Keller-Rice is the Sport Bay of Plenty Coach Force facilitator for table tennis and heads the Western Bay contingent that includes John Lea, Ron Sheridan, Cyril Pepper and Kevin Savage.
Savage, 72, who was the Bay of Plenty Times sports editor from 1975 to 1999, is competing in the men's 70-74 category among 140 players from 25 countries.
He is expecting the standard next week will be of the highest calibre.
"The basic difference between any world veterans games and any masters games, is veterans in whatever sport are the best in the world," Savage said. "Masters is a participant thing that anyone can go into if they choose to."
Savage has been a regular competitor at NZ Masters Games since 2003 in tennis, table tennis and track sprinting.
He is a member of Table Tennis Matua, a club with 100 members mostly aged between 65 and 80 who play four times a week.
"We still need some younger players coming through," Savage said. "[Table tennis] is one of the best sports for fitness. Tennis is good but it has physical impact on you; this has got none. It has got great eye-ball (co-ordination) and is great for general exercise."
Savage also has his eye on the 2017 World Masters Games to be staged in New Zealand for the first time.
"There will be up to 10,000 people coming and I have these in mind when I will be 75."
