Caribbean junior girls’ champion Michelle John will depart Guyana sometime this week for Halifax, Canada to participate in the Pan Am Youth qualifying championships.

According to vice president of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) Arron Fraser, John and Lowe have been invited to participate in the 20-player singles tournament which serves as a qualification tournament for the World Junior championships.

Fraser said the players will be grouped into two batches of 10 with the top five players from each group contesting a final round robin play-off.

“I think they can hold their own,” Fraser  told Stabroek Sport.

The tournament will be held from July 7-10 and Fraser said the first day will be a training day/camp before the players  swing into action the following day.

Fraser said the GTTA was making every effort to send the two players along with a manager/coach to the championships but said a ticket to Halifax was  in the vicinity of US$1800.

The tournament will see the top five boys and girls players ranked by the International Table Tennis Federation competing.

There will also be players competing from the Latin America Table Tennis Union (LATTU)  along with Lowe and John.

However Fraser said it was doubtful whether Caribbean junior boys champioin Kenwin Small of Trinidad and Tobago would be participating at the championships.