Handball - 1999 National Championship

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Upsets in the Singles Competition Aug 6, 1999 Anytime a National or World Champion goes down, you've got to consider it an upset. There were several examples of this today. Men's Field The day began with Kendell Lewis a 25 year player from East New York defeating Eddie Maisonet, the National Champion for three of the last four years. Kendell, regarded as one of the best retrievers in the game was able to keep Maisonet's powerful serve in play and then effectively compete in the volley's. Kendell took the tie-breaker to move on in the competition. The game between Joe Kaplan and Dave Rojas had a different angle. Dave won the World Champion competition last year. Joe, won this year's Mayoral Cup. It was NYC versus the World with The City coming out on top. Joe, a native of Bensonheurst is a Nationals Three-Wall winner. The recent win of the Mayors cup showed he was ready to make his mark in this year's National Championship Event. Cesar Sala lives in the Brighton Beach area, and feels the Nationals are on his "home court." He was able to translate that familiarity into a victory, defeating Robert Sostre. It was a big win for Cesar, as Robert, a highly regarded and popular player, is also perhaps the top ranked Paddle Ball player in the country. Women's Field But the upsets weren't only in the men's field. Tracey Davis, surprised many by defeating Sydell Smith, one of the top women players. Sydell is the only woman to have been made the finals in both the National One-wall and Three-wall championship in the same year. However, today, her game was off, party due to a strained leg. Tracey took a commanding lead and held it. She played superbly, returning strong shots and placing the ball well. In the afternoon, Gladys Miranda of Jamaica Queens defeated Barbara Canton Jackson. While Barbara has more experience in Blackball, Gladys this year's Queen of the Courts has been practicing her game. As Barbara said "Gladys is great player. She just won the Queen of the Courts tournament three weeks ago, so her game is on and she has a lot of confidence." The best way to keep up with all the developments on Streetplay.com is to subscribe to Streetplay Today, our e-mail newsletter. Get the jump on everyone else--be the first to learn of the newest Streetplay news and features! We promise not to sell or share your name or address, and we won't spam you silly; what you will get is an inbox filled with Streetplay goodness once or twice a month! Click to subscribe. Contact us!