PING PONG OR TABLE TENNIS
When I was in Penang Free School I was much involved in ping pong or table tennis. I was the captain of the school team since Form 5, though I was not its best player. By virtue of being the captain of the school team, I also supervised the girls’ team and the under-15 team, though these teams also had their own captains. There were girls in Lower Form 6 and Upper Form 6, and many of them played table tennis.
My love for table tennis started at King Wan Association, an association well known for table tennis in its heydays though later its glory waned, taken over by Chinese Engineering Trade Association and Han Chiang High School.
Chinese Engineering Trade Association was not far from King Wan Association, and I used to play table tennis there. Indeed the caretaker of the association encouraged us, young table tennis players, to do so. Han Chiang High School was a private school, and many students there were of adult age.
I often visited King Wan Association to read English newspapers. Indeed, that was how I improved my English. Table tennis players at King Wan Association often bet on their games. A better player would give a handicap of a few points to another player. This could be a reason why their glory waned. In other table tennis associations, players played for the enjoyment of the game.
When the King Wan table tennis players did not bet on their games, I would take the opportunity to play table tennis -- always without betting. I was quite small then, only about ten years of age. I usually played with the son of the King Wan caretaker, who was even smaller. He was nick-named “Short-Legged Tiger”, and I was called the “Lion”, but the “Short-Legged Tiger” always beat the “Lion” in table tennis.
When I attended Penang Free School I often played table tennis, especially on Mondays and Thursdays when the school had extra-classes. There were two table tennis tables in the school tuck-shop, and we usually used one of them.
I remember that when I was in Form Lower 6, when I was already the school table tennis captain, I organized an exhibition match between the national table tennis champion who was also from Penang and the current Penang state champion. The headmaster of Penang Free School at that time was Mr Tan Boon Lin, who was also a well known table tennis player.
The whole school assembled at the tuck-shop to see the exhibition match. At the end of the exhibition, many people remarked that it was great to see an exhibition of high-level table tennis between a national champion and a state champion.
But what was most memorable in my table tennis activities in Penang Free School was my organizing a challenge trophy amongst three premier schools in Penang – Penang Free School, Chung Ling High School and Methodist Boys’ School – that still carries on over more than 50 years to today.
I approached the Chairman of the Penang Table Tennis Association for the challenge cup, and he agreed. It was made easier because he was my father’s personal friend.
The favorite to win the challenge trophy was Chung Ling High School. Being the premium Chinese medium school in the state, table tennis was well established and the school team had very good players. But at that time their best player was promoted to Lower Form 6 in Penang Free School. And I made use of a strategy to beat Chung Ling High School. Beating Methodist Boys’ School was relatively easy. So we won the trophy that year.
That year, I think it was 1963, was a very special year for Penang Free School. Not only we won in table tennis, we beat all other secondary schools in Penang in all other games! Penang Free School was the champion school in table tennis, football, cricket, badminton, rugby, tennis, volleyball, netball and athletics. It was just incredible. Penang Free School was already famous in studies, being the best school east of Suez. Now it was the champion school in games and sports. Intellect and games go together.
I also employed the winning strategy in inter-schools table tennis matches. Usually we play 5 games, five singles or three singles and two doubles. Sometimes we play seven games, which were five singles and two doubles. Usually the best singles and the best doubles are placed in the order of their performance, like the best single, followed by the second and third best singles, and the best and second best doubles in a five match games. Later we followed the international arrangement where the best three singles are played against the opponent’s best three singles.
However, this was not a stated rule. The arrangement was followed for convenience. So, when I knew the opponent’s team consisted of better players, I would sacrifice the first single, sometimes even the second single, but we still won the rest as our good players played their worse, making the score 3-2 or 4-3. This was not cheating, but a clever use of strategies.
I continued playing table tennis on leaving school. I was the champion among teachers of Trengganu, the state where I served as a school teacher. I remember that in the finals my opponent was leading me by 20-18, the winning point was 21, in the rubber set or the set that would decide the winner. I tricked him using a strategy.
I pretended to serve to his left hand corner, but served to his right. He returned with a high ball which I smashed successfully, causing the point to be 20-19. Then I served near the net and he returned another high ball, which again I smashed successfully, causing a deuce at 20-20. I took the succeeding 2 points and won the game. Some spectators commented that I won because I was an experienced player, though I was still young at that time. It was a smart use of strategies.
I was in charge of the school table tennis team, the girls’ team and the under-15 team at Dungun English Secondary School in Trengganu where I was first posted. My assistant teacher-in-charge was Cheong Soon Cheong, the brother of the national runners-up from Perak, another state in Malaysia. Soon Cheong and I worked hard on our boys and girls and made them champions from scratch for as long as we were in the school. Dungun English Secondary School became famous for table tennis.
Later, my table-tennis led me to my third sifu, or kungfu master, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam. This story is stated in my autobiography, “The Way of the Master”.
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