Meet the King's student who is the highest ranked table tennis player in Canada
CBC
Manik Singh has a natural grasp on speed and technique when it comes to playing table tennis. It's a skill he picked up at the young age of nine without any training.
Singh's sharp skillset has earned the 22-year-old King's University College international student the title of the highest ranking table tennis player in Canada, according to the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA).
"It's a mentally challenging sport," he said. "It looks easy when you see someone playing but it's one of the fastest sports out there and it challenges me to a next level that I don't think any other sport can."
This year, he led Western University to win both divisional championships against other Canadian universities, along with the regional championship they played in the U.S. He won 19 of the 20 matches he played.
Although the team came in seventh place on a national level, Singh said it was the best-ever finish Western's had, and he's happy he got the university there.
WATCH | Manik Singh is Canada's highest ranked table tennis player:
But this isn't the first victory for Singh in the sport also known as ping-pong. In 2017, he represented his home country India at a tournament in Oman. A moment, he'll never forget.
"It felt so good. I held the Indian flag when I went there and it was a great feeling. It never occurred to me that I could achieve such a thing, but I'm so lucky to have the support of my parents and school," he said.
The journey started when Singh came in third place at a provincial tournament. He then joined the STAG Table Tennis Academy in New Delhi, under the guidance of Olympic coach Sandeep Gupta.
Training for the sport requires Singh to practice for up to seven hours daily, while also working out and having a rigid diet, all while balancing school work for King's Bachelors of management and organization program, where he's majoring in financial and minoring in Economics.
"It's not as easy as it looks," he said. "When you see someone playing who's good at it, you'll see the amount of effort you need to move around the table. You need to be fit to play table tennis."
The most challenging part of ping-pong for Singh is the sport's extremely fast pace. It can be hard to anticipate where and how fast one's opponent will hit. He said it's not only about skill, but also strategy.
Lately, Singh has been training his friend, Dimitri Krougly, 19, who hopes to be a part of Western's table tennis team next season.
"I've learned a little bit of everything from him, but one of the biggest things I've improved on is my game sense during matches, knowing what strategies to use and what shots to hit," said Krougly.
