Orthodox Ping Pong Champ Falls Short After Skipping Olympics Trial on Shabbat
Image by WABC TV
An Orthodox Jewish teen from suburban New York City came up short in her bid to make the U.S. Olympics table tennis team and did not compete in the trials on Shabbat.
Estee Ackerman, a 14-year-old freshman at the Yeshiva University High School for Girls in Queens, lost matches for two consecutive days at the trials last week in Greensboro, North Carolina. The three-day trials finished on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.
“I know my decision is the right one because, in life, I will always keep Judaism as my No. 1 priority,” Ackerman, of West Hempstead on Long Island, told Newsday.
Ackerman, the 14th seed among the 16 competitors, lost twice to fifth-seeded Prachi Jha, an 18-year-old from California. The winner on each of the three days of play advanced to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“I know I didn’t win, but it was such an amazing feeling to know I was one of 16 women in the country who worked so hard just to get here,” Ackerman told Newsday. “It was such an honor, such a cool feeling.”
Ackerman has been competing in ping-pong for six years, often practicing up to four hours a day, five days a week.
She was disqualified from the 2012 U.S. National Table Tennis Championships when she opted not to play her final match, which fell on Shabbat.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
