MATTA to start tryouts next month
The Marianas Amateur Table Tennis Association will begin tryouts for the team that would represent the CNMI in the ping-pong competition of the 2006 Micronesian Games next month, according to official Mario Espeleta.
Espeleta said table tennis players from Saipan, Tinian, and Rota are welcome to tryout provided they meet the Games’ seven-year residency requirement for non-Micronesian athletes.
He also said that MATTA president Steve Lim is currently on Guam attending to business matters, but is also scouting the U.S. territory’s table tennis team.
Guam finished with the silver medal in last summer’s South Pacific Mini Games in Palau and is expected to be the favorite in the table tennis competition of the Micronesian Games. The CNMI bagged a bronze medal in Palau powered by stalwarts Budhi Gurung, Su Dong, and Lin Ying Chen. The team was coached by Lim.
Aside from table tennis, other sports proposed to be featured during the Games include athletics, baseball for men, beach volleyball, basketball, golf, softball, slow pitch softball, spear fishing, sailing, swimming, tennis, triathlon, outrigger canoeing, volleyball, wrestling for men, weightlifting, and Micronesian All-Around.
The Micronesian Games would be held be held from June 23 to July 7 and is expected to draw 1,500-1,700 athletes, coaches, and officials from around region.
The event was last held on Saipan in 1990. The state of Yap originally won the bid to host next year’s Games, however, it begged off citing that its facilities were devastated by typhoons over the past years. Subsequently, the Micronesian Games Organizing Committee awarded the Games to the CNMI.
