For 14-year-old Takaimaania Ngata-Henare, table tennis is a battle on many fronts. What began with a love of the sport has turned into a battle for the right to play it. New Zealand's top-ranked cadet (under 15) girl, Ngata-Henare has not enjoyed any institutional backing during her ascent. To the contrary, she has allegedly suffered both passive and active career sabotage at the hands of Table Tennis New Zealand (TTNZ). The only Māori player among the nation's top 40 females, Ngata-Henare is an outsider in the insular New Zealand table tennis community. Despite not coming from a family of TTNZ bluebloods, Ngata-Henare has firmly established herself as one of the nation's best players. She has won numerous titles, including the national women's singles championship. Her obvious talent notwithstanding, TTNZ has not exactly welcomed Ngata-Henare with open arms. Much of the problem traces back to a conflict she had with a coach when she was 12, one whom she and her family accuse of bullying her. TTNZ responded by removing Ngata-Henare from the national team. Her family fought back, taking TTNZ before the national Sports Tribunal, which sided with Ngata-Henare. TTNZ was ordered to reinstate her as a national team member and pay her family's legal costs. Despite the legal victory for Ngata-Henare and her family, or perhaps because of it, TTNZ has not made life easy for her. The club where she used to train five days a week has confiscated her key, allowing her access only two hours a week, joining a chorus of doors mysteriously closing in her face. While some of the exclusions can be attributed to COVID-19 protocols, the pattern predates the pandemic. According to Ngata-Henare's grandmother, Liane Henry, TTNZ is making a concerted effort to keep the talented teen from disrupting the New Zealand table tennis aristocracy. "As she started to rise that's when she became a threat to people and isolated," said Henry. "They keep putting roadblocks and all she wants to do is get back into the stadium that she used to train at. "They're just trying to disadvantage the little girl and she just wants to play," laments Henry. Ngata-Henare's new coach, Kevin Schick, says that selection for the New Zealand national team is not necessarily a meritocracy. "Quite often the best players to represent New Zealand are never chosen because of these strong cultural and bullying tactics that are evident in administration throughout New Zealand," says Schick. "People have been looked at more favorably because of their connections with Table Tennis New Zealand." For example, in 2012, the then-50-year-old national women's champion Chunli Li won the New Zealand Olympic Trials but was not selected for the London Olympics. Without any institutional backing, Chunli is now training to become the oldest table tennis Olympian ever, if she can qualify for next summer's games in Tokyo. Perhaps Chunli Li and Takaimaania Ngata-Henare, New Zealand's age-defying outsiders, can team up for doubles?

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