Table tennis format at Pan Am Games is a grind for the players
On the second floor of the ATOS Centre in Markham on Wednesday, one might have mistaken the narrow hall for a youth hostel. One player draped in his Cuba tracksuit was sprawled out, asleep on the floor, tucked into a doorway wearing his headphones. Another player, a few nooks up, was reading.
One might get the impression that there is a lot of loitering and match-watching for the table tennis athletes at the Pan Am Games. A table tennis player will play three games in three days with an average of 18 hours between each match. The format is played like a World Cup with four players in a group and the top seeds from that group get a quarter-final berth. There are 60 men’s and 60 women’s group matches in total before the knockout rounds begin. That makes for a long tournament long with plenty of time to kill between matches.
Canadian Marko Medjugorac suffered a 4-1 loss in his opener against U.S. player JHA Kanak on Wednesday but with the-time consuming format, he’s still in medal contention. During tournaments like the Pan Ams, the 19-year-old said it's not strange to have 19 hours before his next match, which is usually absorbed by sleeping, eating and video analysis.
“After this, I’ll probably cheer for my teammates. Then go back to the hotel and eat,” he said. “Then, when I go to bed, I’ll think about the game, the good and bad parts.”
But it doesn’t end there. Each day could result in a different ways to soak up time with physiotherapy, hit outs on the practice courts or a physical core session. But for Medjugorac, most of the time is spent going over video footage of his matches, studying his opponents and trying to gain an understanding or edge – no matter how minute.
“If you know which guy you are playing you can look online at his matches,” he said. “ If you learn the style of play of your opponent, you can adjust your game. It’s all things we have to do before every match to prepare.”
Miguel Lara, 22, from Mexico, said he tries to maintain a good balance of food consumption and liquids, such as Powerade and water in order to be light on his feet for competition.
“ I load up in competition on rice and pasta. I sip water so I don’t get too bloated. Nothing heavy,” he said. “I train for the mental side of the game, like I would the physical. And I train for those stress moments whenever I can.”
It’s easy to see why the need to be light on your feet is something that needs managing at these international competitions. The game is played at high speeds where players prod back and fourth, jump, squat then pounce, have to cover back hand and forehand within the blink of an eye. The game has no place for bigger bodies and concrete feet.
