Table tennis places 4th in regional tournament

By By John Stafford , Staff Writer

November 23, 2009

By John Stafford , Staff Writer

The U’s table tennis team’s dream of a national tournament berth is still alive after a fourth-place finish Saturday in the Northern California regional collegiate tournament at the University of California-Berkeley.

The team played a series of close games, which culminated in a win versus the University of California-Merced, said Bruce Majors, team president and a junior in exercise and sport science. Berkeley went on to win the tournament.

Playing in what Majors said is the “toughest division in the country,” the U has made major strides, as this is only the first year formally competing together as a team. The team is made up of U students Matt Pugmire, Rhushi Kulkarni, Jilin Guo and player-coach Xiaobo Yan.

Majors, however, is not new to the game8212;it runs in the family for him.

“My dad was a coach, and he started a club in Salt Lake City,” he said. “I’ve been playing for a long time.” His father founded the Wasatch Front Table Tennis Club more than 20 years ago and is a 10-time Utah State Open champion.

Majors carried on a family tradition and founded the U’s table tennis program.

Although the road to the national tournament will prove difficult for the U, the team still has a chance to qualify. In order to do so, the team must win the division tournament at Berkeley in the spring or achieve a sufficient national ranking in order to be eligible for one of the 24 spots at the national tournament.

Majors said the team is looking into hosting a tournament this year but doesn’t have anything set in stone yet.

j.stafford@chronicle.utah.edu

Thien Sok/The Daily Utah Chronicle

Rhushi Kulkarni, a graduate student in medicinal chemistry, trains in the HPER in preparation for a table tennis tournament in Berkley. Kulkami is a member of the table tennis team that was organized this fall.