Liu’s still the table tennis king

As a former national team member and still the top singles table tennis player in Western Canada, Y.J. Liu has set a high standard for others to follow.

Fortunately, the juniors following in the Richmond veteran’s footsteps are showing great promise as evident at last weekend’s B.C. Open.

“The calibre is increasing I think because there are more junior players coming up to take over some of the spots,” says Yiutak Tse, who organized the Richmond tournament.

“We had two under-20 players get to semis which hasn’t happened in several years. It was very pleasing to see that.”

But there remains a bigger challenge if Canada is to produce players capable of competing for top honours on a global scale. Unlike Liu, now 41 and trained as a provincial player in China where he worked on his game eight hours a day, upcoming players here are fortunate if they can train that much in a week, notes Tse.

Demonstrating a powerful forehand with an added top spin which flustered many a foe, Liu won the open singles title.

Other Richmond players enjoying success at the tournament included Mark Lee, runner-up in under-14 boys’ singles; Nathan Phang, second under-12 boys’ singles; Bencker Horst, second over-50 singles; Patrick Tung, first under-1200 singles; and Simpson Ho, second under-1200 singles.

Tung, in particular, impressed Tse.

“He’s only eight and is currently number one in the under-10 category,” he notes.

Provincial team selection will continue at the Richmond Open which will be held over two consecutive weekends, Feb. 17 and 24, at Woodward elementary.