Nicholas Gangi attended a specially scheduled award ceremony held in his honor at the World Veteran Championships.

Nicholas Gangi, a resident of Somerville for 74 years, a table tennis player for more than 30 years, was sponsored by The Boston Table Tennis Center of Medford to compete in the World Veteran Championships at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the largest convention center in North America.

The tournament was conducted June 18-24, 2018. More than 4,000 players from 98 countries participated, ranging in age from age 40-90 years, each playing within their age group of either 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, etc.

Nicholas played in the 90+ group and won the Silver medal in Doubles and First place in Singles Consolation. He played Doubles with a player from California named Simon Wasserman, whom he didn’t know and never played with.

Nicholas Gangi

The tournament was highly competitive on a world-wide basis. Meeting people from all walks of life that also compete as table tennis players was quite heartwarming for Gangi.

The World Veteran Championship Tournament is held every two years in a different country. The previous one was held in Spain. In 2020 it will be held in France. The last time it was held in the USA was 1990 in Baltimore, Maryland.

This tournament originated in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1982 and since then the playing venue has been held in several continents.

Gangi also competes in States Senior Olympics, playing table tennis. He has competed in MA, NH, RI, CT and ME as a medal winner and qualified for National Senior Olympics held every year, two years in a different state.

He has competed as a medal recipient in Baton Rouge LA, Norfolk VA, Pittsburgh PA, Louisville KY, Cleveland OH, Minneapolis MN and Birmingham AL.

Going on 91, Gangi is not a typical 90-year-old, as his doctor will confirm.