Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony yesterday urged the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) to expand table tennis to all the regions.
The minister made the remarks whilst declaring open the National Sport Commission (NSC) annual Mashramani tournament at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Dr. Anthony challenged the GTTA to not only develop the sport in Georgetown but suggested that it must be spread far and wide.
“Table tennis needs to be decentralized. Table tennis must not only be developed in Georgetown but must be taken to all schools and regions,” he declared.
The minister said that the ministry was interested in the promotion of sports adding that he looked forward to the contribution of table tennis to the national strategic plan for sports under the theme ‘Get Fit Guyana.’
According to Dr. Anthony, parents of table tennis players could also get involved in the ‘Get Fit Guyana’ programme as opposed to not actively participating in sport. The minister thanked the parents present at the ceremony for bringing their children to the event.
Dr. Anthony, who was accompanied by Director of Sport Neil Kumar, also encouraged the GTTA to begin considering the staging of a national table tennis championship.
The last time the GTTA staged a national table tennis competition was in 2001. “I think for sometime now there has not been a national table tennis championship tournament. If you want help from the ministry in staging the event, let’s work together,” the minister urged. He said that local table tennis would benefit from a Chinese coach who will be coming to Guyana this year.
The last Chinese coach to work with local table tennis players, Zhou Ping, left the country last year after a two-year stint.
Meanwhile, Obediah Stanton crushed Kyle Edghill 11-9, 11-9 and 11-3 to win the first title of the 2007 tournament – the boys’ under-7 category yesterday.
Stanton defeated Demerge Ramcharran 11-4, 11-3 and 11-5 in the semi-final round to set up the clash in the final after Edghill won a hard-fought 2-11, 10-12, 12-10, 12-10 and 11-8 battle over Jamal Glasgow.
The tournament continues today at 3:30 pm with the girls’ and boys’ under-9, under-11 and under-13 events.
