Jewish table tennis stars shine at SA championship

Two brothers and an old table tennis hack were among several Jewish table tennis stars who won medals at the South African Table Tennis Championships at Brixton Sports Hall in Johannesburg from 21 to 29 September.

All the medallists play at the JusTT table tennis club in Sandringham, Johannesburg, and got the better of players from across the country in various categories.

Veteran player Rainer Sztab, self-described as “an old hack at this game”, won gold in the over 60s team event, and got a bronze as losing semi-finalist in the over 50s individual category.

“The veterans are a tough crowd, very competitive,” says the 64-year-old Sztab, who has a Maccabi Games silver medal, and ran Maccabi table tennis for many years.

Naftali Kavonic, playing in the Under-15 age group, won gold in the team event; silver in the Under-15 doubles event with his brother, Levi; and bronze in the Under-15 singles event. “I also played in the Under-19 age group, and made it to the quarter finals,” Naftali says. “It felt like I achieved something great.” The tournament was “really fun” for him, he says. “I made lots of new friends. It’s nice to see how people play from other cities.”

Levi, playing in the Under-13 age group, won bronze in the team event in addition to his doubles silver. “It felt amazing! They were the first medals I had ever won,” he says, describing the tournament as “really exciting”.

“It got really intense as well,” Levi says. “I enjoyed getting to know the other players.”

Amichai Asulin, who won a gold medal, says, “Winning was an incredible feeling, knowing that all my hard work and dedication has paid off.”

Tevia Sapire, who won a gold medal in the team category, played in the men’s team, men’s doubles, men’s mixed doubles, and men’s singles. “I’m proud of the team for its strong performance,” he says. “I didn’t play in the final team match, but the atmosphere was great, and it was a well fought match.”

To qualify for the championships, Sapire’s team played at provincial team trials, which were highly contested with many players in the top 10 in the country. “I came fourth at the trials, which I was happy with, considering the competition,” he says.

Judit Sassu, who played in the over 40 and over 50 women’s categories, crowned a remarkable return to the sport by winning a silver and two bronze medals at the championships, at which she also coached the Under-11 boys.

Sassu won the SA Championships Under-17 women’s singles and doubles events in 1986 before giving up table tennis that year and returning to the sport only a year ago. “I was finally ready to come back to the sport,” she says. “For 24 years, I was a junior league coach at Highlands Park Football Club. That took a lot of my time, especially coaching two teams.”

Leading up to the championships, Sassu played up to three or four times a week. “I’ve never been to such a big tournament as these championships. It was awesome to win two bronzes and a silver. The tournament was well attended. It was quite an interesting tournament because there were bad storms in Durban, so a lot of the games were delayed.”

At the championships, “There was no-one I played against who I used to play against when I was in my juniors,” Sassu says. “None of those players are around anymore. But there were are many women youngsters.”

Sassu, however, plans to play for as long as she can.

Sztab, who has about seven veteran national titles to his name, says, “Table tennis is a sport you can compete in regardless of how old you are. If you go to the world events, they have an over 90s category.”

During his table tennis journey, Sapire has been a part of the gold medal team at the national championships team event a few times. “I’ve also been in the South African junior and senior national team for two African championships, and have won the university games singles title.”

He got into table tennis while playing on holiday in the games room with his family. “I fell in love with the sport and became addicted to improving,” he says.

Sapire hopes one day to win the SA Championships singles title.

Levi says it’s nice to have a brother who also plays table tennis because they get to practice together and help each other improve. “It’s helpful,” Naftali says, “because I don’t always have to go and train at our club because we have a table at home and Levi and I can just practice with each other and train before tournaments.”

The Kavonic brothers got into table tennis when they were stuck as home during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’ve always had a table at home, and our dad bought us really nice bats, so we started playing a lot. We found out about JusTT, which was near our house, so we started going for lessons.”

While Naftali aspires to make the South African team and play in the Maccabi Games, Levi’s ambition is closer to home. “My goal is to beat my brother,” he says.