11:41 a.m., March 11, 2011----Five University of Delaware students finished within the top three of their respective divisions at the Association of College Union International (ACUI) Region 3 Recreation Tournament held last month at the New Jersey Institute of Technology campus.

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The ACUI recreation tournament is an annual event held for athletes of various sports from the East Coast region. Competitions include billiards, chess, dominoes, bowling and table tennis for both men and women. The top finishers are invited to compete at a national level tournament.

UD participants Ben Hockman and Jonathan Lim finished second and third, respectively, in the men's billiards division and Samantha Adler placed first in the women's billiards division.

Fangyi Liu captured the silver medal in men's table tennis and Prasanna Kannappan was the top finisher for chess.

Hockman, Lim and Adler will all be moving on to the national competition for billiards in July at the Virginia Tech University campus and Liu will be moving on to nationals for table tennis in Rochester, Minn., in April.

The chess national tournament has not yet been announced, according to Kannappan, and he said, “depending on when and where the event is held will determine if I am able to go.”

All of the winners are members of the UD Billiards, Table Tennis, and Chess clubs and do the majority of their practicing in the Hen Zone at the Perkins Student Center.

Depending on their schedules and workloads, members will practice anywhere from 5 to 15 hours a week to prepare for such events.

Samantha Adler, president of the Billiards Club, said, “I meet with members a few times a week to practice in the Hen Zone. The financial support that the school gives to the Billiards Club RSO helps me to prepare with the best type of equipment.”

Hockman, when asked about his second place finish, said, “I am very happy about how I played at NJIT. Last year I was eliminated in the first round so this was a good sign that my game is improving.

“I have never competed at the [national] level before so I can't wait.”

Liu, who also took second in his division, stated, “I'm not feeling bad about getting second -- it has been a really long time since I have played seriously -- but the guy who beat me in the finals just got lucky, so I am looking forward to seeing him again at nationals.”

Adler concluded by saying, “The experience that you get from going to these events is so valuable that I hope the University continues to support it and encourages membership. We could always use a bigger turnout, especially in the female division.”

Article by Greta Gibboney