But come Saturday, the name Lionel Darceuil would appear on the National “ping pong” programme for the last time.

Old age and frustration are not pushing this tactful all-round player out of the game. Instead a nagging shoulder injury is fast reducing his vicious kicking loop shots to simple topspins, his loaded forehand chops to mere simple returns.

The injury came on a year ago. It was as sneaky as one of his deadly drop shots which left so many of his adversaries stumbling.

One day he was exceptional at training, smashing and blasting anything an inch above the net, retrieving most of his opponent’s hardest shots. His flick also worked 100 per cent.

Next day, Darceuil complained bitterly that he was barely able to lift his right hand. Excruciating pain has been eating away his confidence since then.

Even his devastating backhand attack has lost much of its power.

On a good day, the two-time Caribbean champion could still turn back the clock to two decades ago when he was unbeatable.

But the feat could only be done in agony and pain, with Darceuil clutching his right shoulder and wincing, yet still fighting for every point.

The decision to quit must have been an agonising one.

“It’s all over,” he said in a recent interview, adding that the 2003 “Nationals” will be his final trip to the table.

He has won it three times and was always in the final four for more than 30 years. No player has ever felt safe once Darceuil was on the roster.

And it certainly would be the same story at the Pleasantville Sports Complex this Saturday when more than 100 players begin a battle for the national singles title.

Darceuil would be fighting “to the death” in his last hurrah, although a new crop of players like Reeza Burke, Anthony Brown, Curtis Humpreys and Ken Permanand would make a dream ending a difficult one to materialise.

He has always been a class guy in regional ping pong, even before 1973 when he emerged as a surprise triple crown Caribbean champion, beating Barbadian Robert Earle for the men’s singles crown, teaming up with Stephen Wade to take the men’s doubles, and with Leela Calpu in the mixed doubles.

Three years later, speed again came to his legs in Havana, Cuba and the fire was in his drives when he outplayed his Trinidad teammate Mansingh Amarsinh to regain the title.

The impressive Havana field included the Jamaican ace Orville Haslam, Cuban Ricardo Armas, and the tough Venezuelan Francisco Lopez.

Now it would be difficult to imagine a local table tennis event minus Darceuil.

On performance, longevity and brilliant strokeplay, he must be acclaimed as the best.

Only the France-based smasher Dexter Louis, who benefitted from prolonged exposure in the USA and Europe, could present stronger credentials to claim the No. 1 spot.

Darceuil’s romance with table tennis goes back to the late 1960s when he trained for hours with Arima players like Ainsley Pyle, Stephen Calliste, Derek Poon Young, Marcel Hicks, and Michael Joseph.

“I owe a lot to Pyle. We would loop and counter loop for hours. He was instrumental in the development of my game,” said Darceuil, adding that he had no regrets over the long years and training spent on the game.

Table tennis has taken him around the world, enjoying tours to China, Nigeria, England, Germany, Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba and throughout the Caribbean.

“If I had to live it all over again, I will still turn up at the Community Centre (Arima) and play the game. I made no money. I love it and the game gave me so much pleasure,” he said.

Darceuil received plaudits from the best ever. The Austrian Victor Barna had one look at him in 1971 and said: “I like him. I am impressed with his ability to switch from defence to attack.”

Similar opinions were voiced by the Jamaican stalwarts Fernando Roberts and Leo Davis, as well as China’s Liang Ko Liang.