The intramural table tennis team hosted a tournament last Saturday in the Game Room of the JRC. Keneil Brown ’14 won the eight-person tournament and Niko Takayesu ’17 finished second.
Photo by Jun Taek Lee
Intramural sports are open to students, faculty and community members, thus allowing Brown to compete. Games are played to 21 points and the victor must lead by two points. Each set is composed of three games. Three rounds of sets were played in Saturday’s tournament.
Ben Binversie ’17, an Intramural Director who also competed in the tournament, generated seeding randomly. One person who registered for the tournament did not show up, giving Takayesu a bye in the first round.
In terms of preparation for the tournament, players take on an informal approach, squeezing in a few casual games here and there after meals in the Game Room.
Some criticized the organizers for scheduling the competition on a weekend in which the basketball and tennis teams were away. Both teams have a high concentration of table tennis players.
“I did hear accusations that we were diluting the competition, [which are] untrue,” Binversie said. “The tournament was scheduled well before we knew of any other teams’ schedules for that weekend. We would have certainly enjoyed if other people had been able to make it.”
Takayesu agreed.
“I think it was very unfortunate that the tennis team was unable to make it because the majority of them are very good at pingpong and probably would have beat me. It would have been good competition,” Takayesu said.
Binversie played Brown in the first round, anquickly won the first game. However, “[Brown] annihilated me in the second and third games,” Binversie said.
Takayesu beat Brad Weaver ’18 in the second round to advance to the championship set against Brown. Takayesu won first game, but Brown “took it to another level,” as described by Takayesu, to win the rest of the set.
Brown started playing table tennis in high school, when he happened to be in an auditorium where students were practicing. When he asked them if he could play, they told that he couldn’t because he wasn’t a member of the club.
“I joined the next day,” Brown said. “I like playing ping pong because it involves a lot of skill. You don’t need to be really strong to play [but] you do have to have hand-eye coordination.”
Brown, who graduated last May, works as a post-baccalaureate fellow in Noyce, primarily assisting second-year students in organic chemistry. He also oversees the student-mentoring program. In addition to table tennis, he also participates in the intramural pool and soccer programs.
The schedule for the spring intramural table tennis season is posted in the mailroom.
