The Survey Says: 

By Michael Wetzel

Question One

Seeing the methodical training technique of the continent's paramount table tennis doubles teams leaves one wondering what sport they might want to excel at if table tennis was not the chosen activity.

A survey of the 22 Canadian and USA players at the North America Olympic Doubles Trials in Atlanta shows tennis is the preferred sport. Seven of the 22 (31 percent) say tennis in the lawn while five of 22 say soccer.

Other sports collecting votes were basketball 3; golf 3; figure skating 1; diving 1; 100m dash 1; and sky surfing 1.

Those wannabe tennis stars are Tawny Banh, Judy Hugh, Sean O'Neill, and Eric Owens, USA; and Petra Cada, Homayoun Kamkar-Parsi and Marie-Christine Roussy.

And that sky surfer, Xavier Therien of Canada.

Question Two

So when the players aren't honing their skills at the table, what do they enjoy doing?

A survey shows watching movies and spending time with their families tie shopping with three votes each.

It may come as no surprise that all three votes for shopping came from female players: Wennin Chiu and Sara Yuen of Canada and Simone Yang of USA.

The players enjoying movies are Petra Cada of Canada and Mark Hazinski and David Zhuang of the USA. Spending time with family is atop the list for Ilija Lupulesku, Whitney Ping and Tahl Leibovitz, all of the USA.

Other choices for free-time activities are traveling, 2; listening to music, 2; chatting on the internet, 1; playing basketball, 1; reading, 1; hanging out with friends 1; enjoying the holidays, 1; water sports, 1; dancing, 1; watching television, 1; fishing, 1; skydiving, 1.

Who'd rather be fishing? Bence Csaba of Canada.

Any guesses on the skydiving choice? Canada's Xavier Therien, the same who would like to star in the sport of sky surfing.

And it appears teenagers talking on the phone for hours has been replaced by chatting on the internet, the favorite non-table tennis pastime of 15-year-old Judy Hugh of the USA. 

Question Three

With the major league baseball season in full-swing next week, which team will win the 2004 World Series? While seven teams got the attention of the players, they heavily favored the New York Yankees with eight of the 22 players (36 percent) saying George Steinbrenner's deep pockets have again bought the best team. Nearly a fourth (five) of the players admit they don't follow baseball and declined to guess. And it's only right that the players north of the border would favor the Canadian teams. Four of the Canadians picked the Toronto Blue Jays to win it all, while Quebec's Therien cast his vote for the Montreal Expos.

Other teams receiving votes were Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox. Canada's Marie-Christine Roussy cast a politically correct vote for the host city of the Trials, the Atlanta Braves.

Question Four

While a wide range of movies got votes for the players' favorite, Titanic rises to the top with three votes (Eric Owens, David Zhuang and Simone Yang). "Walk to Remember" must be a big hit with the young females as Judy Hugh of USA and Sara Yuen of Canada listed it as their favorite. Other favorite movies are Sean O'Neill "Miracle"; Johnny Huang "Kung Fu"; Mark Hazinski "Happy Gilmore"; Faazil Kassam "Gladiator"; Kamkar-Parsi "Primal Fear"; Pradeeban Peter-Paul "The Rock"; Xavier Therien "Back to the Future"; Petra Cada "Catch Me If You Can"; Marie-Christine Roussy "Sissy"; Whitney Ping "Shawshank Redemption"; Tahl Leibovitz "The Professional"; Tawny Banh "Pretty Woman"; Lily Yip "Lord of the Rings"; Wennin Chiu "Ocean's 11"; and Bence Csaba "Blow." Jasna Reed says she enjoys watching movies with friends and "there are just too many I like to say I have a favorite."

Hmm, nobody listed that 1994 pingpong classic "Forrest Gump."

Question Five

When it comes to favorite books, Whitney Ping and Bence Csaba, "Brave New World" and Sara Yuen and Lily Yip "Harry Potter" enjoy the same books. Hillary Rodham Clinton's autobiography got the vote of Simone Yang.