FORT WORTH-- Texas Wesleyan University (TXWES) is hosting the U.S. National Table Tennis Trials from June 25 to July 1. Two former Rams have competed this week, including Jishan Liang, who qualified for Nationals.

The list of events being covered during the week includes Men's and Women's Singles, Under(U)19 Boy's and Girl's singles, U15 Boy's and Girl's singles, U13 Boy's and Girl's singles, and U11 Boy's and Girl's singles. 

In addition to being TXWES table tennis head coach for 15 years, Jasna Rather is also the tournament director of the US National Trials, with former players Yahao Zhang and Liang competing, with Liang making the US National team.

"Table tennis became an Olympic sport in 1988, and it is the second most played sport in the world, and it is still not popular here in the United States," Rather said.

TXWES Athletic Director Ricky Dotson believes many people are not familiar with the sport and TXWES's national table tennis success, including many university students and staff.

"Dynasty is a word that gets thrown around too often in sports, but when you talk about Texas Wesleyan Table Tennis, I can't think of a better description. We are certainly proud of our tradition here, and Jasna has been the mastermind behind it," Dotson said. 

"Hopefully, we can continue to turn out Olympians and National Champions, but just as importantly, we hope to bring about interest and exposure to an entertaining sport," he said. "Being selected as the host site for the US National Team Trials does just that while also introducing younger athletes involved in the sport to our University and program."

The First Position on the Men's or Women's 2022 US National Team will be awarded to the highest-ranked USATT male or female player on June 1, 2022, ITTF Ranking list, provided that such player is within the top fifty (50) ranked players on that list. Positions #2 through #8 (and #1 if no player is ranked in the ITTF Top 50) for the 2022 National Team will be determined by order of finish at the 2022 US National Team Trials. 

To participate in the 2022 US National Team Trials, the player must be a US citizen and become ITTF eligible before the entry deadline for the 2022 Pan Am Championships. The only way an ITTF-eligible athlete can make the Men's or Women's National Team is either (a) by automatically qualifying by being the highest-ranked American athlete in the ITTF Top 50 or (b) by finishing high enough in the National Team Trials.

Former Ram Liang will move on to compete July 2nd- 7th at the US National Table Tennis Championships at the Fort Worth Convention Center. Representing the best players in the United States will compete in 90 events at all levels of the sport.

For more information on this event: you can go to USATT.org or you can also find this event live-streamed on https://facebook.com/ustabletennis/ or https://instagram.com/usatabletennis for the remaining days of the tournament.