Local table tennis hall of famer continues reign of excellence

By Sean Ammerman

Friday, Jan. 2, 2009 | 2 a.m.

David Sakai has always struggled finding a balance between table tennis and work.

The semi-retired business owner spends most of the year living in the southwest Las Vegas community Spanish Trials and playing his favorite sport six days a week at Las Vegas Table Tennis on South Highland Drive.

The rest of his days, about one-third of the year, are spent in Maryland managing his graphic design company.

"The game is so difficult, but once you play it, people who play table tennis play it for life," said Sakai, a member of USA Table Tennis Hall of Fame.

Sakai's attention was solely on his passion from Dec. 17 to 20 as the 61-year-old competed in the USA Table Tennis National Championships at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

He took first in the 50 and over doubles competition to add to the more than 40 national titles in various age division he's captured throughout the past 40 years.

"It's amazing how competitive I have been able to stay," he said.

With nearly 50 years of table tennis competition under his belt, Sakai is one of the most experienced players in the valley.

His 5-foot-2 frame makes him a tough sell for a traditional team sports, however, his size is not as limiting in front of a table.

Coach Dan Seemiller, who played with Sakai in doubles, said his partner has a unique dedication to the game.

"He keeps the ball on the table and makes you work hard," Seemiller said. "He can definitely ware you down with his consistency."

In his first year playing competitively, Sakai won the National Boys Singles Championship at age 16.

His assent to being a top five-ranked player was not easy. He remembers being blown out 21-0, 21-1, 21-2 in his first tournament.

"I remember I just wanted to get back and beat that one player," Sakai said. "That was the start of it. I beat him the second time but not as badly as I wanted to."

He moved to New York City in the 1970s, then an American hub for table tennis, to learn from the sport's best.

Sakai tried playing professionally full-time in the 1980s and traveled the world for three years.

"It was a fantasy for me," he said. "I left my job at a bank and this kind of took control of me. My parents were worried that I would become a table tennis bum."

The sport also led Sakai to his wife, Donna Sakai, also an accomplished player. They first met as teenagers in New York and later married in 1985. Both are part of the hall of fame.

"At the time I was a much more developed player and I didn't want to play mixed doubles with him," Donna Sakai said. "He actually got good very fast to the point where I would have been lucky to find a player like him."

Sean Ammerman can be reached at 990-2661 or [email protected].