A fast advancing table tennis duo, 16-year-old twins Brad and Brandon Belle have been making powerful strides in the sport in the United States.
Guyanese by birth, the pair migrated to the US in 2006 and it was there that they established their knack for the sport. And while the twins are virtually unknown in Guyana, in the US they have been making quite a name for themselves.
Last year, the New York Times
hailed the twins as being the Venus and Serena of their sport, with their fast developing style in the game.
While physically identical the boys can be distinguished by their playing style for while Brad is right handed, Brandon plays with his left.
Now the boys are on the first campaign in Guyana participating in the Vitamalt National Championships, and while they missed out on winning the boys 18-and-under title last weekend they are coming back this weekend to launch an attack on the men’s singles competition when the tournament continues at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
“I want to take the titles for all the competitions I’ll be playing in. I’m hoping to perform better than last weekend. Because last weekend the conditions affected me a bit because of the heat but I’m getting used to it, so I’ll do better this weekend,” Brandon said.
However for that the brothers just may have to come up against each other. Asked who is the better player, Brandon said that it could be either one of them as they never know who’s going to win. It was Brad who was on the winning side when the pair last played each other at the 13th Fit Open Championships in October.
The boys started out playing the game in 2006, and by 2007 the pair had their first tournament trophies. The pair had participated in the New York State Junior Championships, where Brad won the 14 and 18-and-under categories, while Brandon won the 16-and-under and open categories.
Now four years into the game, the boys have continued to display a progressive improvement in their skills. The boys have graced a number of tournaments and at present Brad and Brandon respectively have a rating of 2189 and 2081, with the highest rated US player standing at 2781.
The boys have even come up against some of Guyana’s best with Brandon defeating Paul David, while Brad outclassed Sydney Christophe earlier this year.
“We just got a racquet and started playing off our own skills and trying to get better. For the first year we started playing we improved a lot, we had to put in a lot of work but when you put in the work it all pays off,” Brad said.
The boys said they draw their inspiration from their brother, and former national junior champion Conan Belle. Hailing from Bartica, the boys began training under Michael Greene at the Brownsville Recreational Centre, where they now practice their skills.
The twins also frequent the table tennis club Spin New York belonging to academy award winning actress Susan Sarandon. There the brothers would normally participate in the Dirty Dozen Tournament, which is hosted every Friday night at Spin New York.
The boys even captured some fame of their own, being featured on the Today Show in May last year where they got the opportunity to take on Al Roker and his co-host Hoda Kotb. In addition they made an appearance in an episode of “In the Zone” aired last year September on Brooklyn Independent Television.
The boys said their ultimate goal is to participate at the 2012 Olympic Games, and made it known that they are working assiduously to see their dreams come true. At the Olympics, Brandon said, he hopes to represent Guyana.
Meanwhile, this year the boys sacrificed participating in the US National Open TT Championships to play in the Guyana National Championships. Brandon said that they chose instead to participate in Guyana because they really wanted to come back and test their skills against local talent.
So far, Brad has won a runner-up position in the 18-and-under boys’ singles that was won by Nigel Bryan, while Brandon got knocked out in the qualifiers. Brad had also teamed up with Chelsea Edghill to win the mixed doubles title. Other than the men’s singles the boys are expected to participate in the men’s doubles, in addition to the under-21 and the “B” Class categories.
