by Dave Delgado
Guam - Team Guam will be sending Edwin Cadag and Arman Burgos to this year's Pacific Games to represent the island in Table Tennis. Ed Cadag is the more experience of the two, and says that Team Guam will be up against powerhouse countries New Caledonia, Fiji and Tahiti.
In order for Team Guam to be successful they will have to concentrate on their service returns because a lot of the top teams have real good serves.
Cadag said, "I've been playing since I was 15 years old so that's about 30-35 years. I've played in numerous Pacific Games, Micronesian Games last year in Palau and I've also participated in the 2009 East Asian Games in Hong Kong. Guam usually fairs right around 4th or 5th in ranking but there's probably a whole new set of players that I'm not aware of so it's kind of tough to see who will be the other top players."
Ed and Arman will be competing in the singles and doubles events but won't be able to participate in the team's event because they will be a player short. Arman Burgos is looking forward to the trip for the experience and chance to see where his skill level stands amongst the best in the region. He has been playing for about 4 years and competed in the 2009 East Asian Games in Hong Kong as well as the 2010 Micronesian Games in Palau.
Burgos added, "As a table tennis player you have to practice a lot and read the spins of the ball and see how fast it can be and learn how to control different speeds from really slow and short to soft touch and go for real power like smashes. It also takes a lot out of you mentally because you have to carefully plan each point, what your serve is and what kind of ball is going to come at you. For some of us we aren't as experienced enough to be at the top level yet but hopefully as we participate in more of these international competitions we can get to the level with the rest of the world."
