ANT KATZ

Ping Pong Gone

14-year-old Estee Ackerman, a freshman at the Yeshiva University High School for Girls in Queens, lost matches for two consecutive days at the trials last week in North Carolina, She has been competing in ping-pong for six years, often practicing up to four hours a day, five days a week.

But her hopes were kiboshed in the three-day Olympic trials as they finished on Saturday so she had no chance of catching up.

“I know my decision is the right one because, in life, I will always keep Judaism as my #1 priority,” Ackerman, of Long Island, told the media afterwards.

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14-year-old Estee Ackerman elected to throw in her potential trophy towel in favour of her religion for the second time in her young life on Shabbos and could not make the US Olympic team

Ackerman, the 14th seed among the 16 competitors, lost twice to fifth-seeded Prachi Jha, an 18-year-old from California. The winner on each of the three days of play advanced to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Ackerman says that even though she didn’t win, “it was such an amazing feeling to know I was one of 16 women in the country who worked so hard just to get here.”

She said that is was such an honour, such a cool feeling.

This is not the first time Estee has chosen her religion over her sport. She was disqualified from the 2012 US National Table Tennis Championships when she opted not to play her final match, which fell on Shabbat.