Budhi Gurung, center, poses for a photo with fellow table tennis enthusiasts on Saipan for a farewell game on Tuesday last week.
BUDHI Gurung, the CNMI’s table tennis champion in 2000, hopes that his decision to move to Guam will give him an opportunity to give a boost to the table tennis community in the Marianas.
“Hopefully, I can bring at least three Guam table tennis players to compete with CNMI table tennis players in the near future,” Gurung said as he broke the news last week that he had to leave Saipan “with a heavy heart after 24 years.”
On Saipan, Gurung juggled his time making a living and organizing events for the sport he loves — table tennis.
For the past 28 months, however, he had been jobless due to the Covid-19 pandemic which had all but shut down the CNMI tourism industry.
A long-time hotel employee, Gurung said it was time to move to Guam and seek better opportunities not only for himself but for his passion for table tennis.
On Thursday last week, Dec. 1, Gurung, who is originally from Nepal, reported for duty as housekeeping supervisor of Sheraton Hotel on Guam.
Gurung, 67, joined the Saipan Table Tennis Association in 1998 and won the championship in 2000 in a tournament sponsored by Coca Cola.
He represented the CNMI in the table tennis event of the South Pacific Mini Games in 2005 and in the Micronesian Games in 2010, and won the bronze and gold medals.
In his new home, Gurung looks forward to meeting table tennis players, and he hopes that one day, he will be able to bring together the players of Guam and the CNMI so they can form a bigger and more dynamic table tennis organization.
He also plans to encourage women players to form their own groups.
“The Guam Table Tennis Association has no women’s team unlike Palau, Pohnpei and the Marshall Islands,” Gurung said.
