Members of the Whitehorse Table Tennis Club have an additional avenue for competition in the sport thanks to a new tournament, which was held for the first time in January.

The Alaska-Yukon Table Tennis Challenge, held in Fairbanks, AK from Jan. 12-13 will be a semi-annual event, which will be hosted by Whitehorse in April.

"I am just thrilled that we opened this area up for us to travel because if you go to a high class tournament you only take your top individuals to go where this is an opportunity for all the kids in the club to get a chance to go and experience a tournament atmosphere and they play at their own level," said Dave Stockdale, president of Table Tennis Yukon. "It is a fun event and it is a great opportunity."

Thirty-eight players took part in the tournament and participated in either the novice or open category for either team or single competition. This event was open to players of all ages and skill levels.

There were five competing teams at the tournament, which included Whitehorse, Eagle River, AK, Anchorage, AK, Juneau, AK and Fairbanks. The cost to participate was $20.

The tournament also featured a point system, which was based on the overall skill and ranking for participating players. The point system was based on a rating that all players were given in an effort to make the competition more evenly matched. For every 50-point difference in rating, one point was subtracted from the higher rated player prior to the match, which went up to 11 and was the best of five games.

Whitehorse did very well at the competition, winning three events in total. Local winners included the Sourdoughs in the Novice Team event, featuring Alex Zheng and Jim Zheng, who went undefeated at 5-0 in round robin play.

In the Open Singles 'A' Division Kevin Murphy, who is also a coach at the Whitehorse Table Tennis Club, defeated fellow Yukoner Ryan Bachli in the final. Murphy finished with a record of 2-0 in the round robin, while Bachli also did very well, placing second in his group at 2-1.

Whitehorse had an especially impressive performance in the Novice Singles event, placing in the top three. Jim Zheng won the event, beating Zara Bachli in the final, while David Zheng placed third.

In the Open Teams event, Whitehorse's team of Kevin Murphy and Ryan Bachli had a great showing, finishing in second place. The team went 2-1 in round robin action. In total there were eight players competing for Whitehorse at the tournament.

The lottery also helped fund some of the costs, giving $117 to each participating player from Whitehorse.

Stockdale said there will be a circuit for this event for the five competing teams.

"Now we have five different areas where we can have five different local tournaments, which is big boost for our development because we haven't really had a chance to play against people of our own level and it's not that far to get there," he said. "So that event has really opened up a whole other area for us to develop and it will be good for Alaska and good for the Yukon."

He said the purpose of the tournament was to prepare for Arctic Winter Games for the participating players, as well as just get more competitive play in the sport.

"I think every sports group will tell you around here to get competition is the important thing," Stockdale said. "There are some strong players in Alaska and they can give us a good challenge, so it's a worthwhile effort and of course for our younger players they get a trip, which is not too far and not too expensive and this has really opened up a new world for us."

Murphy, who is also vice-president of Table Tennis Yukon, said the team didn't have a goal heading into this tournament for the first time.

"The reason we didn't have a goal going in is simply because it was a new event for us in terms of the handicap," he said. "The handicap, although it is supposed to even things out for players at different levels we were unsure of exactly what would happen."

Table Tennis Yukon's main goal is to field both a men's and women's team for the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax.

Interested players are encouraged to come out to Whitehorse Elementary School on Sunday from 1:30 to 4:00 p.m. and on Tuesday from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. at Holy Family School in Porter Creek.

The drop-in cost for non-members of the club is $2. Annual membership at the club is $30 for adults and $20 for juniors, which are individuals under the age of 18.