Daniel Cranston is crowned new ASA champion

Daniel Cranston was the big winner at the ASA National Championships played in Maryland on June 13, 14. In a record field of 60 players in the Open category Daniel Cranston (Maryland) and Alex Batacchi (Florida) would meet in the final, with Cranston winning 2-0.  Pre-tournament favorite - and 3 time reigning champion - Zach Walker was eliminated in the round of 16 by Maryland youth player Stuart Russell.

Cranston would double up the next day in the U19 final by beating fellow Maryland player Stuart Russell 1-0 in a closely contested match. ASA legend Gregg Deinhart won his second Veterans title when he defeated Jim Taylor (Connecticut) in the final. In the U15 division, Nevin Varghese and Brendan Dames negotiated a 21 player filed to reach the final, where Nevin would win 2-0.  In a Team Challenge tournament (US National team championships are played in December) contested by 6 teams, Maryland defeated WTSL 2-0. Key results from the weekend:

Open Category (60 players):

Quarter Finals:

Stuart Russell 2 Lenny Foster 0

Alex Batacchi 3 Mike Byrd 0

Daniel Cranston 2 Massimo Conturso 1

Rick Marques 0 Patrick Sheridan 0 (1-0 GG)

Semi Finals:

Stuart Russell 1 Alex Batacchi 2

Daniel Cranston 4 Rick Marques 0

Final:

Daniel Cranston 2 Alex Batachi 0

Veterans (14 players);

Semi Finals:

Gregg Deinhart 1 Paul Eyes 0

Darren Koffman 0 Jim Taylor 2

Final:

Gregg Deinhart 0 Jim Taylor 0 (1-0 GG)

U19 (12 players):

Semi Finals:

Patrick Sheridan 1 Daniel Cranston 2

Michael Tillman 1 Stuart Russell 2

Final:

Daniel Cranston 1 Stuart Russell 0

U15 (21 players):

Final: Nevin Varghese 2 Brendan Dames 0

Team Challenge (6 teams):

Final: Maryland 2 WTSL 0

Links to Video:

http://www.youtube.com/user/subbuteoman

Links to tournament photos:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0EbNmzNu3bMWEe