By Jia-Yu (Trinity) Sung
NCTTA Press Committee

Every year as players trickle into the competition venue at Nationals, you could almost imagine yourself bird watching. Birds of a feather flock together, and when the venue doors open, the teams of NCTTA follow suit. Here and there your eye easily catches the bright reds of Boston or the golden yellows of Berkeley mingled with the royal purples of NYU. But when you turn your gaze away from the flocks of teams, you chance upon a rare glimpse of the individuals that fly solo—the singles players representing their university proudly by themselves.

Flying solo at Nationals requires more mental fortitude than most may realize. Without a team, you have no one to share your struggles, burdens, or even successes with. Representing the University of Rochester, sophomore Pradyuman Vijayakumar admits, “despite the financial and time commitments involved, the opportunity to make history for my college is something I couldn’t pass up.”

For senior Wendy Chen of the University of California Santa Cruz, she’s competing this year to make up for lost time. Faced with the unfortunate obstacle of COVID, Wendy’s collegiate table tennis career only started last year. “I’m graduating, so this would be my last year playing for college (for now at least), and with the opportunity I decided I should still go one last time!” she professes.

Equally spirited, Daniel Tan of Texas A&M recalls the importance of community in his table tennis journey and reminisces “I would finish my homework and my dad would take me to the local Chinese civic centers to play with all the uncles and aunties and slowly climb the ladder as I grew older.” Heading into Nationals, not only does Daniel look forward to seeing old friend and childhood rival, Oliver Wang of UT Dallas, but also to competing with some of the best players in North America. What else does Daniel hope to do in Wisconsin? “I want to watch good table tennis,” he says. Same here Daniel, same.

Foraying into the US table tennis scene, Kaustubh Kulkarni rose through and topped the ranks of state and national level table tennis in India well before he began his graduate studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Aiming to truly treasure this experience, Kaustubh proclaims, “I’m looking forward to playing against all the talented players that will be coming to Nationals and I’m eager to raise awareness about table tennis as a professional sport—hoping to win some good matches!”

With so many teams to watch, don’t forget to turn your eyes toward the determined singles players too. Maybe you’ll make some new friends at Nationals!

(Pictured: Kaustubh Kulkarni staring down his opponent at the 2024 NCTTA West Regionals)
(Photo by Jia-Yu (Trinity) Sung)

About 2024 NCTTA College Table Tennis Championships
The championships are hosted by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association and the Visit Eau Claire CVB. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, and Men’s/Coed Teams, Women’s Teams. PongSpace, Joola, the US Coast Guard, Visit Eau Claire and Bluestone Designs sponsor the event.
Watch the event on live stream starting Friday, April 12th on http://www.nctta.org/champs/2024/video.html

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 elite intercollegiate competition throughout North America. www.nctta.org