Commemorating a Centurion Ping Ponger: Dorothy De Low

Sad news just today, the passing of one of veteran Table Tennis' most iconic players and someone who's commitment and passion for table tennis never faded even after the ripe age of 100. Dorothy De Low of Australia was born in 1910 and was considered the oldest table tennis player in the world. Videos of Dorothy playing showed her full of life and energy every time she played.

Dorothy De Low
World's Oldest Table Tennis Player
Rest in Peace

MHTT Ping Pong Runway #5: Luoana Alexandrescu

Luoana Alexandrescu, Romanian blood, born in Belgium and now a Brand Ambassador for the Hakkasan Night Club at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, USA. Sharing her passion for table tennis with her sister, Cynthia and mother, Carmencita (a certified table tennis coach and umpire), Luoana is without a doubt the most fashionable table tennis ambassador that Las Vegas has to offer.

Luoana Alexandrescu

Ping Pong at SiriusXM Radio Inc. in New York City

I had a unique opportunity to check out the workspace at SiriusXM Radio Inc. in New York City today. SiriusXM boasts over 25 million subscribers and is one of the most popular satellite radio channels in the US, particularly in the New York area. I made it up to the 37th floor (where the TT Table was) which I believe may be the top level. This is where the main studios are and I was told that even artists like Eminem and Jamie Foxx have their own studios here for their own radio segments.

One of the press studios at SiriusXM

Ping Pong Runway #4: Ioanna Papadimitriou

Ioanna Papadimitriou is the Greek Aphrodite of Table Tennis for sure! The outstanding model recently returned to the USA where we competed in the same tournament at LYTTC over the weekend. It was nice to meet Ioanna after interacting with her a bit via Table Tennis Master. The ping pong model has screened in endorsements for Pepsi, L'oreal, Budweisher, L'eggs, Clairol and many more and also made a guest appearance on CSI Miami!

Ioanna Papadimitriou models in Mykonos, Greece

My Return to LYTTC

So I thought I'd give you a bit of an update as to where I am! I'm currently in the United States of America. I returned to the Lily Yip Table Tennis Center and have been training my bum off with some really top quality training partners. Getting back into multiball training has been hard but the gym sessions have started and I'm really starting to get back into fighting shape.

A 6 player team from Shandong, China arrived a few days ago and play at an amazing level. Along with the Canadian Junior Girls team they have provided the backbone of a 5 day training camp run at the centre and we were lucky enough to also be joined by 2012 US Olympian, Ariel Hsing. In between training days Ariel also took some time to lead Princeton in winning the NCTTA championship at the club and also showed no fear in taking on the Shandong players in the games.

Tina Lin and Ariel Hsing take on Shandong Players

So in just a few days I head to Washington D.C for the North American Team Championships. The top team from Tianjin, China features former China National Team player, Hao Shuai. The 2nd seeds hail from Fujian and further down the seedings, German National Coach Jorg Rosskopf makes an appearance. It's going to be an amazing tournament so hopefully I can get some kind of coverage there, though I will be focusing on playing for most of the time.

So, enjoying my time here so far. Please take a moment to check out http://www.lilyttc.com/ the homepage of Lily's club. It is an ITTF Hotspot training centre and has a great squad of coaches and training events throughout the year.

I will try and keep the blog up to date the best I can though I'm quite busy at the moment! :)

Ariel Hsing and Matt Hetherington