If Dodgeball made it amusing for grown men to peg each other with rubber balls and Bull Durham revealed how hot it could be for a guy to paint a lady's toenails, the new film Balls of Fury just could make it cool to get Ping-Pong gamers to come from their best ping pong paddles.

Table tennis - Ping-Pong is a fresh name - hasn't been a popular Canadian pastime. Its detractors perceive it because the sport you play in high school if not one of your friends includes a pool table, its abilities useful only when rounds of Beer Pong require an ability to bounce small balls into large pints.

But table tennis is also one of the most well-known games in the world, an Olympic game defended by passionate players around the world who say it deserves greater attention and respect. "It is coming back," stated Tony Kiesenhofer, director-general of Table Tennis Canada. "But it's a steep hill to climb"

Mr. Kiesenhofer hopes that the sport's credibility will get a dip from two new movies about the match, the Christopher Walken car Balls of Fury, released in theatres this week, also Ping Pong Playa, which will launch in September during the Toronto International Film Festival.
"It educates extreme discipline and perseverance, focus and strategy," Mr. Kiesenhofer stated of this game.



"Many people call it chess at 200 kilometres an hour." Table Tennis Canada received a massive increase in calls from 1994, together with the success of Forrest Gump, however Mr. Kiesenhofer said the bureau's infrastructure at the time had been lacking, and there weren't enough clubs, recreation centers or college programs to accommodate new players.

But as Canada's immigrant population grows, bringing a fire for Ping-Pong out of Asia and Europe, there are currently roughly 8,000 competition players in Canada, which range from junior league regulars to seasoned veterans like 82-year-old Sonia Fynn, who won the international over-80 women's singles competition in Germany last May.

During Sport Canada, there are Ping-Pong programs in schools across the country, allowing young people to compete outside of their own houses.

"You perform at home and you do not develop a community; you do not see it going anywhere," explained Mr. Kiesenhofer. "In Europe and Asia, more people play in nightclubs and that has its own momentum."

But Canadian drama is not that far behind the times. A Canadian participant competed in the 2004 Olympic Games at Athens, and also the national team is in the process of qualifying for the Beijing Games in 2008. "Anyone who comes to a championship is in awe," explained Mr. Kiesenhofer. The film Balls of Fury was influenced by Canadian players ping pong tables reviews.

One of the film's advisors was former national team member Johnny Wang and there's a character according to Pradeeban Peter-Paul, a well-known Canadian player. But unlike in the movie, there's no "unsanctioned, underground and unhinged world of intense Ping-Pong" in Canada.

Linda Lee, a 21-year-old small business student at the University of Guelph-Humber, plays largely against retired guys in a downtown Toronto community centre. She also learned the game from an aunt who was visiting from China.

"She was a Ping-Pong champion in her village and that's what got me going," said Ms. Lee. "She trained me when I was eight years old."

Since that time, Ms. Lee has played her high-school group and is trying to persuade her college to begin a club. "Many of my peers believe Ping-Pong is not even a game," she explained. "They think you're just standing there, however, once I play, I play with intensively."



Steve Gaudreau of Montreal considers ping pong equipment ought to be accessible public parks, as it is in Germany and China. The 22-year-old plays competitively with his team, Club Prestige, logging between eight and 10 hours a week with bat in hand. "The dilemma is that folks see it as a child's game," he explained. "They do not think that it's a sport because they've just played a couple of times in the cellar of their grandma's house."

Like most teens, 16-year-old Haseeb Mahmood, of Oakville, Ont., does play in the cellar of his house, but he and his pals take the match very seriously. "It is pretty competitive," he said. "It keeps your stamina up and you're running quite a little."

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He intends to observe Balls of Fury tonight, so amazed that anyone would make a movie about his "random" passion. Mr. Mahmood hopes it will make the sport more popular, but doubts it will improve his reputation as a Ping-Pong participant. "I do not really brag about it," he said. "But I wouldn't care if somebody believed it was not cool."

Dernière modification par firosiro (08-01-2018 15:10:09)