Cook Islands Table Tennis Association will be hosting a national championship from October 12 to 14 at the Nikao Primary School Hall.

The tournament will feature under-15, U19 and open categories in both the male and female divisions. It will be played in singles and pairs.

Association member Ben Tuteru hopes the tournament will help revive the sport and recognise the country’s leading table tennis players.

“We really want to encourage representation from the islands and the business community, and expatriate workers are welcome to attend and represent their countries. There is no restriction to participation,” Tuteru said.

“We haven’t been able to organise any national event in the past partly due to unavailability of a venue but we are blessed to be given the Nikao Primary School Hall for this competition.”

As a build up towards the championship, the association will hold training camps on Wednesday and Thursday next week from 5pm at the Nikao Primary School Hall.

The training camps which are free of charge will help prepare the participants for the main event.

“Anyone who is interested in competing at the national event are welcome to attend the training camps. We will basically run some drills to get them ready for the competition.”

The national competition will begin with the U15 and U19 grades on October 12 followed by opens competition. The games will start at 5pm daily.

The open category will have prizes and the association is looking for sponsors for the age group competition.

“If there are sponsors out there who would like to help us by sponsoring prizes for the U15 and U19 divisions, we would like to hear from them and we thank them in advance,” Tuteru said.

Registration fee with the completed form must be submitted a day before the competition gets underway. Participants can email tearoa.iorangi@gmail or call 52904 and 57075 for Ben Tuteru for more information.

Entry fee for the open division is $10 per person while for age group U15 and U19 grades, it’s free.