Diverse student community gathers for table tennis tourney

Table tennis enthusiasts gathered on Saturday at Utah State University to compete in a tournament founded for – and by – students.

The USU Table Tennis Club was established last year to provide students an opportunity to come together over pingpong. The tournament was hosted to raise awareness of the sport and was open to anyone.

“This is our very first one. We just barely moved to Logan,” said Liz Thatcher, whose husband Danny participated in the tournament. “He likes pingpong and told me about this and I told him he should do it.”

For some, pingpong has been a lifelong pastime.

“I’ve played pingpong for over 20 years,” said Ke Wang, a grad student at USU. “Almost all of the Chinese people start playing pingpong when they are very young; five or six.”

“Every school has a table, and every student knows how to play,” Wang said. “We’d play after school almost every day.”

Others, like Carlos Sedo, went out to play for the first time in years.

“I used to play in high school back in Peru. I trained with this girl that played in the Olympics and everything,” Sedo said. “People don’t know that it requires a lot of technique and ability. There are like 10 different shots you have to master.”

Some, like Shane Elliott, just went to support friends and loved ones.

“I’m here because my friend Stephen plays,” said Elliott. “He went to Hong Kong and everything. He told me the guy he learned pingpong from was named ‘The Dragon.’”

Table tennis is a prominent competitive sport in many countries including Hungary, Japan and the Czech Republic. It is China’s national sport.

With tournament attendants hailing from Peru, Korea, China and the United States, the turnout displayed the sport's international appeal.

“I like seeing how everyone comes together to play pingpong,” said Jaron Dunford, president and co-founder of the Table Tennis Club. “It’s interesting to see how it brings people together from across campus and different countries.”

“Maybe it doesn’t have the hype or the big crowds but you get a good rally and everyone gets excited,” Elliott said. “It’s cool to see some of the foreign students playing here. It’s an international sport.”

Rebecca Eisenhower, Eric Jungblut, Trevor Anderson, Ryan Neeley, Marisa Nielsen, Trey Williams, Nicole Murray, Bailey Nielsen contributed to this report.