Table tennis: World's best set to attend event

Kevin Savage will compete at this week's World Veteran Table Tennis Championships in Auckland.

The World Veteran Table Tennis Championships beginning in West Auckland today has the largest international contingent of table tennis players ever to venture to New Zealand.

The event staged at Waitakere Trusts Stadium has attracted 1665 entrants from 57 countries competing in singles and doubles in five-year age groups from 40-44 to over 85.

The largest entries are from Japan (367), Germany (204), Australia (184), New Zealand (158), China (128), India (89), Taipei (81), Sweden (62), Russia (47) and England (47).

The tournament was first held in 1982 and this is the first time it will be staged in New Zealand.

Among a galaxy of stars competing are current world top 60s men's player Weixing Chen (Austria), former world open champion Peter Karlsson (Sweden), and previous New Zealand champions in Yvonne Fogarty, Alan Tomlinson, Bryan Foster, Barry Griffiths, Malcolm Darroch and Kadia Keller-Rice.

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."