Crimson Pongmen Win Eastern Title

Harvard's table tennis team emerged as the King of the Hill in eastern ping-pong Saturday, defeating a 16-team field to win the Northeast Intercollegiate Table Tennis League championship at Rutgers.

Seeded one after a 5-0 whitewash over MIT March 25, the Crimson marched through the pairings with a first-round bye, a second-round shutout of Swarth-more, a razor-thin victory over tough Rutgers in the semifinals, and a relatively easy win over Princeton in the championship finals.

Number-two player Tak Wong upset Rutgers's nationally ranked star, Elliot Katz, by 21-17 and 21-19 scores to spark the win over the Scarlet Knights. The Crimson dropped the A singles against Rutgers, 5-4, but managed to win the B singles, 6-3, and the doubles, 2-1, for the semifinal win.

Then the Tigers fell, as Harvard's A's cruised, 5-1, and the B's won, 5-3, in the tournament's round-robin format. The squads did not even play the doubles matches.

Number five player Dominic Ho also starred for Harvard, losing only once on the day (against Princeton) and sweeping to three singles victories in the B competition against Rutgers to key that semifinal win.

"This is the best team Harvard has ever fielded," Nick Christakos, the team captain who was bumped out of the talent-laden lineup this season, said yesterday. "I hope the University will acknowledge us now, and give us some more support," he added.

The tournament victory establishes Harvard as something of an unofficial national champ, as the 30-team eastern league is the only official league in the country.

Ping-pong, anyone?