The latest ranking of 400 universities in Asia by QS Rankings has just been announced and most noticeable, Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City had jumped five ranks comparing to that of the previous year 2016.

Started from hobby of playing table tennis, a group of students Vo Dinh Nghia, Le Tat Thien, Tran Lam Ngoc Minh, Tran Ngoc Thien Tri, Ngo Thanh Phi, Nguyen Chi Hieu and Tran Ba Khuong Duy had together researched and created a device that help table tennis player in practice with total cost was only 800.000 vnd.

Using basic knowledge in the first year, they looked for simple materials as water pipes, nets, zinc, toy cars, etc,.to make their product within a week.

When the switch is turned on, the device will start shooting balls. At the same time, rotating axis moves balls from baskets up to the gun. Then, when player hit the balls, net system will stop the ball from flying to far then give them back to the basket.

Players can customize their exercises including easy/difficult mode. Moreover, there are a lot of exercises to help them develop their skills, power and speed.

 This device is highly evaluated in practice. It does not only help player improve skills effectively but also help them save energy and training time.

However, due to old and low quality materials, there are still some disadvantages in operation process, and it does not work totally automatic (need to adjust speed and shooting angle manually),etc,.

Vo Dinh Nghia said: “In the future, we will improve the device so that it will be lighter, more flexible.”

 In conclusion, table tennis practicing device for individual of HCMUT’s students is not completely new but it shows the willingness and capacity to learn and creativity of the first year students.