NSW OFFICIALS SELECTED TO OFFICIATE AT THE 2022 COMMONWEALTH GAMES

On 4 February 2022, Table Tennis Australia (TTA) announced that four Australian Officials have been selected to officiate at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, to be held in Birmingham, England from 28 July to 8 August 2022. Three officials are selected from TTNSW: Joseph Fung (Deputy Referee), Stephen Gillespie (Umpire) and Marie Pinkewich (Umpire).

This achievement has made the NSW table tennis community and the Australian table tennis community very proud and excited for the future of table tennis officiating in NSW and Australia.

Marie has participated in table tennis as a player and an administrator for more than 40 years, across all the age groups from juniors to seniors then veterans, both in Victoria and New South Wales. Since 2003, Marie has been involved in umpiring and refereeing, attaining the level of State Referee in 2014 and ITTF Blue Badge in Progress International Umpire in 2018.

Marie is the only currently active female International Umpire in NSW; and is the third female official in NSW table tennis to qualify as an ITTF International Umpire since the current International Umpire qualifications began back in 1973. Marie is also the only female Referee in NSW.

Generally, Marie is involved in between 30 to 40 tournaments a year and continues to contribute to the table tennis community in the officiating and administrative domains. For example, in 2018 and

2019, Marie officiated at 5 international events and 2 national events, including the Commonwealth Games, ITTF World Junior Championships, ITTF Challenge Plus Portugal Open, ITTF Oceania Para Championships, Australian Junior Nationals Championships and Australian Veterans Nationals Championships.

Stephen Gillespie is one of two officials in NSW with the combined titles of ITTF Blue Badge International Umpire and ITTF International Referee and is the youngest official of three Australian officials with these two highest ITTF accreditations. In August 2021, Stephen Gillespie from TTNSW honourably served as the Deputy Referee of 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. Stephen is the second official from NSW to serve in the Olympics and Paralympics after the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and the first official from NSW to serve in the Olympics and Paralympics after the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Stephen’s journey to becoming a top ITTF official has involved numerous hours of education, training sessions and countless competitions in Australia and overseas. The achievement has come at a considerable personal cost to him as he had to fund his own trips to overseas competitions before gaining the qualification of an ITTF blue badge umpire.

Stephen is involved with 30 to 40 tournaments a year in an officiating and/or administrative capacity. For example, in 2019, Stephen officiated at 13 international events and 2 national events, including the Commonwealth Games, ITTF World Teams Championships, ITTF World Junior Championships, ITTF World Tour Grand Final, ITTF Hong Kong Open, ITTF Australian Tour, ITTF Oceania Tour Australia, ITTF Oceania Tour Tonga, Oceania Cup, Australian Junior Nationals and Australian Veterans Nationals – to name just a few.

Throughout the last decade, Stephen and Marie conducted all the State and National umpire and State Referee training courses in NSW and have successfully mentored many new umpires to progress through the ranks.

Both Marie and Stephen said: “We would like to thank the strong support from our officials’ team and our table tennis communities especially from TTNSW, TTA, ITTF-Oceania and ITTF.  Developing officials, especially young officials and female officials, has been an on-going priority of TTNSW, TTA and ITTF-Oceania.”

Joseph Fung qualified as an ITTF International Umpire in 1984, ITTF International Blue Badge in 2009, and ITTF International Referee in 2006. Joseph worked as an IT Manager in Hong Kong before he migrated to Australia in 2017.

As an umpire, Joseph officiated 3 times at World Championship in 1999, 2004 and 2012, and 16 times at ITTF events and other international events from 1992 to 2019 such as ITTF Tours, etc.

As a referee or a deputy referee, Joseph officiated 21 times at ITTF events and international events from 2010 to 2021, such as ITTF Hong Kong Junior and Cadet Open, ITTF Australian Junior and Cadet Open, and ITTF-Oceania Para Championship, etc.

Marie, Stephen and Joseph emphasized: “Becoming an official is one of the best ways to be involved in our great game. Tournaments cannot run without officials and moreover, umpires get the best seat in the house. This appointment as officials at the 2022 Commonwealth Games continues the trend of Australia being well represented in officiating at the top international events.”

The 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games are just around the corner, TTA wishes all Australian officials the best of luck, and TTA looks forward to seeing more officials from New South Wales and Australia officiating at top international events in the future.

David Lee and Michael Li thank Marie Pinkewich, Stephen Gillespie and Joseph Fung for the interview, discussion, advice and support contributing to this article, and wish to gratefully acknowledge Table Tennis New South Wales, Table Tennis Australia, the International Table Tennis Federation and the Commonwealth Games.