Two Tinian players eligible to represent NMI

Palau South Mini Games bronze medalist Budhi Gurung Tuesday night disclosed that two players from Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino are eligible to play for the CNMI National Table Tennis team for the 2006 Micronesian Games.

Gurung said the Marianas Amateur Table Tennis Association has extended an invitation for Tinian’s Luke and Lu Charlie Cheng to tryout for the team. He said the two paddlers are very good and are well within the residency requirement set by the Micronesian Games Council, having spent the past eight years working at the Tinian hotel.

Incidentally, Lu was declared the singles champion of last December’s 3rd Saipan-Tinian Goodwill Table Tennis Tournament with Cheng coming a close second.

In fact the two Tinian players finished the competition, held at the Northern Marianas College Gymnasium, tied with a win-loss record of 6-0. It was only through a tiebreak that Lu was named the overall champion and Cheng the runner-up.

Since the tournament was a Saipan-versus-Tinian affair, Lu and Cheng didn’t play against each other. The winner was determined through the number of games won, with Lu winning all his games via three-set sweeps, while Cheng went through one four-set match.

Gurung also confirmed reports that fellow Palau Mini Games bronze medalist Chen Lin Ying is contemplating a move to Australia. He, however, said that Chen has yet to decide whether to play in the 2006 Micronesian Games or not. Cheng is expected to be back on Saipan on Feb 13.

He said, as it stands, the CNMI would be fielding a six-man team for the Games, which includes a coach. Gurung added that current coach and MATTA president Steven Lim might even field a women’s team if MATTA’s tryouts set for next month would yield suitable female paddlers.

Gurung said that MATTA players are presently training twice a week at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium multi-purpose room in preparation for next month’s goodwill tournament against Tinian.

He also said that Lim, who is the general manager of Transamerica Corp., has made available an area on the second floor of the company’s facility along Middle Road for practice seven days a week.

Gurung said the area easily fits one table and unlike their training venue at the Oleai Sports Complex, it is open to MATTA players any day of the week.

Like swimming, triathlon, baseball, and softball, table tennis is one of the sports the CNMI is expected to do well and medal in the Games.

In the 2005 South Pacific Mini Games in Palau, Gurung, Cheng and Su Yong Dong, coached by Lim, won a bronze medal in the team competition for table tennis.

The CNMI actually finished fourth behind powerhouses New Caledonia (Gold), Guam (Silver), Fiji (Bronze), but since the South Pacific Games Council awards two bronze medals—one for the third place team and a second to the fourth place teams—the CNMI was able to salvage bronze.

The team’s brightest moment during the Mini Games came against Solomon Islands, whose players were swept by the NMI representatives, 9-0.

The CNMI Men’s National Table Tennis Team rebounded admirably from a 9-0 shutout suffered in the hands of Guam earlier in the competition.

Aside from its shellacking of the Solomon Islands, the team also swept Marshalls, 9-0, and took two of nine games against New Caledonia in its opening bout and taking Fiji to the limit before falling, 5-4.