(Washington, DC) Olympic hopefuls will converge on Washington in March for chance to garner gold this summer.

During March 19-20, men and women from across the country will compete in the 2004 US Doubles Olympic Table Tennis trials, taking place at the Emery Recreation Center. Emery is located at 5801 Georgia Avenue, NW. On March 19, the first match begins at 9 am, while the last match begins at 5 pm. On March 20, the first match begins at 9 am with the last match beginning at 3 pm.  

The participants – seven pairs of men’s doubles teams and five pairs of women’s doubles teams – will vie for a spot on Team USA to compete against Canada during next month's North American Doubles Olympic Team Trials. The doubles teams will compete in a round-robin format, and the three teams of each gender with the best records at the conclusion of play will be selected to advance.

The North American trials winners will advance to this year's Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Only a limited number of doubles teams are admitted to the Olympic Games per continent.  

Conducting the event will be USA Table Tennis (USATT), an affiliate of the United States Olympic Committee, and National Governing Body of the sport of Table Tennis in the USA.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Alan Williams at (301)738-8250, or Tommy Perkins, USATT Programs and Marketing Coordinator, at (719) 866-4583, ext. 6.