Table tennis or pingpong? Sport or hobby? Sonora resident Mike Sturtevant has an answer. “If you play in the garage, you’re playing pingpong. If you play by the rules, you’re playing table tennis.”
Sturtevant would know. The energetic 80-year-old recently won a national title at the 2024 U.S. Open Table Tennis Championships, taking gold in the 80-and-over men’s singles and 80-and-over men’s doubles division with partner Will Baird of Victorville.
The event was held at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas from Dec. 16-21 and is the oldest-running table tennis event in the country. It drew over 1,400 players, a record number for the event, in 2024…