CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Islam Ganal Abdel-Raze a public health graduate student, lets a serve fly yesterday in Wilbur's Underground at the Student Union Memorial Center.

While pursuing his master's degree at the UA, Islam Ganal Abdel-Razek has managed to master something else: table tennis.

Abdel-Razek, a public health master's student, will represent Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming at this month's Association of College Unions International's International Table Tennis Tournament in Philadelphia.

Abdel-Razek, 31, has been playing table tennis since he was 13 years old.

He was first introduced to the sport while living in Saudi Arabia; however he could not play competitively because of his Egyptian heritage. Instead, a Saudi Arabian team member took the time to mentor him.

"I remember watching them play; it seemed like magic," Abdel-Razek said about his initial attraction to the sport.

"Keeping control of the ball · the rhythm is amazing," he added.

Abdel-Razek didn't begin playing professionally until this year.

He entered the UA's ACUI table tennis tournament, unaware that if he won he would advance to the regional tournament.

"I won and then a guy told me I qualified to go to Utah," he said.

In February, Abdel-Razek defeated top players from five states in the ACUI Regional Table Tennis Tournament in Ogden, Utah.

"I was lucky. That's it," said Abdel-Razek, who added that he was afraid of many players at the regional level because they were known purely by ethnicity to be good table tennis players.

His first-place ranking at the regional competition qualified him for the three-day International Tournament March 28 ÷ 30 at the University of Pennsylvania. At the tournament, Abdel-Razek will face the top players from the 16 other regional tournaments.

Abdel-Razek now budgets his time between studying and practicing in the game room at the Student Union Memorial Center.

He has beefed up his practice time to two hours per day, four days per week, and he feels confident about his strategies.

"Every game is different, but I try to discover the weaknesses of my opponent · then use it," he said.

If players at the upcoming tournament are like those Abdel-Razek faced at the regional tournament, he said he is confident he will walk away a champion.

Friend and practice opponent Mohammed Hassan said that Abdel-Razek is a smart player.

"He presses the weakness of his opponent; that's what makes him so good," Hassan said.

Abdel-Razek said he hopes the trip to Philadelphia will not be as grueling as his trip to Utah, when he rode a bus for 16 hours and then had to play table tennis for 10.

Although he does not anticipate the attendance of any fans from the UA at the tournament, he does hope to visit with some friends from the Washington, D.C. area, take in some local Philadelphia sights, and of course, win.

"My favorite thing is to win," Abdel-Razek said.

Hassan said he had no doubts that his friend would do just that.

"I have faith in him, I think he'll get first place."