Businessman-sportsman Charlie Lim clearly remembers the time when as a young, aspiring table tennis player in Cebu, he had to rely on kind-hearted people to help him pursue his passion.
A varsity player both in high school for the Cebu Eastern College and as a college student at the University of San Carlos, the young Charlie and his teammates rewarded their supporters with a number of victories and championships.
Needless to say, he survived both his time in the table tennis arena and inside the classroom.
Fast forward to the future. Charlie has become a successful businessman, but he never once have forgotten the people who had helped him become what he is today.
Now, he is paying his “debts” forward by rediscovering his athletic roots and helping young Filipinos achieve their dreams of becoming world-class table tennis players in this part of the world.
As organizing committee chairman, Charlie is the force behind the highly-successful 9th Flexible Cup Invitational Table Tennis Championship two weeks ago at the Harrison Shopping Complex in Manila, which drew 400 foreign and local participants, some of them from table tennis powerhouse nations such as Indonesia, China and Malaysia.
He is also the honorary president of the Table Tennis Association for National Development, which he founded 19 years ago, and which later gave birth to the Flexible Cup tournaments and other related activities.
Today, Charlie looks back with fondness as to how it all started for him.
“Noong estudyante pa kasi ako, siyempre wala pa naman tayong kinikita noon, marami ring tumulong sa akin sa pagiging varsity player ko. Kaya ibinabalik ko lang ngayon, gusto ko ring makatulong sa mga aspiring table tennis players,” Charlie said.
In helping young table tennis players achieve their dreams, Charlie more often than not, had to dig deep from his own pocket and sometimes ask help from like-minded friends to fund his projects.
In fact, Charlie’s company, the Flexible Packaging Corp., had been sponsoring international events for the past nine years.
But the untiring Charlie doesn’t seem to mind, because from the outset, he had been nurturing a long-cherished dream, not for his own, but for young Filipino table tennis players.
“Ang dream ko talaga ay makapag-produce tayo ng mga players who can be at par with the best players in the world, na puwede nating dalhin hanggang sa Olympics,” Charlie said.
He may have found that gem of a table tennis player in Russel Misal, a varsity player for National University.
In December last year, Misal reached the round-of-16 in the prestigious World Championship of Pingpong held in London, England.
The Davao native again proved his mettle when he became the lone Filipino campaigner to crash into the round-of-8 in the men’s individual category in the 9th Flexible Cup, faring better than the national team members entered in the event.
With his recent successes, Misal has become a source of pride for TATAND and Charlie, who is supporting Misal’s table tennis career all the way.
Still, Charlie says that he wishes that like Misal, more young players would take up the sport and excel.
“I believe that Filipinos can really excel in table tennis, kasi hindi naman kailangan ng height dito. Kahit maliit ka, pero mabilis kang kumilos and if you are properly trained, puwede kang maging world-class player. But we need to support these players so they can achieve their dreams,” said Charlie.