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MATTA: Players’ eligibility not a problem for Games
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Posted on Mar 01 2006
Marianas Amateur Table Tennis Association president Steven Lim said the three ping-pong players that struck bronze in last summer’s South Pacific Mini Games in Palau are eligible to represent the CNMI in this year’s Micronesian Games.
Lim said Budhi Gurung, Su Yong Dong, and Chen Lin Ying have lived in the CNMI for more than seven years and are well over the residency requirements laid out by the Micronesian Games Council for non-Micronesians participating in the quadrennial event; and are therefore able to wear the Commonwealth’s colors in the 6th Micronesian Games set from June 23 to July 2 here on Saipan.
He also said that in line with MATTA’s preparations for the Games, he has set a series of tryouts this month on both Saipan and neighboring Tinian.
Lim, who doubles as interim coach of the CNMI National Table Tennis Team, said the tryouts will first be held on Saipan sometime in the middle of March and aside from Gurung, Su, and Chen, all table tennis enthusiasts on the island are invited.
The MATTA president said the tryouts on Tinian would be held at the end of the month in conjunction with the sports organization’s biannual goodwill tournament with the table tennis club at Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino.
Lim also confirmed what Gurung said earlier last month that MATTA is highly considering Tinian ping-pong aces Charlie Chen and Luke Lu’s inclusion to the national team. Luke and Lu topped the goodwill tournament MATTA hosted last November on Saipan.
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, 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 team—the CNMI was able to salvage bronze.
