Table tennis, anyone?
Emporia State student has international reputation, is top-ranked in Kansas
By Joey Berlin
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Cyprus, Niger, Germany, Morocco ... Emporia?
Alfred Najem, his table tennis racket and his array of exotic serves have been just about everywhere. He’s been the top-ranked table tennis player in his native Lebanon. Now he’s the top player in Kansas. And as he works toward a business degree at Emporia State, Alfred is working toward something else: Becoming the top player in the United States.
Najem, 24, came to ESU last year from Lebanon, where his mother got him started in table tennis at age 5. In addition to his top ranking in Kansas, he’s currently ranked 38th in the United States by USA Table Tennis and has been ranked as high as No. 24. The International Table Tennis Federation ranks him in a tie for 690th in the world in its Nov. 3 rankings, but he’s been ranked in the 300s before.
Alfred arrived in the United States as a result of Emporia State’s affiliation with the university he attended in Lebanon, Business & Computer University College.
“I’ve heard that some people say it’s boring here in Kansas,” he said. “But for me, I really find it quiet, because I always like quiet places ... I really like it. For a student, what do you want more? Unless you don’t want to really study much, then you don’t like it here.”
His exposure to table tennis began when he practiced with his mother and her table tennis coach. His older brother, Albert, recalls that Alfred played about three to four hours per day as a youngster. Albert, 25, played, too, but table tennis was more Alfred’s game.
“He played it more, and he was more serious about it, and his style was better than mine,” Albert said.
At age 10, Alfred became Lebanon’s under-11 champion. He continued winning as he progressed into his teen years and beyond. He played in the world junior championship in Moscow in 1998, won the Cyprus International competition in 2001, and participated in the Qatar Open in 2002 and 2003.
In the 2006 team world championships in Bremen, Germany, Alfred said he defeated four players ranked between 300 and 400 worldwide, helping him earn major points in the ITTF ranking system.
Another big milestone came in the 2005 Francophone tournament in Niger, where Najem scored a quarterfinal victory over Frenchman Quentel Dorian, then ranked 174th in the world. Alfred said he was able to pull off the upset by watching Dorian’s matches closely.
“So I knew which serves that I should play,” he said. “I knew how to receive. I bothered him mainly (in) returning. Returning serve, he was really bothered.”
Najem lost in the semifinals, but he still became the first Lebanese player to medal in the Francophone, earning the bronze.
His last action came at a tournament at Texas Wesleyan University, where he lost in the semifinals to a Chinese player. Table tennis is popular in Lebanon, but not like it is in China. The top three players in the world, and five of the top seven, are from China according to the ITTF’s Nov. 3 rankings. Alfred got a taste of the Chinese obsession with the sport while playing in the world championship in Shanghai in 2005.
“They adore the game. It’s like football nowadays here in the U.S.,” Najem said. “Players are really, really popular, and they’re really, really rich.”
Albert Najem, who lives in Las Vegas, said that with the turbulent political situation in Lebanon, athletes don’t get the support they need from the government to excel that they do in other countries. He said he’s glad his brother is finally in the United States, where he can continue to work toward higher goals, such as becoming one of the top three players in America.
“He doesn’t need to talk about it, either,” Albert said. “I know that’s what he wants. He’s very competitive, and that’s one of his goals. He loves it as a sport, but he’s also very competitive. He wants to be number one.”
Alfred and his fiancee are both pursuing business degrees at ESU. He finishes his degree next fall but hasn’t decided whether he’ll return to his native country.