Table tennis players gathered Sunday for the India Association of New Hampshire's annual Table Tennis Tournament.
Competitors played against each other in a gym full of tables as their family and friends cheered them on. This year’s tournament was held across the border in Massachusetts, since there wasn’t a space in New Hampshire that had enough tables for the players.
Last year’s tournament champion, Dilip Kumar Pelala of Nashua, has been playing table tennis since he was a kid. He even trained with a professional table tennis coach in India. He said he loves the exercise and mind game of the sport, but this event is more about socializing for him.
“You see elders coming, the current generation coming in and the younger generation coming in,” Pelala said. “I get a chance to play with my son in this tournament. You can meet the people who are there in Nashua, but I never got a chance to meet them because of the professional and personal commitments.”
Chandana Karthic is one of the event’s organizers. She said when she first moved from India to Nashua, she didn't know anyone besides her husband. It was events like these held by the India Association that helped her feel she belonged.
“Here it's not like how we are in India. We don't have family next door or extended family next door,” Karthic said. “So your community, your neighbors, your friends are your family.”
She said the event is a draw for locals in the South Asian community who have a love for the game.
“I think everybody plays it in their college days, at work. I think Indians and Asians in general are passionate about ping pong or table tennis.”
But Pelala says he sees Americans getting into the sport as they get more exposure to it.
“You see the pickleball, right? It's a mini version of tennis and a little bit higher version of table tennis. So if they can pick pickleball and love it, then why not table tennis? It's just they may not have been introduced [to it yet].”
