The games club hosted a ping pong tournament that took place on Thursday, April 13, and it brought together eight students who battled it out to earn an incredible prize if they placed in the top three.

The tournament was created in memory of a former LMC student who passed away last year, Kingsley Duru. He was a third-year Business Administration major who had a bright future ahead of him.

LMC student Abdullah Lanval created a tournament bracket online to know who won and who will play next. He was also the referee for the matches to make sure no one did anything against the rules. Lanval had some help from Jacob Boyle, who was there as an additional helper for Lanval in case it was needed. 

There were three rounds of games where players needed to win all games to win first place. The winner of every match was the player who reached 21 and the losers of the semi-finals went to another match to figure out the third-place winner. 

The first-place winner of the tournament was Peace Adebileje, winning the final round with a score of 21-15. His prize for winning first place was a hand-held speaker.

The second-place winner of the tournament was Jason Avila, who unfortunately lost to the winner. His prize for winning second place was a box containing different items from snackBOX.

The third-place winner of the tournament was Jesus Castro, who won his third place match with a final score of 21-19. His prize for winning third was a set of ping pong paddles, balls and a net.

Between the third-place and first-place matches, the games club held a 20-second moment of silence in honor of Duru who loved to play ping pong and was crowned as the “best ping pong player” by the games club. After the moment of silence, a few of the students who observed the tournament said some words surrounding Duru as a person, friend and what he meant to them.

“I don’t really have a lot of words to say, but I miss you and you were an incredible friend,” said Lanval.

The tournament went as smoothly as the games club could have expected. The games went well with a few of the early matches not looking as interesting as the last matches were. 

“I think it didn’t go that well. Not a lot of people showed up, but I think the flow of the games went well,” said Lanval. “I give it a 7.5 on the flow and a 5 on the turnout.”

The games club also had food and refreshments for people who attended including pizza, water and a tres leches cake. It was an assortment of food that made the attendees happy and chatting.

During the matches, there was some playful banter between the players, but it was all good fun.

Lanval also mentioned that there might be another event they will host at the start of the fall 2023 semester. It’ll be connected to a welcome week theme for the new Los Medanos College students.

The tournament wasn’t an amazing turnout, but it was an exciting experience for everyone there.