The Guyana Senior Table Tennis Squad departed local shores yesterday to participate in the Caribbean Table Tennis Championship in the Dominican Republic.
The championships, which get underway today, will end Friday.
The team consists of Nigel Bryan, Shemar Britton, Kyle Edghill and Elishaba Johnson with Linden Johnson as the coach.
Asked about his expectations from the team, Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) President Godfrey Munroe, during an invited comment said:“It’s mostly developmental in nature especially in the absence of more senior players like Christopher Franklin and Matthew Khan.
“It gives us the opportunity to develop the next group of players and transition them to the senior level. This will help in two ways, one, which is the building of a larger nucleus of players to select in the future for senor representation and secondly, it makes the domestic competition stronger because the players will be exposed to playing stronger opposition,” he explained.
“Three of them are under 21 but they should be competitive in the tourney. Also it will be the first time in the event that they will be offering a world ranking to Caribbean players which will help our team and the players to be in a better position for future international engagements,” Munroe added.
On another note, the GTTA boss, when asked about his thoughts on the recent decision to introduce Table Tennis into the National Schools Champion-ships, said:“It’s a good thing for us as the sport develops and benefits via mass participation which will transcend to athletes coming to the national ranks at a greater quantum and a more adoptive age to achieve at a higher level.”
According to Munroe, it will have a significant impact as it will allow the association “to view the talents in the schools and start selection and identification for training and possible selection to the national structure.”
He said it will also help to link the programmes of the GTTA with overseas initiatives from the governing body.
