International Table Tennis Tournament Turns Pleasantville Into a ‘Mini United Nations’

By Toby Rosewater

Westchester has 23 villages, 19 towns, and six cities. Yet, for four sweltering days at the tail end of June, it’s hard to believe that any school, business, or athletic club held an event more international than the World Table Tennis (WTT) Youth Contender tournament in Pleasantville.

Take, for instance, 14-year-old competitor Andy Maqueira Campos of Cuba, who traveled more than 1,300 miles to compete in the special event hosted by the Westchester Table Tennis Center.

“I’m really happy to be here,” Campos said, “I love New York, and the competition here is great.”

Campos is just one of the many faces who competed in the qualifier last week, which brought together players from 16 different nations, including Japan, Vietnam, India, and Puerto Rico.

“You’ll find some interesting people here,” Robert Roberts, the venue’s manager, told The Examiner. 

The Format

From Tuesday to Friday, players aged 13 to 19 competed in both doubles and singles events. By winning matches, competitors not only advanced farther in the tournament but also earned “points” toward their world rankings, helping them qualify for future WTT events. 

Despite charging a $200 entry fee, Roberts noted that “[the tournament] is not really beneficial to [the center] financially,” as WTT both charges the center for hosting the competition and pockets a portion of the revenue. Instead, Westchester hosts the tournament primarily for the visibility it brings:

“We’re getting the exposure,” Roberts said. “It’s a really prestigious tournament.”

For many, the hefty price is worth it. Amid searing 100-degree temperatures on Tuesday, the center remained packed.

“Events like this introduce a lot of new players to the sport,” 16-year-old competitor Yashraj Shah said. “I’m really happy to be here.”

Growth and Challenges

There is no shortage of writing done about the Westchester Table Tennis Center. It was opened by Roberts and Will Shortz, the chief editor of The New York Times crossword, in 2011.

As The Examiner reported in 2020, just nine years later, the venue expanded from 14,000 to a little over 21,000 square feet, becoming the largest table tennis center in the Northeast. 

Despite this, in recent years, the club has struggled to attract young enthusiasts.

“When we first opened,” Roberts said, “we had a core of juniors that were so good…Unfortunately, [as of late] we don’t have the volume of kids that we would like.”

Roberts explained that in an affluent community, prospective athletes have access to nearly every sport. In this economy, it is challenging to compete for their attention.

“More players have been joining th​​e club,” he observed, “not daily, but monthly.”

Yet the club has also helped shape homegrown talent. One standout is Amoolya Menon, a rising senior at Fox Lane High School, who won the U17 Girls’ title at last year’s WTT Youth Contender tournament held right at the Pleasantville venue. She’s a state champion, former No. 1–ranked U15 player in the world, and future Olympic hopeful.

A Melting Pot

Whatever the case, for four days in June, the Westchester Table Tennis Center transformed into something more than a local club. In fact, it became an international hub for a global sport.

Perhaps no one exemplifies this better than Kokou Fanny, a Togolese former champion table tennis player and 2020 Olympian. Kokou, who now coaches at the club, views international tournaments as a prime example of the sport’s wide reach.

“I know it’s a worldwide event,” Fanny said, “but from looking around, the sport is very diverse itself.”

Indeed, that’s what seems to draw many to 175 Tompkins Avenue. It’s the people, diverse and wide-ranging.

“I walked in by myself like 10 years ago,” said Irene Silbert, the center’s publicity director. “The minute I walked in, I was like: ‘Oh my god, this place is like a mini United Nations.’”

The tournament concluded last Friday, crowning 14 champions over four days. 

“This is a great tournament,” Marcus Yao, a 15-year-old competitor, concluded. “It brings people from all over the world to Westchester, and that’s pretty cool.”