By A Special Sports Correspondent

Former table tennis singles champion Michael Anjelo Santiago (71) was in Sri Lanka and met up with some of his close friends (who at one time were also his toughest opponents) at a reunion at Otter Club in Colombo. Two of these close friends who caught up on old times with him were former singles champions Jothipala Samaraweera and Lalith Priyantha.

Anjelo was the champion in the years 1971, 74, 78, 85 and 86 and the break between winning years shows that the competition was tough those days. In fact, that was the ‘golden era of table tennis’ and one scribe-Anto Fernandopulle- described the wonders of the sport magnificently with a banner newspaper headline which went ‘If you want to go abroad play ping pong’. Anjelo remembers this headline very well and in an interview with this writer recalled how the sport rewarded him with 24 opportunities to travel abroad and play competitive table tennis; a sport also known long ago as ping pong.

He still remembers how hard it was to play against Jothipala Samaraweera who was a master at the game holding the racket in a pen holder grip. But Anjelo played the game of his life against Deepak Narendas in the men’s singles final in the 1970s where he went down fighting in a five-setter thriller. He won his fifth singles crown beating Lalith Priyantha in 1986 to equal a record set by Samaraweera in winning the most number of singles crowns (back then). In fact, he gave thought to contesting the 1985 and 1986 nationals after his wife Samadara made a request to continue playing in his pet event, the men’s singles.

The vision players had for the game and the positive frame of mind the players had back then surfaces when players like Anjelo speak to the press. “When I was first selected to represent the country, I was 17 and the tour was going to clash with my O’ Level Exam. But I chose the tour ahead of studies because we saw how talented table tennis players were offered jobs by mercantile companies,” said Anjelo who had completed the missed exam the following year.

By 19 years of age, he was established in the sport and had found employment as an assistant accountant at a footwear company. A job at 19 and as an assistant accountant? “I was good in mathematics,” said a smiling Anjelo.

As much as he trained hard and played ruthlessly at competitions, he also did something vital which must be mentioned here. He was able to read the minds of his opponents. That was the intelligence of players of yesteryear.

Anjelo Santiago stamped his class in the
singles nationals in the years 1971, 74, 78,
85 and 86

His approach to the game changed with an opportunity he got to visit China and undergo residential training. “We saw our game being raised and our fitness levels too shot up due to this exposure at training in another country,” said the former champ who was accompanied to China by three other players.

He changed jobs many times serving in companies like Ceylon Cold Stores, Building Material Corporation and Brown and Company. He also served the Sri Lanka Army; where he said he played his best table tennis. In 1974 he won a triple crown at the sport partnering Narendas in the men’s doubles and Nandini Udeshi in the mixed doubles.

He rates Jothipala Samaraweera as the toughest opponent he had met during his career which continued till 1990. Fans may recall how two sections of spectators cheered for their choice of player in the table tennis singles finals whenever these two met. Spectators never clashed and the only way they released their energies were by vociferous shouting. After the final, regardless of who had won, Samaraweera and Anjelo made a habit of visiting the pub for a quarter of their favourite alcohol. That was the camaraderie among player of that era.

Table tennis was a popular sport back then and the sport’s top players received a lot of recognition. In 1975 there was a voting competition where fans got to choose their favorite sports personality. Cricketer D.H de Silva won the competition with table tennis players Samaraweera and Anjelo finishing fifth and tenth respectively in that competition. That was how popular the sport of table tennis was back then. Jothipala was a household name in the entire sports scene, not only in the racket sport, and we can just imagine the interest table tennis generated with the names of Priyantha, Narendas, Mahinda Dandeniya, N.H Perera, Shabar and Shabeer Hussain thrown into the equation. Each year produced a different champion. And unlike in present times with most sports the winner at table tennis was never a forgone conclusion for those who left home to watch a game of table tennis played at the top level.

By 1990 Anjelo had won all top local titles that were on offer, worked in many companies and raised a family with his beloved. But he was not financially stable and that prompted him to find employment in Canada. He later got his family to immigrate to Canada after establishing himself in the field of insurance.

When asked to name some of the most memorable moments in the sport Anjelo had this to say. “I took a set off world champion Li Chung Kuang at the 1971 Asian Championships in China and a set off Japanese World Champion Ohono at the 1979 Asian Championships. I also got to pose for a photograph with the world best 110 players when I went for the Afro Asian Latin American Tournament” he said with a beaming smile.

He said that he had played club table tennis when he set foot in Canada with that level of table tennis deemed as sport at B Division. He had slowly worked himself up in the ratings and remembers playing in as many as ten games a day. His involvement with club table tennis in Canada shows that Sri Lanka lacks that club culture; something which is so essential for a sport and its players to survive.

Anjelo’s parting words were for the sport to attract more sponsorships, get the services of a foreign coach and for the game’s legends and accomplished players to get involved in coaching and administration.