Good serve of ping pong a ding dong way to live long

At 76, world champion Dr Buddy Reid has been playing the sport for decades. But the former Sri Lankan cricket captain, who moved toAustralia with his family in the early 1970s, still described his latest gold medal as “unbelievable”.

Buddy was one of more than 400 veteran table tennis players who headed to Sydney’s Olympic Park for the RBK Mothernest Australian Open Veterans Table Tennis Championships last month.

The national competition was held just a few months after the World Veterans Championships in May, at which Buddy and three other Australians took home medals.

National competition organiser and NSW Veterans Table Tennis secretary Jennifer Aduckiewicz said competitors ranged in age from 30 to over 80, with many of the world’s best competing in Sydney in October.

“We had people playing who are in their 80s, including four Australians who also recently took home medals at the World Veterans Championships in Spain,” she said.

Also competing inSydney were over-80s singles champion, Australian resident Betty Bird, from South Australia (who represented England), men’s over-60s singles silver winner Craig Campbell from WA, and Victorian over-70s bronze medal winner Mick Wright.

Meanwhile mother-and-son table tennis duo Paul and Cynthia Langley won gold in the over-40s and over-70s age groups respectively.

Paul represented Australia at the 1996 Olympics and Cynthia received an Order of Australia Medal for her dedication to the sport.

Jennifer said whileAustralia doesn’t have as many veteran players as some European and Asian countries, we are definitely “punching above our weight” in terms of talent.

“The paddles are light and you’re less likely to injure yourself compared to some other sports,” said Jennifer, who learned to play as a child and then picked it up again in her 50s.

“And there is also some research to suggest that table tennis can help ward off dementia, because it uses hand-eye co-ordination and you have to think quickly about what technique to use to return different shots.”

She said table tennis was a great community sport.

“In NSW we have around 500 veteran members and there are lots of places to play.”