The Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) in collaboration with the National Sports Commission (NSC) will stage the West Indies Sports Complex mini cadet, cadet and junior table tennis tournament from today at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

According to a release from the GTTA, the objectives of the tournament are to encourage camaraderie among players, promote a healthy lifestyle through sports and give the players a more competitive involvement in the sport.

According to the GTTA, staging a junior tournament at this time will provide the players with a chance to gain experience in competitive play which will be an asset to them when they travel overseas to represent Guyana.

With five different categories, the tournament caters for every age group of young table tennis players.

The categories are nine years and under, 11-years-and-under, 13-years-and-under, 15-years-and-under and 18-years-and-under.

Rules of the tournament forbids a player from competing in more than two categories.

Assistant general secretary of the GTTA and coordinator of the tournament Linden Johnson, said that he expected the tournament to be a huge success adding that it had already attracted many players. “I am confident that this tournament will be a success and judging by the number of players that have already registered, we are certainly in for an exciting tournament as well,” said Johnson.

Johnson also said that the tournament will be used to select players for the Caribbean Junior Table tennis Championships that will be held in Guyana during February.

“We hope to identify a group of players that we will be working with individually and as a team in preparation for the Caribbean Junior Table Tennis Championships that we are hosting next month.” Johnson said.

The GTTA/NSC also asked that all players be at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall at least 30 minutes before the time of their matches and players would be given their fixtures and times of the matches in advance.

The tournament is expected to be declared open by Director of Sport Neil Kumar and will swing into action tomorrow with play in the nine years and under and 11 years and under categories from 3.30pm.