing. All players greatly appreciate it and say they will come back next time. Many thanks go to J-Tech Digital Inc Jeff Wang for the sponsorship and the tournament director David Lee for his hard work, in designing and preparing the tournament program and materials. See you all J-Tech tournament again next year!
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