The Olympic sport everyone reckons they can play, especially after a few beers

If table tennis Olympian Nicholas Lum had been using a backyard table and a store-bought racquet he’d never have made it to Paris. “It’s like asking Mick Fanning to surf on an ironing board,” says his coach, Jens Lang.

Lum’s hand-carved racquet costs more than $1000 and he buys special rubber for his bat at $100-plus. He plays on carefully calibrated, meticulously measured tables. He trains for nine months a year at a German academy that’s likened to the champion factory that produced Andre Agassi.

Australian table tennis players Nick Lum and Min Hyung Jee play in Paris, ahead of their team competitions. Credit: Eddie Jim

Australia might be big on ping-pong, the casual version kids play in parks and tech bro’s put in offices, but it’s a laggard when it comes to table tennis, the serious form of the sport. It has none of the professional leagues common in Europe and Asia.

Still, Australians tend to think they’re great at it – and even better after a few beers. Lum’s a good sport about the chest-beating backyard warriors that talk a big game. He doesn’t even mind them calling it ping-pong. “We’re not offended,” he said.

Table tennis has had a celebrity moment in Paris, after American basketballers Stephen Curry and Anthony Edwards struck up a friendship with the US team on the opening-ceremony boat when Edwards trash-talked them about his ping-pong prowess.

The “shakehand” grip is the most popular in table tennisCredit: Eddie Jim

They’ve been watching each other’s games, and the table tennis players have signed balls for the basketballers.

Lum’s been hit up for games at the Olympic village table by aspirant Australian athletes, too, swimmers and sprinters among them. One runner, who gets annoyed when people ask her to race them, asked whether Lum gets irritated when people ask him for games.

He doesn’t. “For us it’s fun,” said the 19-year-old. “I mean, it’s not so much energy we’re putting into playing.”

Normally, Lum and his teammate Min Hyung Jee, 37, put a lot of energy into playing. They train at the table for six hours a day, split into two sessions. They practise their shots over and over, and over and over again.

The ball is so fast, said Lang, that even a split-second reaction is too slow. “You need to train so that your movements are automatic,” he said. “A lot of repetition.” They also train at the gym because a strong core is essential.

“Hand-eye co-ordination is very important,” he said. “Athleticism, quick, explosive movements – that’s extremely important. Core strength. Stability.”

Table tennis players have a long shelf life. Luxembourg’s Ni Xialian competed in her sixth Olympics at age 61. Chile’s Zeng Zhiying made her Olympic debut at 58, 40 years after narrowly missing selection for Los Angeles.

Nicholas Lum’s racquet cost $1000 and he trains for nine months of the year at a German academy.Credit: Eddie Jim

But that doesn’t mean the rest of us can pick up a bat and aim for Brisbane 2032. “Even if you start at 20 you’re not going to get anywhere in table tennis,” Lang said. “If you want a medal at the Olympic Games you need to start at five or six.

“Table tennis is an unbelievably competitive sport at the international level.”

The top countries are China, Japan and France (a 17-year-old Frenchman, Felix Lebrun, is the fifth-ranked player in the world).

Lum’s father was a passionate table tennis player and he started early. Now he spends most of his time at the German academy, and will go on to play overseas because even the best Australian players can’t make a living at home.

Jee picked it up at nine years old. A coach spotted her national talent and she’s been playing ever since. She doesn’t need a day job because there are professional leagues throughout Europe and Asia (she has played for a French team).

Lang, who was semi-professional in his native Germany, is determined to get Australia serious about table tennis; to spot talent early and nurture it, and to increase the opportunities for people to play not just for fun but for success. “There’s heaps of opportunities in the sport in Australia,” he said.

Lum competes in the men’s team event on Monday, and Jee in the women’s team competition on Tuesday.

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