Table Tennis, part II

On Saturday morning, Portland State’s Table Tennis Club plays the second leg of the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association’s regional tournament at the new rec center.

The PSU squad, which currently stands fifth among seven teams after a disappointing show in November, is competing for the chance to represent the Northwest Division in the NCTTA National Championships.

Although there remains just a small mathematical possibility the Viks will qualify, the players remain upbeat.

“I think that we will do well this tournament,” said Vuong Nguyen, Table Tennis Club coordinator. “It is on our home court, so that gives us a bit of an advantage.”

At the 2009 NCTTA Table Tennis Open in November, Portland State could not repeat their first-place finish of 2008 and instead finished at the bottom of the table. The Vikings’ A-Team lost all four matches against other northwest teams, but the B-Team surprisingly swept all four of their matches.

Brian Yoder and Shubham Chopra were the only two players in the first team who were able to win a match in the tournament. Yoder won his match against Oregon’s Xie Tan, while Chopra came up trumps in his duel against Ilam Keshet, a paddler from British Columbia, Canada.

In 2008, the Viks tied for first place in the NCTTA and came in third in a tiebreaker. Past PSU teams—with players Renjith Retnamma, Suha Ardhavan, Brian Yoder, Roger Castles and Sehwan Kim—have taken the team to the national championships.

Saturday’s competition begins at 9 a.m. on the third floor of the Student Rec Center. The Table Tennis Club practices every Wednesday and Friday, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., at the rec center.

Teams participating

Portland State University
University of Oregon
Oregon State University
University of Washington
Seattle University
University of British Columbia
Highline Community College