"Got to be good-looking 'cause it's so hard to see," winked The Beatles in "Come Together." Whether or not this clever play on words had any deeper social meaning is the concern of obsessive fans and self-appointed cultural authorities. Regardless, it hints at a truth about table tennis which Hungary's Szandra Pergel (pictured) knows all too well: If you can't see the ball, you're going to have a hard time playing. According to TopEndSports.com, table tennis trails only baseball in terms of ocular demand. While America's pastime lacks the sustained speed of China's pastime, you have to be paying attention when Aroldis Chapman fires a 105-mph musket ball high and inside. For the aforementioned Pergel, the lefty looper ranked #3 in Hungary and #76 in the world, the issue took on real-life significance this July when she was diagnosed with a partially detached retina. While there is never a good time for such frightening news, it came at a particularly tumultuous time for Pergel. The 31-year-old had just concluded an 11-year-career with the SH-ITB Budaörsi SC club in Hungary, and the ink had yet to dry on her new contract with Quimper Cornouaille TT in France. Luckily, Pergel's surgery was successful. Nonetheless, the lengthy recovery process required that she not exercise at all for three months, let alone train for table tennis. Her patience paid off this week when she finally joined her new club. "I came to France on Monday and we already had a match in Paris on Tuesday which we won by 3:2, and it is something that I am very happy about,” reported the relieved Pergel, who split her two matches. "I do not know if my eyes are a little slower while playing ping pong or it happens because it was a long time ago since I played table tennis, but playing in a competitive situation does not feel the same as before, but I hope that feeling will come back." The road to recovery is never an easy one, but is all the more fruitful when followed to new fields. Things are clearly coming together and looking good for Szandra Pergel, now that the ball isn't so hard to see.

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