TABLE TENNIS
President LEO LIU | lel050@ucsd.edu
Treasurer STEVEN TENG | szteng@ucsd.edu
Vice President TERRY SU | t9su@ucsd.edu
Instagram 
| @ucsdtabletennis
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/groups/ucsdtabletennis/
Our club communicates through our Facebook Group. Please join the group to stay up to date!
The Sport:
Table Tennis, also known by its trademarked name “Ping-Pong,” is among the most popular sports in the world (second only to soccer according to www.usatt.org) and possesses the most member national associations of any sport in the world. This is owed to table tennis’ great accessibility at all levels, ages, and abilities; one may play it as a relaxing recreational game, or as an intensely competitive sport requiring explosive athleticism, tactical thinking, and rigorous training. The top 100 ranked table tennis athletes in the sport range from as young as 13 to over 60, with an enormous variety of play styles and physical abilities represented across the world!
Although table tennis originated in England, today the sport is dominated by the likes of China, Sweden, Germany, Korea, and Japan. The last decade has seen an explosion of growth in the number of table tennis facilities and clubs opening across the US, as well as table tennis-themed bars and nightclubs. ESPN, the major sports channel in the US has shown over 100 hours of table tennis in the past few years. Table tennis video games produced by Nintendo, Kinect Sports, and Rockstar Games have already begun teaching future players the rules of the game. Motion pictures and anime series like “Balls of Fury,” “Table Tennis the Animation,” and most recently, “Shakunetsu no Takkyū Musume” has increased awareness of the sport amongst Americans.
From its worldwide popularity, table tennis has evolved into an endless variety of styles ranging from the extremely defensive relying on high-arcing lobs and slow heavy backspin to outlast their opponents, to the all-out offensive loading up on blistering topspin rips and sheer physicality to endpoints outright. You don’t have to be confined to playing a single position or repetitive style like many other sports, and the diversity of modern equipment enables players to make spectacularly creative plays! Come and try all your skills; test your footwork, speed, power, coordination, strategic thinking, reflexes, and endurance. Or, just have fun with your buddies and play around at our open practices!
The Club:
UC San Diego Table Tennis Club meets Mondays from 8:00 pm-11:00 pm and Thursdays from 8:00 pm-9:30 pm in the basketball court area of Main Gymnasium at Muir. We provide quality practice balls and 12 USATT-approved tables! Players of all levels are welcome to enjoy the sport! Even with a few varsity members around, beginners are encouraged to play and even ask the advanced players for advice. In fact, many of the members are former volunteers or paid coaches and will gladly assist. The playing atmosphere is informal; you may either challenge anyone to a friendly match or practice your skills with a partner of your choice.
Twice a season, UCSD competes in a divisional meet with several other Southern California schools, including UCLA, USC, UCI, CalTech, CSU Northridge, Cal Poly SLO, and more. This league is governed by the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (www.nctta.org), and the top finishers of the division are guaranteed a spot to compete in the West Regional Championships in February, and from there will compete to qualify for the College National Championships in April.
Currently, the main competition for the varsity Tritons (preseason national ranking #20) in Southern California is UCLA (#9). With possibly the highest concentration of solid players and teams in the country, rivaled only by the Northern California division, the SoCal league makes for tough, healthy competition for all schools involved.
NEWS AND RESULTS
Stay tuned for updates about upcoming events!
4/10-12/2026 - NCTTA National Championships
The UCSD Co-ed team has returned to the NCTTA National championships, stronger than ever. The team's first matchup was against UPenn, whom were closely matched in rating to UCSD. The four singles matches culminated in a score of 2-2, necessitating a doubles match to determine the winner. Players Leo Liu and Feng Yi Liao were up and dominated the match, winning 3-1, bringing the team to the round of 16. Co-ed's next opponent was NYU, one of the strongest teams in the tournament. Despite a valiant effort by UCSD's players, the team was taken out and moved into the consolation rounds for Day 2.
UCSD's first opponent in the consolation rounds was the University of Illinois, and despite a dominant performance by Feng Yi, the team lost 1-3 and went up against Columbia University next. This was an especially fierce rivalry, as the team was knocked out by Columbia in their previous Nationals. President James Goodwin helped secure the win with a decisive match 4 victory, finishing with a cumulative score of 3-1. Co-ed team's valiant efforts brought them to an impressive 13th place, the thirteenth strongest team in all of North America.
