Ottawa, Canada is a breeding ground for some of the greatest collegiate table tennis players in North America.

The city of 900,000 is best known as Canada’s capital city, but the home of the University of Ottawa is quickly gaining a reputation for excellence in college table tennis.

There’s good reason for all this. After all, the city is the headquarters of the Canadian Table Tennis National Training Center. That’s the place where stars of Canada’s national table tennis team polish their skills and get ready for Olympic competition every four years. In a city where the average winter temperature is 14 degrees (Fahrenheit), table tennis is a terrific indoor sport on or off campus.

When it comes to table tennis, the University of Ottawa team is the dominating force in an Eastern Canada division that includes the University of Toronto, Waterloo, Western, McGill, York and McMaster. Toronto is their toughest foe at the moment.

“We are confident we can beat any team that comes our way,” says Xian Meng “Sam” Huang, the president of the University of Ottawa Table Tennis Club.

At a top ten Canadian research university located less than 200 meters from Parliament Hill, this isn’t just idle talk. The Ottawa team finished 3rd behind Texas Wesleyan and Lindenwood at the 2010 College Table Tennis Championships.

Their team includes Pierre-Luc Hinse, a native of Montreal who was a substitute on Canada’s Olympic Table Tennis Team in 2008. He is ranked 6th overall in Canada. Other members include Sara Yuen, the No. 2-ranked female in Canada and her twin sister, Stephanie Yuen, who is ranked as the 6th best female in Canada. Other members include Derek Wong, a former member of the Canadian Olympic Team and Briant Won, a native of Taiwan who is currently training at the center.

Stephanie Yuen is a powerful newcomer on the University of Ottawa team that currently sits in 1st place in the Eastern Canada Division after fall competition. Stephanie is a current Canadian national team member. The team hopes to capture the division title in the spring make a strong showing at the 2011 Nationals in Rochester, Minnesota in April.

Both Sara and Stephanie Yuen were born in Montreal and moved to Ottawa at a young age. Montreal’s loss has clearly been Ottawa’s gain when it comes to collegiate table tennis.

It’s not just a Canadian university of table tennis stars. The University of Ottawa Table Tennis Club is home to 60 players of all levels. But they are all passionate about their favorite Olympic sport.

Many of the players are also helping to raise money for the table tennis club at a university where students can study in English or French. Five tournament fund-raisers are in the planning stages, including one that pairs the Ottawa club with the Chinese Student Association. They are selling t-shirts, too.

A native of China who developed his game when arriving in Ottawa in 2000, Sam Huang says fund-raising is a must for players at the University of Ottawa in 2010-2011. Their club currently receives no funding from the school.

At a university where players like Pierre-Luc Hinse study anthropology, while Sara Yuen devotes lots of time to her biology books, the club is really looking to make an impact out on the competition table.

Sam Huang is right on target when he says “Our school has many high-level table tennis players.” You can bet they’d like to bring a collegiate championship back to Ottawa as well.

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