Olympians a drawcard at table tennis
Table tennis will be at an Olympic standard for the Samoa 2019 XVI Pacific Games, organisers predict.
The Vanuatu and Fiji teams are expected to include Olympians during the competition from 8-13 July at the Harvest Centre, Faleata.
"That gives you an idea of the standard of competition," said technical delegate Graeme Ireland from the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
He came from Melbourne to Samoa last week to train umpires.
The aim is to have 12 Samoan umpires for the six days of competition, with assistance from international umpires coming from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and the Cook Islands.
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Photo: Vanuatu is expected to send Olympic players this year. (Credit: Pacific Games)
"Everything is on track," he said. From his experience at Commonwealth Games in previous years, he said table tennis was sold-out from day 2 when fans spread the word about how great the competition was.
Fiji, New Caledonia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomons, Tahiti, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu have indicated they will be sending teams.
Sport Competition Manager Maeli Enesa, who has experience from the 2007 Pacific Games hosted by Samoa, said he hoped this year’s event would be popular as Oceania’s top players are involved.
"A lot of Samoans play ping pong, out in the villages and at the churches. We’re sure that people will turn up, especially when they can watch international-level players."
The event is also a paralympic event, so considerations have to be made for wheelchair access, Mr Ireland said.
