The USAA’s 2016 World Air Hockey Championships were hosted from Dec. 2-4 in Houston this year with the trophy once again landing in the lightning-fast hands of 17-year-old Colin Cummings. Cummings, who won the USAA World title last year as well, defeated a host of veteran contenders decades older than him on his route to winning the day.
Eleven-time world champion Danny Hynes won second place, while third place went to Brian Accrocco, Cummings’ longtime mentor in the sport. Rounding out the top five were two Venezuelan contenders: Pedro Otero in fourth and Marcelo Garcia in fifth.
The Friday night Doubles competition was won by Brian Quezada and Dan Meyer of Chicago. Sarah Weissman of Houston captured the women’s title and Ben Ebers of the University of Houston won the special handicap (point spot) tournament.
Sponsors of the event included Gold Standard Games, Valley-Dynamo, USBirthCertificate.com and some local businesses. Mark Robbins of Gold Standard Games was on site and enthused by the continued growth of the sport and the local Air Hockey Association. Robbins emphasized that air hockey is now officially part of the Association of College Unions International sports program.
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