TABLE TENNIS NATIONAL SENIORS OPEN : Sakai Wins, but Tries to Save Something for Today’s Matches

The real money at the National Seniors Open Table Tennis Tournament will be won today, but Dave Sakai can’t complain about the check he picked up Friday.

Sakai earned $300 and his second consecutive men’s Senior All-Stars title by defeating Lim Ming Chui in four games in the best-of-five All-Star championship at Leisure World in Laguna Hills.

The top 16 qualifiers from four previous Senior (over-40) All-Star events held this year advanced to the round-robin format finals Friday. Sakai, 45, of Lanham, Md., cruised through the early rounds and then defeated New Jersey’s Parviz Mojaverian in four games in the semifinals. Chui eliminated Bohdan Dawidowicz in five games in the other semifinal.

During a brief break before the championship match, Sakai looked ahead to today’s over-40 Open competition, where he’ll play singles and doubles. First prize in the Open singles is $1,000.

“I’m playing a lot of matches today and I’ll need something left for (Saturday),” said Sakai, a two-time National Senior champion. “But we play these All-Star matches to win, too, so I’m sure we’ll both play just as hard as we will in the Open.”

Sakai opened a 11-3 lead in the first game, but Chui, a left-hander, came back to take an 18-14 lead. Sakai then countered Chui’s attacking style with good placement and rallied to win, 24-22.

The second game followed the same pattern, as Sakai took a 9-4 lead, then Chui came back to lead, 16-15. But once again Sakai won the crucial points and took a 2-0 lead in games with a 21-17 victory.

Chui won the third game, 21-18, after avoiding a large early deficit for the first time in the match, but Sakai opened an 18-12 lead in the fourth game and held on for a 21-19 victory.

The National Seniors Open tournament continues through Sunday at Leisure World, with the over-30 Open competition scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday.