by Ian Marshall

Under the forward-thinking leadership of Damjan Cvetko, the club president, they contacted the nearby Radlje ob Dravi elementary school and made an innovative proposal.

Immediately, the proposal was accepted by Damjan Osrajnik, the principal.

Commencing on Thursday 1st April and concluding on Sunday 11th April, following advice from the school principal and teachers, children aged eight to 10 years were asked to produce artwork which included the theme of table tennis at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

“Sometimes the Olympic Games can be so far away from our dreams, but there is always time to dream. The Slovenian men’s table tennis team qualified for the Olympic team event and we would like to bring the attention of the youngsters to the most important table tennis event for our national team. Bojan Tokic will play in his fourth consecutive Games, in the three Games in which he played, he has been very successful in the singles event. Now Slovenia will face strong teams; we are looking to show the young generation how attractive table tennis is and that everyone can dream of Olympic attendance.” Damjan Cvetko

Over 16 months ago, at the World Team Qualification tournament in the Portuguese city of Gondomar on Friday 24th January 2020, Bojan Tokic alongside Darko Jorgic and Deni Kozul upset the order of merit to book their place at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

The no.11 seeds, they recorded a 3-1 win against the no.5 seeds, India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta, Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.

“We loved the idea from local table tennis club. Even though we were in favour to organise “live” activity, this one was maybe more important since the parents have also been involved in assignment, that family approach was in front line. We also thank the club for the reward of table tennis equipment for the best evaluated submission.” Damjan Osrajnik.

A splendid innovation that reflected the ethos of the Olympic Games and World Table Tennis Day: enjoyment, sport for all.