NYU’s table tennis team heads to nationals

“Table tennis is a strategic game, so it helps to be able to think like an engineer,” Joanna Song, the captain of NYU’s women’s team, says. That could be one reason many members of the school’s table tennis team hail from Tandon. The NYU Table Tennis Team was founded in 2006 to compete under the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association, and former members include U.S. Open winner Michael Landers and Para Pan American gold medalist and Olympic qualifier Tahl Leibovitz.

Last year NYU’s co-ed team garnered the College Table Tennis National Championship, while the women’s team ranked third in the nation. This year, they look poised to perform equally well.

Advised by Professors Kok-Ming Leung and Haldun Hadimioglu, the teams swept the recent NCTTA Northeast Regional Championships, winning all of their games and directly qualifying for the Nationals, scheduled to be held in North Carolina in April. They also fared admirably in the singles competitions, with two members of the co-ed team, Yijun Feng and Adar Alguetti, placing first and second in the men’s division, and Song defeating a tough opponent to take first place in the women’s division.

“In spite of exams, projects and various other obligations, our team members made an impressive showing at the Northeast Regionals,” Hadimioglu said. “So our journey to the Nationals begins.”

The entire NYU Tandon community wishes them well as they prepare to represent the university in April.