In this contest, it's power to the paddles

Pingpong competition bounces into Baltimore

With flashy backhands and grunts that would make Monica Seles blush, pingpong enthusiasts from all over the world battled at the Baltimore Convention Center yesterday for glory and fame in one of the United States' unappreciated sports.

For decades, most Americans have dismissed table tennis, viewing it as a nerdy stepchild to football, basketball and baseball - a sport for kids and the poor few who never graduated to the grown-up version, tennis.

But this weekend, for the North American Teams Table Tennis Championships at the convention center, there were no snickers - only the pitter-patter of players hitting balls across 144 tables.

Many styles were on display. Some players punctuated each whack with a yell. Some berated themselves. ("Focus, stupid!") Others simply wore poker faces, betraying nothing as they sent balls flying at speeds of up to 85 mph.

"It's like chess on amphetamines," said Alan Williams, who helped organize the tournament. "It's speed and intellect wrapped in one."

At the tournament, which ends today, Olympians who competed in Athens this past summer played in the same room as local amateurs.

"It's democratic," Williams said. "You got senior citizens playing against 7-year-olds. You have world-class Olympians and normal, everyday guys like me."

Hundreds attend

More than 800 players from 23 countries turned out. The games, organized by skill, ranged from the beginners on one side of the hall to the grim-faced Olympians and professionals on the other.

Plopping into a chair somewhere in the middle, Jay Jones let loose a deep groan. Jones, 44, was competing on a middle-age team.

"We're called the Past Perfects," he said.

The rating system has pitted them at times against youngsters a fraction of their ages.

"Yeah, it's tough on your pride when a 9-year-old beats the pants off you," teammate Peter Kopolovic, 58, said with a laugh. "But we've got the advantage of experience."

Still, the battle between youth and wisdom was looking lopsided. The Past Perfects were 2-3. If things got worse, Jones, of Newark, N.J., said he would use his secret weapon: side spin.

"These young kids hardly ever see that. It's a basement shot, not something you learn in classes with coaches," he said.

Intense atmosphere

At the far end of the hall, the atmosphere was more intense, as the experts of the tournament battled for dominance. A few came from the U.S. national team, but of the few full-time professional players competing, most had flown in from overseas.

The Americans have a tough time going professional, said Li Yuxiang, a former Chinese national champion.

"In China, they respect and love the players," he said in Mandarin. "The companies lavish them. It's like your basketball stars in the U.S. That's how big it is, even bigger."

Ryan Jenkins, one of the pros, said he plays four hours a day, on top of running and lifting weights. Then there are the visits to the sports psychologists for mental endurance.

"You have to do that at the top level," said Jenkins, 26, who is from Wales. "This game is 80 percent mental."

Not everyone at the convention, however, took the game so seriously.

'Mental' but 'fun'

"Yes, the game is mental," said a white-haired man with a rubber hammer in his hand and a hat with long horns on his head. "But it's also fun."

The man, who laughingly introduced himself first as Thor and then as Jim Williams, 72, led a team called the Hammer of Thor. His teammates, also sporting horned helmets, politely presented themselves as Forseti, Aegir and Tyr.

This year is especially poignant for the team, Williams said. John Vos, 69 - "Odin" to his teammates - had died just two months earlier. They buried him with his helmet and paddle.

"He was famous for his Ginsu chop," Williams reminisced, referring to a move named after the knives sold on late-night infomercials. This year, without Odin, the Viking gods have found themselves routed in every round, losing to four teams in a row.

In an upcoming game, they faced the Beauty and the Beasts, three high school students a quarter their age. ("I'm the beauty. They're the beasts," Jane Li, 17, said sweetly, pointing to her two male teammates.)

The Norsemen roared and chopped and spun. Williams even brandished his hammer between matches, but nothing seemed to work.

Down four matches out of five, Williams turned around and declared, "The Hammer of Thor haven't given up yet. In table tennis it's fun no matter what. Of course, it's more fun when you win."

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