Winston Kalicharan Wins the CCTTA Top 8 Open in Markham (Nov 2026)

Seventy-one players filled the hall at CCTTA — Canadian Community Table Tennis Association, 1181 Denison St, Markham, on Sunday, November 1, 2026, for the CCTTA Top 8 Open. By the end of the night, Winston Kalicharan (2713) had gone 8-0 and taken the title. In the final he beat Jordan Grewal (2685) 3-1 (11-7, 9-11, 12-10, 12-10).

It was a CCTTA 20th-anniversary Open with an enhanced prize table: $300 for the champion, $150 for the runner-up, $75 for third, $40 for fourth and $20 each for fifth through eighth. The podium matched the knockout. Daniel Liang (2090) took third over Di Liu (2128), and the quarter-final losers — Alexander Bu, Hongze Shan, Alex Li and Jonathan Salazar — shared fifth through eighth.

Winston's path ran through every knockout round from the round of 64 to the final. Jordan arrived in the final without a match loss. Two games of the championship match went to standard deuce at 12-10, and Winston closed both of them.

Format: 18 Groups, a 128-Slot Draw and Sudden Death at 10-10

The Open Singles event opened with 18 round-robin groups (17 groups of four and one group of three), every group match best of three. Every player advanced into a 128-slot knockout bracket seeded from group finishes, which meant 56 byes into the round of 64.

Knockout matches were best of five. From the groups through the semifinals, a sudden-death point at 10-10 decided the game. The final and the third-place match went back to standard deuce, where you need a two-point lead. That rule showed up twice in the final: both game 3 and game 4 finished 12-10.

Want to run a format like this at your own club? The tournament bracket generator on Table Tennis Tube handles groups, byes and knockout seeding automatically.

Group Stage: Favourites, Walkovers and Rating Gaps That Did Not Hold

Most of the highest-rated players came through as group winners, including Winston (A), Jordan (B), Alex Li (C), Jonathan Salazar (D), Alexander Bu (E), Yuwen Jiang (H), Chijioke Osuji (I), Fred Cantarelli (J), Di Liu (K) and Daniel Liang (L). Group A was the only group of three; Winston won it 2-0 in matches and 4-0 in games.

Other tables did not follow the ratings.

• Sai Ma (1294) won Group F ahead of Willian Da Silva (2391), beating him 11-9, 11-6. That 1,097-point group result was one of the day's largest rating swings.
• Sandeep Singh (1466) won Group M ahead of Ali Khan (2081), including an 11-4, 11-9 win over Ali.
• Kelvin Ephraim (1743) won Group P ahead of Zakria Rahime (1922).
• Denis Yang (1784) won Group Q ahead of Hongze Shan (1903), who still reached the quarter-finals as Q2.
• Vince Coley (1300) won Group G after Meech Dullaert (2376) conceded three group walkovers. Rohan Lewis (1872) likewise walked over all three of his Group R matches; Desmond Wilson (1800) topped that group on game difference.

The biggest played rating upset of the day also came in Group R: Luke Nie (398) beat Desmond Wilson (1800) 7-11, 11-7, 11-10, a 1,402-point gap.

Group winners: A – Winston Kalicharan · B – Jordan Grewal · C – Alex Li · D – Jonathan Salazar · E – Alexander Bu · F – Sai Ma · G – Vince Coley · H – Yuwen Jiang · I – Chijioke Osuji · J – Fred Cantarelli · K – Di Liu · L – Daniel Liang · M – Sandeep Singh · N – Lucas Zhang · O – Dariush Radman · P – Kelvin Ephraim · Q – Denis Yang · R – Desmond Wilson. The full tables are on the group standings page.

Knockout Path: Winston Through the Field, Jordan Untouched Until the Final

Winston opened the knockout with a 3-0 win over Benson Zhao (11-5, 11-5, 11-5), then beat Zakria Rahime 3-1 in the round of 32 after dropping the first game 10-11. In the round of 16 he met Group M winner Sandeep Singh (1466) and won 3-1 (11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 11-6).

Elsewhere in the round of 16, Di Liu swept Lucas Chen, Alex Li swept Dariush Radman, Jonathan Salazar swept Kelvin Ephraim, Daniel Liang beat Yuwen Jiang 3-1, Hongze Shan beat Fred Cantarelli 3-1, and Jordan Grewal swept Lucas Zhang.

