Forgive Qiumars Hedayatian, New England's top-ranked table tennisplayer, if he forgets just where he, his paddle, and his energy aresupposed to be at any given moment. On Friday nights, he's at theUniversity of Massachusetts- Boston, right? Sunday afternoons andThursday mornings mean Newton. Every other Monday evening is reservedfor Hanover. And Framingham requires three evenings a week andSaturday afternoons, too.
'If you have something to say to Qiumars, you'd better say itquickly,' says Eileen Lintz, president of the UMass-Boston TableTennis Club, where Hedayatian coaches once a week. 'If you don't,he's gone.'
See Qiumars (pronounced Q-marrs) run. True, he still has moretournament-won points than any other New England player as calculatedby USA Table Tennis, the sport's national governing body, despite nothaving competed locally in more than two years. But the 36-year-oldnative of Iran and resident of Somerville has become - withoccasional time off to participate in a German professional league -a one-man show in which he takes on the roles of entrepreneur, coach,and dogged promoter of an activity you'd best not refer to as ping-pong within his earshot.
'Table tennis is an Olympic sport,' he says, his dark eyes lockingon yours. 'Ping-pong is a basement game.'
Meanwhile, see Qiumars play. At the various clubs he has recentlyhelped organize - not only at UMass-Boston, but also for YMCAs inNewton, Hanover, and Framingham - you might be lucky enough to seehim grab a paddle. He is short (5-foot-5) and stocky (170 pounds),but light on his feet. While most players can be typed, Hedayatianplays with an all-around style that features a strong offense as wellas the abilities to block and to retreat. He is considered 'two-winged,' meaning he hits both forehands and backhands well. If he'sshowing off a bit, he might race back to track down a deep looperwith his rubber-padded paddle and, if the ceiling allows, lob theseemingly weightless celluloid sphere (it weighs less than 1/10 of anounce) some 20 feet into the air and drop it perfectly on the farside of the 9-by-5-foot table. Or, for good measure, he might send abehind-the-back winner skittering along the table's edge.
'In a best-of-five-game match, I might win one game off him,' saysIndu Ravikiran, the 2003 women's champion of India as well as the2004 runner-up, who is temporarily living in Lowell.
Hedayatian says he's given up playing in local tournaments in partbecause he doesn't encounter enough competition. Besides, the missionhe's embarked upon takes up all of his time. 'I really want the sportto become big, like it is in many other countries,' he says. 'I wantit to get to the point that every town has its own club.'
This will be no easy task in a country that remains a table tennisbackwater. You can regularly find a pool game or poker game on TV,but almost never a table tennis match. There is not a single US maleplayer ranked among the top 100 in the world. On a recent Sundayafternoon at the West Suburban YMCA in Newton, where part of thegymnasium becomes the New England Table Tennis Academy underHedayatian's direction twice a week, a gaggle of players from Poland,Russia, Sweden, Morocco, India, and Burma outnumbered the Americansin the room. Central Europeans dominated table tennis, which dates tothe 19th century, through World War II, after which Asian playerstook over. But Americans, other than those who populate the smalltable tennis subculture, haven't shown much interest, even after thesport joined the Olympics in 1988.
Like the one at the YMCA in Newton, most US table tennis 'clubs'are simply places where tables are set up for a few hours at anappointed time and then hauled back into storage when play isfinished. (The local exception is the 3,000-square-foot Boston TableTennis Center in Medford, where Hedayatian coached for three yearsuntil last fall.) In Hedayatian's idea of a perfect world, suchfacilities will mushroom and eventually be filled with the chatter ofyoung voices.
'Most of the players you see at these places now are over 30,' helaments. 'There's no next generation. And the older players don'twant to play with kids. But I want to work with kids, maybe developsomeone who could make the [five-player] US [national] team. If Ican't make it myself, I'd like to find and develop a player whocould.'
Hedayatian - who came to the United States 16 years ago, ismarried, and has a 5-year-old son - was a top youth player in Iranand later played professionally in Germany. Today he stilloccasionally jets to Germany for weekend pro league matches duringthe winter. He says he earns some money from club admissions at theYMCA in Newton, as well as from occasional coaching, and is hoping toestablish a distributorship for table tennis tables and equipment.For him, the gig is full time but the pay so far is part time.
Mostly he touts the game. He talks about the hand-eye coordinationrequired to return shots that exceed 60 miles per hour when smashedby a top player, about reflexes, stamina, concentration, touch, andfeel. He does not complain about the fact that, although he is thehighest-ranked player in New England, this is likely the first timeyou have heard of him. Or that, if he were the highest-ranked playerin the country, this would likely be the first time you have heard ofhim as well.
'Do I wish I was like Andre Agassi and had a really cool life?' heasks, mentioning another racket-eer - one whose father, likeHedayatian, emigrated from Iran - but one who enjoys a somewhathigher profile. 'Sure I do. But I'm not, and it doesn't bother me.I'm used to it.'
'Discoveries' appears on alternate Saturdays. Ideas for subjectmatter - unusual people, places, events, etc. - are welcome. NathanCobb can be reached at cobb@globe.com or 617-929-7266.
