Table tennis gets Ada Gym

All’s well that end’s well.

The CNMI National Table Tennis Team finally found a regular practice facility after the Marianas Amateur Table Tennis Association Monday secured permission to use the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium in the late evenings.

MATTA president Steve Lim, who just arrived from vacation in Manila, Philippines, said they were able to get permission to use the facility from Division of Sports and Recreation acting director Joe Lizama through coordination between DSR staff Elias Rangamar and MATTA official Mario Espeleta.

“Joe [Lizama] and Eli [Rangamar] of DSR have been gracious and hospitable enough to give us a schedule here at the Gym for practice,” he said, also adding that it was through the efforts of Espeleta that MATTA was able to secure a training schedule at the Oleai Sports Complex venue.

According to Espeleta the national ping-pong team has secured the late evening shift at the Ada Gym. On Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays, MATTA can use the gym beginning at 9pm, starting 8-8:30pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 1pm to 5pm on Saturdays, and from 3pm to 9pm on Sundays.

Lim said there’s a world of difference between playing and practicing at the gym and the multi-purpose room.

“One thing’s for sure there’s a lot more space. Instinctively, players also restrict themselves to their allotted space. In the multi-purpose room, when they receive big hits they don’t try to reach after it anymore to return the ball because of the confined space. Out here [Ada Gym] there’s a lot more space, so they could really run after the ball and in the process play and practice to their full potential,” he said.

Lim also confirmed that Tinian-based members of the ping-pong team—Luke Lu, Charlie Cheng, and alternate Liang Wei Bin—will indeed train on Saipan on the weekends.

The three will come to Saipan along with the 22-year-old former coach of the Yin He Table Tennis Club, Zheng Ma.

Lim said the national team is happy to have a professional coach giving them pointers and tips even though the Games are a mere two weeks away.

“We’re ecstatic. All the players are happy about the hiring of Ma. They know they will all benefit from his coaching even though it will only be for a short while. From what I heard he’s really good and his level of play is nothing we have seen before on Saipan,” he said.

Other members of the national table tennis team are Saipan-based players Su Yong Dong, Chen Lin Ying, and Budhi Gurung. The three bagged the bronze medal in last year’s Palau South Pacific Mini Games.

MATTA also named its national women’s ping-pong team last month and it includes veteran paddler Jean Shi, netter-turned-table tennis player Lucita Pasana, and up-and-coming players Rose Agulto and Siri Welch.

Lim also disclosed that the ping-pong competition of the Games will be made up of seven events, namely men’s and women’s team, men’s and women’s doubles, men’s and women’s singles, and mixed doubles.

He also said that officially four nations have registered for the competition—the CNMI, Guam, Palau, and Kiribati. Marshall and all the four islands of the Federated States of Micronesia—Pohnpei, Chuuk, Kosrae, and Yap—are not yet in officially albeit have sent verbal confirmation that they will participate in the event, according to Lim.