Star Player Feng Yi Liao had his own success story, too, in his Men's singles matches. On Day 1, he dominated the Round Robin groups and immediately qualified for the round of 64. He flew through his matches in a dominant fashion, destroying his opponents in rounds 64, 43, 16, and 8 on Sunday morning. In the quarterfinals, he faced off against one of the top collegiate players in the nation, Jerry Fung from UC Berkeley. The start of the match was difficult for Feng Yi, leading to a 0-2 disadvantage. But as he grew accustomed to the playstyle, Feng Yi made a miraculous comeback, winning the match 3-2 and moving on to the semifinals. Feng Yi ended up losing to Ved Sheth of UC Berkeley in the semis, but not before creating a few memorable highlight points. Third place in Men's singles is the most impressive performance by any UCSD table tennis player ever, and the entire team was incredibly proud to watch him fly through the competition.
1/24/2026 - SoCal East Divisionals
The NCTTA 2026 Winter Divisionals have been UCSD’s strongest performance to date. The club brought both their Varsity and JV teams, and both beat every school they competed against. The entire team is extremely proud of its players for practicing so hard throughout the year and completely dominating the competition.
The Varsity team started their day off against CSU Long Beach and immediately gained a 4-0 victory. The following opponent was Cal Poly Pomona, where UCSD brought out their star player, Feng Yi Liao, who delivered a decisive first win against CPP. Hongbo Han and James Goodwin also had strong wins, with a final score of 3-1. ASU quickly fell next, with another 4-0 win.
UCR was the closest matchup of the day for the Varsity team, starting with a score of 1-2 due to close losses. Rudraksh Bhandari decisively won his matchup, bringing the teams to a decider doubles match, which was quickly won by Feng Yi and Hongbo. UCSD’s top players Feng Yi, Hongbo, and Leo Liu played against the final teams, USC and UCI, both ending in 4-0 wins with the help of Daniel Mai and Doogyul Lee. The victory against UCI was especially important, as they had been the only team to take down UCSD in the previous competition.
UCSD also dominated the singles event, with three players making it to the quarterfinals. Both Hongbo and Feng Yi advanced to the semifinals, and Feng Yi ultimately won the entire event, defeating UCI's top player.
UCSD’S JV team was somehow even more successful than Varsity, not only defeating every single team but taking down eight teams instead of six. JV defeated Cal Poly SLO, UCI, USC, ASU, UCR, CSU 
Northridge, Cal Poly Pomona, and CSULB. The only difficult matchup they had of the entire day was against USC, where the winning team was decided by a doubles match. Top JV players Terry Su and Steven Teng easily took down USC in doubles, with a match score of 3-0.
11/1/2025 - SoCal West Divisionals
UCSD's Co-ed Varsity brought their "A" game this year, with a dominant performance in this year's NCTTA divisional. The team first faced off against CSU Long Beach, but had a rocky start and two losses. However, Terry Su, one of the newer Varsity members, brought the team to victory with a decisive 3-0 win. This performance was followed by a landslide win against UC Riverside, with players Hongbo Han, Leo Liu, Bryson Liu, and James Goodwin all winning their matches without losing a single game. Arizona State faced a similar fate against our Co-ed team, with a 3-1 win for UCSD. USC had a strong lineup this year, but thanks to Bryson Liu, James Goodwin, and Danh Mai (along with cheers from their teammates), a 3-1 victory was once again achieved. Against Cal Poly Pomona, Hongbo had a close loss to their top player, but not without UCSD becoming the loudest cheering team of the tournament in support. Co-ed was able to win the remaining matches, however, and took another 3-1 win. UCSD's only loss of the day came from UCI. All matches were losses except for Doogyul Lee's strong final match of the day. The tournament was overall a very successful one, with the newer players greatly enjoying the experience.
1/25/25 - Socal East Winter Divisionals
UCSD competed in the 2025 Winter Divisional Tournament in the Socal East division. Our varsity team started off really strong with a 3-1 win against UC Riverside with a dominant performance from Rud Bhandari, winning in 3 straight games. We kept the momentum going with another dominant 4-0 sweep against Cal Poly Pomona. The team slowed down after that, losing a tight match to USC and Arizona State. We finished off the day with a 4-0 loss against UCI.
