Table tennis mounts a comeback in Brandon

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This article was published 21/10/2024 (412 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Visitors to Brandon University’s Healthy Living Centre on Saturday could hear the sounds of serves, volleys and blocks, but the source wasn’t from a Bobcats volleyball game.

The Manitoba Table Tennis Association gathered 55 players of different ages and skill levels for the MBLL Assiniboine Open tournament from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Henry Champ Gymnasium.

Up to 10 games were going on at the same time. Some players showed off their endurance by sustaining lengthy rallies while others displayed the control and technique needed to pull off improbable corner shots.

The association’s executive director, Carlos Cuadra, told the Sun that it was the biggest tournament of its kind held in Brandon in years. He said they wanted to hold a tournament in the Wheat City to help grow the game throughout the province.

A smaller “Brandon Open” event was held a couple of weeks ago, but Saturday’s event welcomed competitors from around Manitoba and even a few from Saskatchewan.

According to Cuadra, the roster for the Assiniboine Open included a member of the national under-15 girls’ team and a couple of players ranked in Canada’s top-100 list.

There were both singles and doubles tournaments featuring players divided up by age, and some open tournaments without restrictions too as a hardbat tournament, which uses a different sort of paddle.

The hope is that the local table tennis community will grow and allow the association to make this tournament an annual event.

Local player Taras Lychuk said there used to be a club based out of the university years ago, but it has been dormant for a while. He’s volunteering his time to try and get a local chapter again.

“I’ve been playing ping pong since I was a teenager and I’m almost 50 now,” said Lychuk, who also competed in both recent local tournaments. “I enjoy the sport a lot.”

While some details still need to be worked out, the goal is for the Brandon club to hold twice-weekly sessions for both new and experienced players at the Healthy Living Centre starting in a couple of weeks.

That way, local players don’t have to travel to Winnipeg or elsewhere for some games.

The addition of a Brandon-based club is an enticing prospect to another local player, Jasmin Jimeno, who was competing in both the open singles and open doubles tournaments on Saturday.

She said she started playing in junior high school in the Philippines.

When she first arrived in Brandon about a year ago, she said she looked for a team but was disappointed to find that there weren’t any and she hasn’t wanted to travel to Winnipeg to play. The recent Brandon tournaments are the first time she had played in a while, she said.

“That’s why I’m really excited if they really get one here at the Healthy Living Centre,” she said. “I’m really glad that they hosted this tournament here, not in Winnipeg.”

Cuadra said he hopes that the seed Lychuk is planting will grow into something bigger. If Brandon gets a larger community of players, he said there’s an opportunity to host more tournaments.

For those who want to learn more about table tennis or the MTTA, Cuadra said people can visit the association’s website at mtta.ca or its pages on Facebook and YouTube.

“Table tennis is a great sport,” he said. “It’s open to all ages and levels of play. It’s perfect for winter because you can play it all season long. The other thing that you have is that it has a mix of cognitive and physical benefits.”

With all racket sports being connected, Cuadra said knowledge of other games like badminton, squash and pickleball may help people acclimatize to table tennis.

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