Table tennis tourney

Table tennis is coming to Portland State this weekend. Starting tomorrow, teams from the Northwest Division of the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association will compete to be national champions.

“The NCTTA is one of the most prestigious tournaments we play,” said Shubham Chopra, a Portland State team member and vice president of the Table Tennis Club. “This tournament is played by all the major universities in the Northwest, so I feel proud of being part of this tournament.”

The 2009 College Table Tennis National Championships will begin tomorrow and run through Sunday at the Stott Center. Over 100 top college table tennis players from schools in Washington and Oregon will compete for the top honors in events spanning various skill levels and categories such as open singles, women’s singles, open doubles and mixed doubles.

The eight-member Portland State squad is hoping that playing at the Stott Center will give them an added advantage.

“It is our own home ground, and I hope to see a few people around to cheer the team. Definitely the advantage is with us,” Chopra said.

The team looks to continue their fine showing this year, following impressive performance in the Pacific Rim Open played on Nov. 3–4 in Beaverton. Brian Yoder won the doubles title and Chopra finished runner-up in the U-1250 class.

“I would have loved to be the winner, but I think I will save it for this upcoming tournament,” Chopra said.

The Viks tied for first place in last year’s NCTTA, and came in third after a tiebreaker. Past Portland State teams with players like Yoder, Renjith Retnamma, Roger Castles and Sehwan Kim have taken the team to the national championships.

“To be able to represent PSU in the Western Regional NCTTA is indeed an honor,” team member Leonidis Thape said. “This tournament gives us the hope towards our sense of accomplishment, and from those hours we had spent practicing. I would love to see the team win the tournament and go for the nationals championships.”