Revival of table tennis sought

Jeong Mi Jeong, left, eyes the ball as she prepares to serve, while partner Jean Shi waits for the return in their finals match against the pair of Hyui Yeol Park and Steve Lim in last Saturday’s goodwill match held at the Korean Center in San Antonio. (Jon Perez)

The Korean Ping Pong Association of Saipan hosted a group of South Korean table tennis players and coaches and held a one-day goodwill tournament against former CNMI national team members last Saturday at the Korean Center in San Antonio.

KPPAS president Tae Won Park said they hope the mini tournament they organized in cooperation with the former representatives of the CNMI squad would revive interest in the sport as they plan to hold regular games with their South Korean counterparts.

The women’s pair of 6th Micro Games double gold medalist Jean Shi and Jeong Mi Jeong bested the men’s duo of Hui Yeol Park and Steve Lim in the finals, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7. Five other pairs participated in the pocket tournament.

KPPAS president Park said Hui Yeol Park has been coming to Saipan every year since 2012 after being invited by the Korean Association of Saipan. “We invited him to come here to maintain the friendship between our associations with their table tennis group.”

“He is our contact in Korea and this year he brought with him several top former and current table tennis players to play with us. We invited table tennis players here on Saipan led by [Steve] Lim,” added KPPAS president Park.

Lim was the president of the Marianas Amateur Table Tennis Association whose players won a total of 10 medals—four gold, three silver, and three bronze—when Saipan hosted the Micronesian Games in 2006.

Interest in table tennis slowly faded with MATTA folding up after its members, who were mostly foreign workers, went back to their countries. The sport also lacked proper practice venue to help promote its grassroots development program. A new table tennis group has been formed last year, but has yet to organize a tournament.

“We’re hoping that with our partnership with Mr. [Hui Yeol] Park’s group and the CNMI players, we could revive and develop table tennis on Saipan. We’re going to Korea next time to play against them,” said KPPAS president Park.

Hui Yeol Park is a former professional table tennis player in South Korea. He is from Jinju City in South Gyeongsang Province and operates a table tennis academy together with Jeong. Hui Yeol Park also donated table tennis equipment—balls and rackets—that the Korean group here would use in helping promote the sport in the CNMI.

Budhi Gurung and Charlie Chen were the other players that competed in the games, while Kwang Sun Lee, Young Soon Roh, Jae Young Lim, Bu Gon Jun, and Seung Hoon Lee were the visiting players from Jinju City. Kwang Sun was a member of the South Korean national table tennis team and is now its head coach, while Young Son Roh was a famous player during his high school days.