Shi gives women’s team a boost

Less than a month before the start of the 6th Micronesian Games here on Saipan, the CNMI National Women’s Table Tennis Team is expected to make a big splash with veteran ping-pong player Jean Shi onboard.

Although, the 45-year-old mother of two hasn’t played competitive table tennis in the last 12 years, Shi remains as fit as ever and her skills haven’t diminished a tiny bit as witnessed by her recent workout sessions against members of the bronze-winning South Pacific Mini Games table tennis team.

In an interview Tuesday evening following her one-on-one match with mixed doubles partner Budhi Gurung at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium multi-purpose room, Shi said she is delighted to represent her adopted islands in the Games.

She said she is getting along well with the other three members of the women’s team—Lucita Paculanang, Rose Agulto, and Siri Welch—and that all of them are learning a lot playing side by side with the three Saipan-based members of the men’s team, Su Yong Dong, Chen Lin Yin, and Gurung.

“We have good teams. Training is going on very well and everyone is pretty serious in practice. But I cannot say how our teams would fare because I have no idea about the teams we will be playing against in the Games,” she said.

Shi first picked up a ping-pong paddle at a very young age and started playing competitively in fifth grade soon after being named to the district age group team in Shanghai.

She was a mainstay of her elementary and middle school (junior high) varsity teams and starred for No. 2-ranked Shanghai Teachers University, where she won the singles championship in the early 1980s

In all, Shi won six district championships and at one time was seeded sixth in singles in the whole of Shanghai.

The physical education graduate came to Saipan in 1993 and immediately wowed the local table tennis scene after beating players from Guam in an invitational tournament that same year.

Shi said she didn’t expect to play her favorite sport again until Marianas Amateur Table Tennis Association official Mario Espeleta gave her a call and asked her to spearhead the newly former women’s team for the Micro Games.

“They (MATTA) told me the Games will be played here and asked if I wanted to join and I said ‘yes,’” she said.

Shi, who currently translates for the district courts and Department of Labor, said while winning a medal will be great for the CNMI and for her, she is just happy to be part of the team.

“Win or lose I’ll be OK. Participating in the Games and representing Saipan is honor enough for me,” she said.