Mr. Santos Shih has set up a $10,000 sponsorship of the Junior events at the USA Nationals, in honor of his father, Mr. Neng-Chin Shih. The sponsorship will pay out $2000/year at the USA Nationals for the next five years.
Mr. Neng-Chin Shih was born on Dec 16, 1917 in Fukien province of China. He was the table tennis singles champion of Fuchow City (capital of Fukien) at age 13, and later represented Fukien at the Chinese nationals before the Chinese civil war. After the civil war, he settled down in Taipei Taiwan for 40 years. He continued to devote himself to table tennis on a full-time basis. He not only played competitively, winning the Over 60 national championships six times in a row in the 1970s, but also sponsored teams from elite level (including USATT Executive Vice President Dr, Jiing Wang when he was at his peak), to lower level teams. He also coached elite juniors. He was the Taiwan Exec. Director of Tournaments and a certified International Umpire. He contributed tremendously to Taiwan’s table tennis.
In 1990, he moved to New Jersey, USA, until he passed away on May 29, 2003, at age 86. He always encouraged young talented athletes to play table tennis. The donation from his son (Santos Shih) is to extend his wishes in getting more talented young players to play and enjoy the sport, and more importantly, to enjoy and continue in table tennis as he did.
The prizes for the junior events serve as extra incentives for the players and to encourage them to continue their efforts to achieve higher levels as they become adults.
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