Ping-pong team to Palau named

The Marianas Amateur Table Tennis Association recently named the three players and coach it would send to the 2005 South Pacific Mini Games in Palau this coming July and August.

The CNMI National Table Tennis Team would be coached by Steve Lim and made up of veteran ping-pong artists Budhi Gurung, Chen Lin Yeng, and Su Dong.

Gurung is the most senior of the players at 49 years old, but is also the most experienced, having won many singles and doubles tournaments in the past.

The Katmandu, Nepal native got his introduction to the sport at a tender age and, at one point during his late teens living in India, trained six hours a day, four times a week.

The Sablan Topline Cleaning Agency employee said he and his teammates would try their very best to bring honor and glory to their adopted homeland.

“It’s our first time to participate in the South Pacific [Mini] Games. This is a higher level [of play] than Micronesian Games. I know there would be a lot of good young talent, especially from New Caledonia and Fiji. I read a lot in the newspapers that they’re very good, but we will still try to beat them,” he said.

Su and Chen share Gurung’s enthusiasm and optimism a couple of months before they embark on their campaign in Palau.

Su, who is part owner of Millennium Restaurant in Garapan, said it was good that MATTA has accelerated their training for the Mini Games by moving one of the playing tables from the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium to the third floor of Millennium Plaza, where his business is located.

He said now the players can train to their hearts’ content. Su said when they were still dependent on the gym in Oleai, the players were only able to practice once or twice a week.

Su said the arrangement has also been very convenient for him because his barracks is located on the same floor, where the playing table has been temporarily situated.

Chen, meanwhile, said the team would go for broke and attempt to win at least one of the four medals at stake in the singles, doubles, and team competitions for table tennis in Palau.

The owner of Fu Ye Construction said the next few weeks of hard training would also determine how they would fare in the quadrennial games.

The 36-year-old Su and 35-year-old Chen come from the same city in China, Guangzhou, but admitted, because their hometown has millions of inhabitants, it was only here on Saipan that they bumped into each other.

The sport of table tennis will be played at the Kalau Gymnasium in Koror, Palau’s capital, on July 29, 30, Aug. 1, 2, and 3.

The sports has attracted 85 participants—48 men and 27 women—from 10 countries, namely New Caledonia, Fiji, Palau, Tonga, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Guam, and the CNMI.