International Table Tennis Events Continue In Auckland

International table tennis action continues this week at the Auckland Table Tennis Association headquarters in Gillies Ave as 16 nations and well over 200 junior and senior individual players take to the tables

Already New Zealanders Kevin Wu and Julia Wu (not related) have won places in the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore after beating their Aussie counterparts in the qualifying tournament in Auckland.

The next tournament is the 2010 KVB Kunlun ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) New Zealand Junior & Cadet Open starting Tuesday 6th until Friday 9th April. This tournament is where the best young prospects (under 18 years) in table tennis from the Oceania region and beyond get to test their skills.

Following the junior tournament is the 2010 Youth Olympic Games International Qualification Tournament and then the big event the 2010 KVB Kunlun ITTF-Oceania Championships, Monday 12th April to Sunday 18th April.

It is the 15th time the Oceania event has been held and with close to 200 individual entries received the Oceania Champs look set to show some real talent. The top New Zealand hope in the Open events is Karen Li from North Harbour. Li a Commonwealth Games silver medalist in 2002 was undefeated at the 2008 Oceania Olympic Qualifying tournament and has a current world ranking of 157.

Nations as far away as Norway, Congo, United States, Tunisia and strongholds such as China and Hong Kong as well as a number of Pacific nations are all expecting to have an impact on the tournaments, the likes of which has never been seen in New Zealand before.