Wednesday, January 9th, 2008

Tomorrow’s tournament results will be posted on the hour.

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The 2008 Olympic & National Trials – Table Tennis is coming to the Daskalakis Athletic Center Jan. 10 – and obviously there are a lot of unknowns.

Photo By: Evan Rosen/The Triangle

However, what we do know is that Jan. 10 at 9 a.m., 40 skillful athletes will set forth on a quest to gain entry into the 2008 Olympics Games in Beijing.

These 40 men and women believe they have what it takes to represent the red, white and blue.

While these athletes come from different backgrounds, with some becoming U.S. citizens just a few years ago, they have all worked very hard, training and practicing for hours on end in order to compete at this level.

You may have either seen some of these athletes on ESPN or you may not be aware of their talents– but if you do get a chance to watch them, you certainly will have a good memory of them at the end of the event.

Table tennis may not be one of the most popular sports in the United States, but for these athletes this may be the opportunity of a lifetime.

Whether you come to watch this spectacle in person, or are just curious about what table tennis is and what the rules are, this piece can lead you in the right direction.

What is Table Tennis?

Table tennis is essentially what its name states, “Tennis played on a Table,”- granted there are differences, mainly in size.

The sport is played on a nine-by-five foot table that is 30 inches above the ground according to the ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation).

The paddles are considerably smaller than tennis rackets, and contain an outer layer made of rubber. The rubber surface allows players to maximize spin they can put on the ball, which plays a large part in strategy.

The ball is made of celluloid and is completely hollow inside.

There are different strategies of play in the game where some players may put more spin on their shots while others may play with power, but ultimately a player must have multiple talents in playing both offense and defense to win a match.

Oh and having good reflexes doesn’t hurt either.

What are the rules?

While you should probably research the rules if you want a more in-depth understanding, this is a basic idea of the rules of table tennis.

Sept. 1, 2001, the USATT (United States of America Table Tennis) decided to make a major change in scoring by adopting the ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) 11-point format. Formerly games were played to 21 points, which is likely what many of you play to today.

Players must alternate serves every two points and a point will be scored regardless of whom served.

In order to win, a player must be the first to score 11 points and also be ahead by at least two points (i.e. 11-9). In the event that a match is tied 10-10, players will alternate serves every point until someone gains a two-point advantage.

What is the Trial structure?

Each match will be in a best-of-seven games format. Therefore, the first player to win four games will be deemed the winner.

The Top 12 players will compete in a round-robin format in which each competitor will play each of the other 11 other players.

While the women only have nine entrants (and will only play eight matches), the men have 31 as there will be a single elimination open qualifying tournament on Thursday to get down to the field of 12. With the top 10 ranked players getting a bye, two players will come from the remaining field of 19.

The top four male finishers and the top four female finishers at the Trials will go on to the North American Qualification Tournament, hosted in Vancouver, Canada on Apr. 4-6 and compete with Canadian competitors for the three North American spots. Those three winners will advance to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

What is the tournament schedule?

The tournament begins Jan. 10 at 9:00 A.M. with a single elimination open qualifying tournament that will advance the top two competitors to the Main Draw.

The Main Draw for the men kicks off at 8:00 A.M. Jan. 11, while the women begin at 9:00 A.M. that same day.

Each competitor will play four matches in a given day during the Main Draw.

The Final Matches will be held Jan. 13 at 3:00 P.M.

The below schedule outlines the entire event by hour.

Interesting Table Tennis Facts

Table tennis is the most popular racquet sport in the world and ranked second overall in terms of participation. Over 10 million players compete in sanctioned tournaments each year.

Table tennis became a medal Olympic sport in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

Photo By: Evan Rosen/The Triangle

The record for the number of balls hit back and forth in a 60 second period is 173 set by Jackie Bellinger and Lisa Lomas in 1993.

Exerts from USATT.org, ITTF.org and drexeldragons.com were used in this article

by Mike Mazzeo, Assistant Sports Editor

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After winning 3 of 4 games and looking to rebound for conference play, Drexel lost its second consecutive game and in ugly fashion too.

It was bad enough that it lost to Delaware at home, despite dominating the entire game. Frank Elegar wasted a career game and fans were obviously shocked losing to their hated rivals.

To make matters worse, the basketball team lost again to a sub-par Northeastern team, who won only its sixth game of the year. It’s difficult to see what’s in store for Drexel who is now 8-8 overall and 1-3 in the conference, meaning that they are tied for last with Towson.

After Saturday, there will only be one team in last place, seeing that Towson plays Drexel @ Towson.

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Table tennis blogs start tonight! Look out for posts starting with Michael Mazzeo’s “Table Tennis for Dummies” blog.

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As a weekly paper, it is understandable that a reader may be frustrated by The Triangle, since articles are only posted online Fridays and the paper only comes once a week. It can be difficult to find out the latest information on Drexel sports teams when content is not made available daily. Additionally, readers don’t receive as much sports content when all the articles are jammed into one sports section and the sports section is forced to decide whether or not an article should make the paper.

This major issue has finally been resolved.

Starting January 9, 2008, The Triangle Sports section will offer at least one piece of sports content on the Web site every day. From the opening ceremonies for the Olympic Trials for Table Tennis Jan. 9 to the championship rounds Jan. 13, The Triangle will have up to date information. There will be multiple blogs posted per day so that people who cannot make the Table Tennis Olympic Trials can still get insight as to what is happening during the events.

Even after the Olympic Trials end Jan. 13, any sporting events that are covered will go online that day. If the men’s or women’s basketball team is playing at the DAC, expect the story for the game to be online later that day. If the wrestling team has a match at home, it will be on The Triangle site before the end of the day.

If for some reason there aren’t any home games and we aren’t covering a team on the road for a particular day, there will be at least one blog about Drexel, CAA, NCAA or professional teams. Under the Drexel category, there may be blogs about intramural teams and tournaments or about varsity and non-varsity athletes.

The purpose of having daily coverage and blogs is so that there will be new sports content on the site every day. That includes Saturdays and Sundays. If you have any suggestions for content that you think would be interesting to cover in a blog, feel free to email sports@thetriangle.org.

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The Triangle’s sports team will bring you coverage of the Olympic Table Tennis Trials at Drexel beginning Wednesday evening. Stay tuned!

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