Experience top-flight table tennis as the Podium host world-class players for WTT and ITTF tournaments | Arts & Culture | Spokane | The Pacific Northwest Inlander

One might think cramming 44 ping pong tables into the Podium for a series of tournaments would cause something of a racket. But that’s simply not true. After all, these are table tennis players. So it will cause something of a paddle.

Embarrassingly forced jokes aside, the Spokane venue will see plenty of action this week as over 300 athletes from around the world gather in the Lilac City for a dazzling showcase of table tennis wizardry.

Four tournaments will be held in the Podium Aug. 5-12. Two World Table Tennis Feeder Series tournaments mix established players looking to up their rankings with hungry up-and-comers looking to crack into the world scene, and the International Table Tennis Federation’s Para Future event provides the same for rising para players. To cap things off, the best para players on the planet will compete in an ITTF Para Elite tournament. It’s actually the first time any of these World Table Tennis (WTT) and International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) series have been hosted in the United States.

Unfortunately, only two of the days of the tournaments are open to the public. Those who want to check out the action can do so Friday, Aug. 8, and Saturday, Aug. 9. Tickets are available via TicketsWest and run $20 for a single day or $25 for a two-day pass.

While table tennis might seem like kind of a novelty sport that the Podium happened to somewhat randomly host, the event management company Spokane Sports was actually envisioning plenty of ping pong action before the Podium was even built, according to CEO Ashley Blake.

“We’ve had our eyes set on hosting competitive table tennis in our market. It was actually one of the sports that we really dove deep into when we were looking at, in a partnership role with the Public Facilities District, when we were designing and building the Podium,” Blake says. “We spent too many hours looking at lighting and HVAC systems and how that would impact sports like table tennis and badminton where airflow really impacts the ping pong ball or birdie.”

Pairing the WTT and ITFF was also more thought out than merely cramming in more events.

“When opportunities arise where we can host para events alongside able bodied events, it’s pretty incredible. Because the benefactor is really the athletes,” Blake says. “They have this incredible, world-class facility that they’re competing in. There’s a lot of energy that’s added with all the other athletes and spectators and coaches that are brought together for the tournament.”

On the WTT side of things, the top -rated players scheduled to play men’s and women’s singles are respectively Australia’s Aditya Sareen (ranked No. 50 in the world) and India’s Sreeja Akulta (ranked No. 37). Really the two WTT Feeders are more about the players trying to get their foothold in the world of table tennis on a hopeful climb to world-class status.

That’s certainly not the case with the ITTF Para Elite tourney. This event will draw the best of the best on the para side, including the newly minted No. 1 wheelchair player in the world, Jenson Van Emburgh from the good ol’ US of A. Batting balls around runs in the family for the Paralympic bronze medalist, as his father is former pro tennis player Greg Van Emburgh, who made a singles run to the 1990 Wimbledon semifinals.

Para table tennis is fascinating in its categorical structure. There are actually 11 different classes of para table tennis ranging from sitting players (Classes 1-5) to players who can stand and play but have other impairments (Classes 6-10) to players with intellectual impairments (Class 11). Jenson is a Class 3 player, defined by the Paralympics as “[having] no trunk control, yet their arms are minimally affected by the impairment.” Some standing players in Class 6 with severe impairments or amputations even play by holding their paddle in their mouths.

The ITTF put a new circuit system in place for 2025, and so far, Van Emburgh has been one of the main beneficiaries.

“I’ve played three tournaments this year, and I’ve won them all, and I’ve shot up to the No. 1 in the world for the first time ever,” he says. “So I guess for me, it’s very good. It rewards the players that go and play tournaments and compete.”

While the WTT might provide a product audiences are more used to seeing, Van Emberg hopes that Spokane turns out to support the ITTF athletes as well during this week of table tennis tenacity.

“Being No. 1 in the world for the first time and playing my first tournament as world No. 1 in the United States, that is very important to me. I just can’t wait to be there and give my best for everyone that’s there,” Van Emberg says. “I would love for any locals to come and watch us play, because usually at these tournaments, we don’t really have too much of a crowd that’s coming out. … Some [players] have a problem with noise, and they prefer people to be quiet between the points or whatever. But cheer me on as much as you all want, I will feel all the support and the love.”♦