11/10/24 - Socal West Divisionals
UCSD table tennis returned to competition with the 2024 NCTTA Fall Divisionals at Santa Monica College. The club brought their Co-Ed and Women’s varsity teams, along with their JV1 team. Co-Ed had strong performances against UC Riverside and Cal Poly, winning 3-1 and 4-0 respectively. Jiaqi Wu had a particularly exciting performance against UCR, with a 3-2 win that helped the rest of her team secure victory. Co-Ed unfortunately had tougher competition later on, losing to USC, Arizona State, and UC Irvine.
The club’s women’s team had an outstanding performance, defeating every opponent in their division. They began with a close 3-2 win over UCLA, ending in a dominant doubles match victory. This was followed by two 4-0 wins over ASU and UCI, with nearly all 3-0 victories. They finished off the day with the defeat of both Cal Poly and UCR.
JV1, too, had an extraordinary win streak, with 4-0 wins over Cal Poly, ASU, and USC. Players Zongyu Huang and Pranshu Gupta had notable 3-2 victories, and the team ended their tournament run with a win against UCI.
3/12-14/24 - 2024 NCTTA National Championships 
On March 12th, UCSD table tennis’s Varsity team arrived at their last competition of the school year to play in the biggest collegiate table tennis tournament in the US - the NCTTA National Championships. The team’s first opponent was Columbia, and an unfortunate lineup order led to a 1-3 loss, knocking UCSD out of the main bracket, despite an incredible performance by Victor Liu. Following this was another 1-3 loss to Maryland, although club president Bryson Liu had an exhilarating match ending in a 3-2 victory. Following these defeats was finally a 3-1 win against Emory, with dominating 3-0 victories from Jiaming Cao, Bryson Liu, and Siddharth Vadlamani. The varsity team’s last matchup was against Duke, and two wins, from James Goodwin and Matthew Shen, brought UCSD to a 2-2 match score. The final match, a doubles competition, unfortunately ended in a loss for UCSD, and a placement in 23rd. UCSD was also represented in the singles category of the competition, through a qualification by Jason Lee.
3/2/24 - NCTTA West Regional Championships
UCSD’s Co-ed Varsity team re-entered competition with the 2024 NCTTA West Regional Championships at 888 Table Tennis Center. The team had a tough tournament, facing off against high-level opponents from the University of British Columbia. With just one 3-0 win from Victor Liu, Co-ed was unfortunately eliminated from their bracket after the first round. However, UCSD has still been able to qualify for Nationals next month in Eau Claire, and the varsity members have been training fiercely so that they can make a powerful comeback in the next competition. Lastly, shoutout to Xiaoyu Liu, Bryson Liu, Jason Lee, Sid Vadlamani, and James Goodwin for qualifying and proudly representing our school in the singles event.
2/3/24 - UCSD Triumphs at SoCal Divisionals
UCSD’s Co-ed and Women's Varsity teams returned to compete in the NCTTA Southern California East Divisionals in Orange County Table Tennis Academy. Both teams saw new additions since the Fall Divisionals, with Victor Liu, Jiaming Cao, and Dana Kong aiding in the competition after fierce Winter team tryouts.
The Co-ed Varsity team had one of their strongest successes in years, earning first place in their division, after winning out a three-way tie between USC and UC Irvine. The team gained a 4-0 victory over Cal Poly Pomona, a 3-1 win against USC, and a 3-1 win against Arizona State. President Bryson Liu had an especially strong performance against USC, with a 3-2 win against a highly-rated competitor. Co-ed had a narrow 2-3 loss against UCI, although there were two strong wins by Bryson Liu and James Goodwin.
UCSD’s Women’s Varsity Team had tough lineups in this competition, facing off against UCR, UCI, Cal Poly, and UCLA. The team completely defeated UCI 4-0, with every individual game ending in 3-0. There were 1-3 and 0-4 losses against UCR and UCLA respectively, although Cecilia Li had a strong comeback against UCR after a 3-11 loss in the first game, eventually winning out 3-1. Cal Poly was met with a close 2-3 loss but had outstanding performances from Dana Kong and Xiaoyu Liu.