That left a quarter-final line-up of Winston vs Alexander Bu, Di Liu vs Alex Li, Jonathan Salazar vs Daniel Liang, and Hongze Shan vs Jordan Grewal.

Winston Kalicharan d. Alexander Bu 3-1 (8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8). Bu took the opener. Winston won the next three by the same score. The full match is below; the Instagram reel from this quarter-final is the "no breathing room" clip.

Di Liu d. Alex Li 3-1 (11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9), a 467-point rating upset that put Di Liu into the semis. Daniel Liang d. Jonathan Salazar 3-1 (11-10, 11-9, 8-11, 11-6), another upset, 448 points on the ratings. Jordan Grewal d. Hongze Shan 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-7).

Semifinals and Bronze: Grewal Edges Liang, Kalicharan Stops Di Liu

Winston Kalicharan d. Di Liu 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-8). Winston never trailed in a game and reached the final without dropping a match.

Jordan Grewal d. Daniel Liang 3-1 (11-6, 11-10, 7-11, 11-10). Daniel took the third game 11-7 and pushed two others to the sudden-death point. Jordan won both of those 11-10 and advanced. The full semifinal is on YouTube; the "15 seconds of chaos" reel is from this match.

In the third-place match, with standard deuce back on, Daniel Liang beat Di Liu 3-0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-3) to finish third.

The Final, Game by Game: Kalicharan vs Grewal

Jordan came into the final 8-0 on the day. Winston was also unbeaten. Only 28 rating points separated them.

• Game 1 – Kalicharan 11-7. Winston took the opener.
• Game 2 – Grewal 11-9. Jordan levelled the match.
• Game 3 – Kalicharan 12-10. Standard deuce. Winston edged back in front.
• Game 4 – Kalicharan 12-10. Another deuce game, and Winston closed out the title.

Final: Winston Kalicharan d. Jordan Grewal 3-1 (11-7, 9-11, 12-10, 12-10).

Congratulations to Winston on the title, to Jordan on a run that reached the final without a loss until the last match, and to Daniel and Di Liu on the bronze medal match.

Final Placings

See every result on the winners page and the full knockout bracket.

Watch the Full Matches

Full match videos from the day on the Table Tennis Tube YouTube channel:

• Final — Winston Kalicharan vs Jordan Grewal
• Semifinal — Jordan Grewal vs Daniel Liang
• Quarter-final — Winston Kalicharan vs Alexander Bu
• Round of 16 — Winston Kalicharan vs Sandeep Singh

The semifinal video for Winston Kalicharan vs Di Liu was not available when this draft was prepared.

Standout Performances

• Winston Kalicharan won all eight of his matches, 22-4 in games, and took both deuce games in the final.
• Jordan Grewal reached the final 8-0 before the title match and finished 8-1 / 22-4.
• Daniel Liang (2090) beat Jonathan Salazar (2538) in the quarters and Di Liu in the third-place match to finish third.
• Di Liu (2128) beat Alex Li (2595) in the quarters and Willian Da Silva (2391) in five games in the round of 32.
• Hongze Shan (1903) was the only non-group-winner in the last eight, arriving as Q2.
• Sandeep Singh (1466) won Group M over Ali Khan and reached the round of 16.
• Luke Nie (398) produced the day's largest played rating upset, 1,402 points over Desmond Wilson.
• Jaival Mehta (100) beat group winner Sai Ma (1294) 3-0 in the round of 64.

CCTTA Top 8 Open by the Numbers

• 71 players, 18 groups, 128-slot knockout draw with 56 byes
• 168 matches played, plus 8 walkovers
• 463 games and 8,264 points
• 8 matches went the full five games, all of them in the knockout rounds
• 40 games reached 10-10
• 1,402: the largest rating gap overcome in a played match (Luke Nie over Desmond Wilson)
• 8-0: Winston Kalicharan's match record on the way to the title

Curious what those numbers in brackets mean? Our guide to how TTCAN ratings work explains how Canadian table tennis ratings are calculated and why results like these move them.

What's Next

Every match from the CCTTA Top 8 Open is available on Table Tennis Tube, including scores for every game. You can browse the groups, the full match list, the player list and the bracket. Each player's page shows their match-by-match path through the day.

Thanks to CCTTA for hosting a 20th-anniversary Open, and to all 71 players for a full Sunday of competitive table tennis.