Ryan Bachli has accomplished quite a bit in the sport of table tennis since a newspaper advertisement for the Whitehorse Table Tennis Club inspired him to take it up competitively three and a half years ago.

Since then, he has participated in numerous competitions across North America and with his most recent tournament victory at the Richmond Open in the Under 1,000 points category, Bachli is currently enjoying his best season to date.

So far this season, Bachli has finished in first place in five outside tournaments and is presently training for the Arctic Winter Games, where he hopes to win gold in each of his four senior event categories.

"I first saw Ryan I think in 2003," said Whitehorse table tennis coach Kevin Murphy. "He was one of a group of about four or five boys all around the same age that were really keen on the game, but the one thing I saw in Ryan is he never gave up on the point. He would always try to get the ball back on the table, no matter how awkwardly it may take him in terms of body motion."

This will be the third and final Arctic Winter Games that Bachli will compete in for table tennis. His first experience at the Games was in 2004, playing in the junior's category. That year he won a bronze and silver medal at the event.

At the previous Arctic Winter Games, in 2006, he played in the senior category, but the increased competition was a bit too much for him at that time and Bachli was shut out.

Bachli hopes to improve upon that result in March.

"It is important, but I think I have a good chance because I played in a handicapped tournament a little while ago and one of the players (who will compete at the 2008 Arctic Winter Games) was there and I gave him a nine-point handicap and I still beat him," he said.

Bachli attributes his success in the sport to practice, which he does twice a week at the club and at least four times on his own at home. He currently has a national rating of 476 points, which is second among active Yukon table tennis players only to Murphy, who is at 670. One of his motivating drives has always been to be able to beat his head coach, which happened in Richmond.

"He used to brag a lot when he won, so now I beat him, so I can brag."

Bachli doesn't have any immediate future plans in the sport or goals regarding a national ranking, but said he just wants to win every time he participates in a competition.

Murphy said there was something special about Bachli that he saw right from when he first tried out to be on the 2004 Arctic Winter Games team.

"Even watching him in the trials to get on the team for the under 13 category he had a hunger and a desire and you could see it," Murphy said. "He had almost a take-no-prisoners kind of attitude, like he was very confident in his game and he knew when he could win."

He said Bachli has an aggressive streak in his game that works very well to his advantage.

"To me it is not a Yukon attitude," Murphy said. "Sometimes when you are an athlete from the Yukon, you go outside and participate in a tournament and your goal is simply to equip yourself. Simply because they don't get the exposure to the top notch players all the time, so they want to put on the best show. That happens in a multitude of sports, but Ryan had that attitude that he was a good player and he was going to show you and he was going to win the points. He wasn't going to force you into errors, he was going to win and that has been his attitude throughout his career."

Murphy told Bachli in 2004 that it would only take him a couple of years before he became a better table tennis player than himself. Although it took a little longer than that, Murphy said that he is glad it happened and added that it is good for the club.

"It is a lot easier to coach other kids when they see that one of their peers is better than the coach," he said. "They can accept the fact that they can get to that level rather than seeing an adult at that level and thinking that they can't get there. It is inspiring he has already been idolized by some of the younger players in the club right now and that is what you want to see."

Murphy believes that the upcoming Arctic Winter Games will be Bachli's toughest challenge to date, but said he has what it takes in achieving his goal of medalling in all four events.

"He has that capability," Murphy said. "He has the game right now, it is a matter of executing, so he has a good shot, but the guys who are going to be there are going to be tough."

In other table tennis news, the Whitehorse Table Tennis Club is hoping to send a male and female team to the the 2008 Western Canada Championships, being held May 17-18.

The club is also considering two boys' teams and one girls' team to compete at the National Junior Championships in Halifax.