
By Robert Balajadia
The 10th annual Large Ball Table Tennis has been a successful venue for Guam and Japan’s wisest and skilful in the sport, but getting the event together has been a voluntary effort by coordinator Hisamitsu Hamamoto, as he gave indications of the 2015 event being the last of it’s consecutive run.
The weekend event started on Saturday and ended on Mothers Day Sunday with all action going on at the UOG Calvo Field House.
“There were more than 100 people that came from Japan and they’ve really enjoyed themselves. We always get a lot of visitors from Japan who have been coming out in the past 10 years,” said Hamamoto.
Hamamoto’s history in table tennis can be tracked as far back as middle school. His reason behind getting started with the tournament was to give Guam’s table tennis players an outlet to compete in since not many events happen on island.

The competitors may be up in age, but there’s nothing old about their game. (photo by Robert Balajadia)
That same reason has now become a factor in Hamamoto’s decision to discontinue the tournament given the pool of local players hitting its lowest points in the past two years.
Most locals were most likely celebrating Mother’s Day Sunday, which drew in a pool of just five local competitors for the tournament, the lowest draw that the tournament has seen in its existence.
“If more locals were encouraged to play then the sport could grow and we could bring more competitors to off-island competitions. The number of local competitors this time around was a little disappointing,” added Hamamoto.
Hamamoto’s connections and relations with Asia’s competitors will be almost irreplaceable, so a successor in pulling a tournament of this nature will be difficult with Hamamoto stepping down.
Lessons From The Paddle
Sunday’s singles matches were taken over by some of Japan’s most colorful characters with action beginning at 9 am. Of the group, local jiu-jitsu practitioner and owner of Spike 22 and the ever growing brand Cauliflower Culture Melchor Manibusan was deep in competition.
Although Manibusan has youth on his side compared to Japan’s older bunch, he openly admitted that the skill level of the island’s latest visitors were well overwhelming.
“This sport really works on your hand-eye coordination, and that can aid you in sports like wrestling and fighting. These competitors are really good and they’ve been playing this sport for years. I can barley score points against these competitors, I only score when they mess up. You don’t have to be young, fast, strong. You have to be smart and think fast,” admitted Manibusan.

Guam’s own Melchor Manibusan has been a consistent competitor missing just one of the 10 events in it’s lasting history. (photo by Robert Balajadia)
Hamamoto is Manibusan’s father-in-law, so Manibusan was always more than willing to aid in the events success. More than that, Manibusan has been a participant in the event nine of the ten years and has been playing casually for over 20 years. But even so, Manibusan was no match for Japan’s youthful at heart.
“You have to be gracious in defeat and lose with a smile. You never want to go into a competition thinking you’re going to lose, but these guys are near professionals so you just have to learn how to take losses and be humble with it,” said Manibusan.
Complete results of the 2015 Tournament will be posted when available.
PHOTO GALLERY:


GPS Sports Calendar
January 2023
- SU
- MO
- TU
- WE
- TH
- FR
- SA
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
Events for December
31st
Events for January
1st
Events for January
2nd
Events for January
3rd
Events for January
4th
Events for January
5th
Events for January
6th
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
Events for January
7th
Events for January
8th
Events for January
9th
Events for January
10th
Events for January
11th
Events for January
12th
Events for January
14th
Events for January
15th
Events for January
16th
Events for January
17th
Events for January
20th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
TRITONS BASEBALL INVITATIONAL
Events for January
21st
LIFT HEAVY + LIFT FAST – BFF SERIES
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Events for January
23rd
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
Events for January
24th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
Events for January
25th
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for January
26th
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
Events for January
27th
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
GLORIFIED SPARRING X
TRITONS BASEBALL INVITATIONAL
Events for January
28th
5K DASH FOR ASH
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Events for January
29th
MONSTER ENERGY MOTOCROSS ROUND 1
TRITONS BASEBALL INVITATIONAL
Events for January
30th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for January
31st
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL

Running/Track
’23 TRACK SEASON OPENS

Running/Track
’23 TRACK SEASON OPENS

Basketball
TAKUMI SIMON MAKING THE BEST OF PRO LIFE

Volleyball
H.S. BEACH VOLLEYBALL IN FULL SWING
COMING SOON …
- 3rd Quarter Sports