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Click-2-ListenMonday, January 18, 2010
A squad of Longview table tennis players took their parent club to task Sunday in a pingpong tournament against the Tyler Battery Shop team.
The Longview Table Tennis Community won the first-ever contest between the two city's clubs, winning 17 matches to Tyler's 15 matches. A match is a best-of-three contest between two players.
 Justin Baker/News-Journal Photo | |||
| Anup Bandhari returns a shot Sunday during a tournament between Longview and Tyler teams. | |||
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"Before, the Tyler team was the best," Longview player Anup Bhandari said after the tournament, which members hope to stage twice annually. The Longview club, about 15 members, arose from the older Tyler organization.
"Both teams want bragging rights to this," Longview club president Jack Gilbert said. "Because, all over Texas, everyone knows Longview and Tyler."
Bhandari said the Longview squad has come into its own since forming in March 2003. Several Longview teammates, including Warren Lemma and Dr. Sreeman Jampana, regularly place high in contests across Texas and out of the state.
Jampana took third place in the over-50 category Saturday in a U.S. Table Tennis Association meet in Dallas. Lemma, who hosts the Longview team at his Cotton Street business, took first place in doubles play at that meet.
"We play to win," Bhandari said. "We play really hard, and we teach each other."
Eight players from each city's club competed in the four-hour contest Sunday. Games are decided by the first to score 11, and points can be scored whether serving or returning. The format is a departure the table tennis association ordered several years ago from 21-point games and a rule in which only service drew points. Gilbert said the newer scheme fosters faster games.
"That makes it more enjoyable for the spectators," Gilbert said.
Tyler club president Drew Boring said the competitors knew one another from other competitions, but had never gone head-to-head for their clubs.
"These guys have been playing each other for years, really, but this is the first annual — probably annual — Tyler versus Longview table tennis tournament."
Boring said there is friendly competition between the two city squads.
"It is intense, but not mean-spirited," he said during the tournament. "Who's better? Probably, to tell you the truth, overall the Longview (club). However, the top two rated players on the Tyler team are higher-rated than anybody on the Longview team."
The two clubs plan to buy a trophy to be held by the winner between tournaments. There was a more tasty prize up for grabs than a trophy Sunday.
"The Tyler team, they are taking us to eat," said. "That was the deal, so we're going to the Butcher Shop."