| diwas k |
Posted
on 07-Feb-02 01:12 AM
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this from Marshall Independent of Feb 7, 2002. Marshall is a small town in the southwestern Minnesota.
Sundeep can be reached at sundeepmahat@hotmail.com
-dk (ps. lifted AS_IS, without permission.)
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More than a game
By Karin Elton
Independent Staff Writer
MARSHALL — The balls are in their court now.
Two Southwest State University students will participate in a national competition by winning a regional intercollegiate recreational tournament last weekend in Fargo, N.D.
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Sundeep Mahat, a sophomore from Kathmandu, Nepal, won the table tennis tournament. Mahat will go to nationals in Baltimore, Md.
More than 25,000 students participate each year at the campus, regional, national and international recreation tournaments sponsored by ACUI’s recreation program team. The team sets the standards and procedures for tournament participation in sports such as bowling, clay targets, pocket billiards, table tennis and more.
“We have participated five years in a row,” said John Alcorn, assistant director for Student Center operations at SSU. “We’ve only sent men billiards players and bowlers to nationals before and haven’t placed.”
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Mahat, who’s majoring in computer science with a minor in business, has been playing table tennis for 10 or 12 years. He said schools in Nepal have tables set up for students to play table tennis.
“Most of the schools have their own coaches,” he said.
When he first came to SSU, he didn’t play table tennis.
“I missed it,” he said.
When he was playing in the Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1998, he and his teammates would practice for at least six hours a day — three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening.
Mahat said table tennis is one of the most popular sports in Asia, along with soccer and the martial arts.
“In America, table tennis is played just for fun,” he said. “In Asia, it is a sport.”
He is an aggressive player.
“I play to win,” he said. “I like to attack.”
Mahat practices at Commons West, a central meeting place for students who live in residence halls.
He’s glad to have the table tennis table there, even though the net is held to the post by a wire and duct tape. When he saw how the net droops, he brought his own higher quality net from Nepal, as well as his own paddles.
The table is still of poor quality, he said, but there’s nothing he can do about that.
Table tennis has changed a lot over the years, Mahat said.
Today’s table tennis balls are bigger — 40 millimeters instead of 38 millimeters.
“(The ball manufacturer’s) motto is ‘bigger is better,’” Mahat said.
Another change that has been made in table tennis is with the scoring system. To win, you used to need to score 21 points.
“It’s 11 now,” he said.
And another thing. Don’t call table tennis “ping pong.”
“I used to get in fights with people who called it ping pong,” he said. “Not fistfights, but arguments.”
Mahat said when table tennis athletes play, the sound the ball makes when it hits the table is not, “ping pong.”
Mahat is a member of the table tennis team which won the 45th world table tennis team championship played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2000.
He has a photo of the late King of Nepal giving Mahat his trophy.
When Mahat was a child, walking along a road in Kathmandu, he would see the king go by in a car.
“He was like a god,” Mahat said. “I said to my friends, ‘someday he will present a prize to me.’”
When that dream came true, it was the happiest moment of Mahat’s life.
“The king put his hand on my shoulder and said ‘good job,’” Mahat said.
King Birenda was later killed, along with members of his family, allegedly by his own son, the crown prince.
“I was shocked,” Mahat said of when he heard the news of the assassination. “I can’t believe it happened.”
Mahat said he has met the prince.
“He supported table tennis athletes,” Mahat said. “I can’t believe he did that (the assassinations).”
Mahat has been featured in the Kathmandu Post, the top newspaper in Nepal.
He has a clipping of the article. The headline reads “Sandip Mahat: the table-tennis supremo.”
Mahat said that it is acceptable to spell his first name “Sandip” instead of “Sandeep.”
A winner of many international tournaments, he’s been featured in Sports Times, a Sports Illustrated-type of magazine, in Nepal.
“He’s incredible,” Alcorn said of Mahat’s playing. “He’s fun to watch.”
Alcorn said he is planning a fund-raiser to raise money for Hussong’s trip. The event will take the form of an exhibition featuring Hussong.
“I challenge anyone to play (table tennis) against Sandeep,” Alcorn said. “But they shouldn’t expect to score a point, let alone win.”
Staff Writer Karin Elton can be reached at kelton@marshallindependent.com
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