Ladies Lead the Way at the Championships
By Willy Leparulo
14 Women’s teams will be at the College Table Tennis Championships on April 10th to 12th in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and include a who’s who of International stars both from the USA, Canada, Peru, Australia, and several other countries.
We have a who’s who of Olympic and International stars among the women’s draw. Princeton University Women’s team, which is the favorite comes in featuring: Ariel Hsing, Erica Wu, and Shirley Fu. Lily Zhang joins those three as all have international experience. Hsing, Wu and Zhang all competed together in the 2012 Olympics in London. Fu is a two-time Canadian Women’s Champion and former member of the Junior National team. Lily Zhang more recently became the first ever US Athlete to win a bronze medal in the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics. Hsing, Wu, and Zhang all appear with Michael Landers in the Table Tennis Documentary, Top Spin as well!
Clearly these leading ladies have a lot to bring to the table, but College Table Tennis isn’t just about individual accomplishments but more about the team. The other thirteen women’s teams are just as eager to put their foot down on the championships.
For instance, Karen Pon, Australian International, from the Ohio State Women’s team says about the upcoming championships, “We're very excited to be going to the National Championships. This is the first competitive women's team from Ohio State for a few years and we have been training hard and look forward to competing.” Pon professes to be “a crusader for women in table tennis” and certainly we at NCTTA are taking note as our numbers increase every year!
Come on out this year and witness the female power at the 2015 TMS College Table Tennis Championships!
The 2015 TMS College Table Tennis Championships is hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire and is one of the premier table tennis tournaments in North America featuring 6 events: Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. The event is sponsored by TMS International, Double Fish, Joola and PepPod.
Players and spectators alike will enjoy a jam-packed weekend of table tennis at the TMS College Table Tennis Championships. The event starts Friday April 10th and continues through Sunday April 12th at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire campus.
About NCTTA
The National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) is a non-profit organization established exclusively for promoting the sport of table tennis at the college level. As the national governing body for college table tennis in the United States and Canada, NCTTA organizes intercollegiate competition throughout North America. www.nctta.org
About USA Table Tennis
Headquartered in Colorado Springs, USATT is the national organizing body for table tennis in the United States, serving 9,000+ members and nearly 300 clubs. USATT sanctions 200+ events a year including the US Open and US Nationals. USATT is affiliated with the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), as well as the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). www.usatt.org