SEATTLE — Like a ferocious forehand or a blasted backhand, the path to Paris for table tennis is treacherous.
"I mean it's brutal," said Sean O'Neill, an Olympian on the 1988 men's table tennis team. "It's completely brutal."
Spots for the United States men's team are scarce. But ask any expert and they'll tell you: A member of the Seattle Spinners has the best shot.
"Nikhil Kumar, two-time U.S. men's champion," O'Neill said. "He's their heart and soul."
O'Neill had a front-row seat to Kumar's nuances.
He's a ping-pong pundit and will be calling games in Paris. He expects Kumar to be there with him.
"Every point you'll hear him either encouraging himself screaming and when his teammates are out there, he's doing the same thing," O'Neill said.
Kumar qualified for the 2020 Olympics, but he said making the 2024 team is an even tougher test.
"It's quite difficult to be honest," Kumar said.
He's cleared the first hurdle and placed top two in the U.S. Olympic trials in March.
"Then I got to go to South America and play the Pan Am singles qualification, and if I'm able to make top five there, then I qualify for Paris," Kumar said. "Otherwise I won't be able to make it."
Kumar's coach has confidence in him.
"Master in changing the pace, changing the speed, spin, so that's what makes him very unique," said Luba Sadovska, Seattle Spinners head coach.
Sadovska oversaw Kumar's first year of major league table tennis as part of Seattle's team. It was the inaugural season for the professionals in the United States
O'Neill said the league was the light in the face of overwhelming odds.
"Nothing is better right now than major league table tennis in the U.S.," O'Neill said.
O'Neill was an olympian himself in 1988. He said Kumar is ready to make his return.
To have something in the U.S. for our Olympic hopefuls and Olympians to be able to play stateside is such a difference," O'Neill said.
Table tennis has been an Olympic sport since 1988, but only this year did a pro league come to the United States.