By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
KEN Johnson has a table tennis career spanning 67 years and his name now reads among hundreds of others in the Victorian Table Tennis Hall of Fame.
Mr Johnson, 83, who resides at Aveo’s Hunters Green in Cranbourne East, started playing the game he loves at 16 years old and never thought he’d get such accolades.
“I’d never given the hall of fame a thought, to me it was like winning Tattslotto, a one in a million chance,” Mr Johnson said.
But he puts the recognition down to his many years in the game.
“I guess I put in the years, I’ve won a lot of titles, played a lot of games,” he said.
Mr Johnson was inducted on Sunday 28 February at the Victorian Table Tennis Centre in MSAC Albert Park.
An honoured Mr Johnson said the praise is his greatest achievement in the sport to date.
“It came as a surprise; it still takes a bit of believing that I was so fortunate,” Mr Johnson said.
Having watched the game of table tennis adjust over the years, Mr Johnson isn’t entirely sold on some of its new ways.
“Table tennis has changed a lot over the years, the biggest being the colour and size of the ball,” he said.
“Because it’s such a fast game the ball was made larger to be able to see it on the TV, but by making the ball larger you slow down the game.
“I wasn’t and I don’t think anyone was pleased with the modifications, but you just get used to it.”
Mr Johnson was a volunteer umpire at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and 2000 Paralympic Games – something he’s been a part of for the past 15 years.
“I won the 2007 over 75s National Singles Competition, which is a national tournament run each year in a different state.”
Mr Johnson also won the 2007 Ted Sokolowski Award for Male Veteran Player of the year and his tips for hitting a winner include “good equipment”.
