Source: Radio New Zealand
Watching members of the Auckland Table Tennis Association whip balls across the nets as they rally for points against their opponents on a typical weekday evening is an exhausting exercise.
Indeed, it’s hard to keep up with the frenetic activity in Epsom, as players of all ages ping balls in every direction imaginable.
Although not as popular as other activities in New Zealand, the number of people who play table tennis is not insignificant.
More than 250,000 people play the game on a regular basis, with about 3000 people competing in national tournaments throughout the year, according to Table Tennis New Zealand.
But when it comes to world-class players, there aren’t many in New Zealand, with 64-year-old Chunli Li being the most decorated.
Having just returned home from the recent International Table Tennis Federation World Cup in Macau, Li again missed out on the round of 16.
Li won two games in her matches in Macau, an improvement on the previous year in which she lost every game she played.
Table tennis veteran Chunli Li stands alongside young players that she coaches. RNZ / Yiting Lin
None of New Zealand’s other top players – Jocelyn Lam, Dean Shu and Timothy Choi – made the cut either.
Li said the gap between New Zealand and other nations was due to a lack of investment and ambition.
“In New Zealand, sport is very accessible,” Li said. “There are many different sports people can easily take part in, and the facilities are quite good.
“However, when it comes to table tennis, I think at the national level, there haven’t been many clear plans or goals to achieve top international results. That’s partly related to the country’s funding and population size.”
To become a top international player and achieve results, people needed to invest a huge amount of time, effort and training, Li said.
“I really hope that athletes in New Zealand can enjoy the fun of playing table tennis, as well as experience that higher level of competition.”
Rising table tennis stars Eli Ho (right), 14, and Lucas Alexandre, 12, train at the Auckland Table Tennis Association’s Epsom venue. RNZ / Yiting Lin
Those aiming for high-level competitions include Eli Ho, who claimed the New Zealand national open title at the age of 13 last year, becoming the youngest winner in the history of the event.
To advance his skills and make his dream of representing New Zealand at the Olympics come true, Eli is now based in Taiwan to train while doing online school.
“I train every day of the week. No rest,” he said. “It’s part of my life.”
“I think it’s a better training environment there, because it has a lot of high-level players.”
Table Tennis New Zealand chief executive Izania Downie RNZ / Yiting Lin
Established in 1934, Table Tennis New Zealand is the national governing body for the sport.
Its chief executive, Izania Downie, said the organisation was supporting top players as much as it could, such as obtaining scholarships from the International Table Tennis Federation to help with their training or sending them to training camps overseas.
“When you get to that higher level, you do need to be playing. … You need to be competing against other really top players,” she said.
“We need to bring some of those top players here, which we do from time to time, and they need to go and play against them as well,” she said.
“There’s no silver bullet as such.”
Competitions aside, her organisation hopes to introduce table tennis to more people.
People compete in the Veterans Open Championship organised by Table Tennis New Zealand in April. RNZ / Yiting Lin
“When I was young, almost everybody had a table tennis table in their garage,” she said. “It was a very Kiwi thing to go out and play table tennis just for fun.”
Approximately 100 clubs are operating through Table Tennis New Zealand’s 18 regional associations across the country, and more than 2000 tables are being used regularly, including those at community venues like schools and retirement villages, she said.
Apart from the social elements, playing table tennis can help people with physical fitness, coordination, strength, flexibility and brain health, Downie said.
Baorong Liu (left), 87, and Hannan Li, 91, competed in the Veterans Open Championship organised by Table Tennis New Zealand. RNZ / Yiting Lin
“We hope to become one of the top 10 community participation sports, and then we also would like to have an increased Paralympics presence and an Olympic presence by 2032,” she said.
“There’s always a challenge with resources and having enough people across the region as well as within our national team to make this happen.”
As the country becomes more diverse, the development of table tennis might benefit as well, Downie said.
“[The] ethnicity spread [playing table tennis] is approximately 40 percent New Zealand European, approximately 30 percent Asian, and then around 10 percent each of Māori and Pacific Island, and then the rest are other ethnicities.
“We’ve obviously got a growing Asian population and it’s a national sport [for a number of Asian countries], which is fantastic,” she said.
“We’re finding that mix is great coming into the sport. You’ve got people who are able to go and play in Asian countries in the off season and then bring that talent back, and that would then be playing together in the clubs that actually helps to improve the standard and quality of play for all of our people who are playing in the clubs.”
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
