Four Guyanese table tennis players are in line for selection to the International Table Tennis Federation’s ITTF’s World Hopes Programme.
According to a release from the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) the four players nominated for selection are Ebo Mc Neil, Jasmine Billingy, Samara Sukhai and Malachi Moore.
The Hopes World activity is a move initiated by the ITTF to take its World Hopes training and selection process to a virtual engagement, the GTTA stated in a press release.
The players will participate in weekly virtual training sessions along with their coaches and ITTF experts Dominique Plattner ITTF high-performance manager and ITTF High Performance and Education Director Massimo Costantini with a view of possibly being selected as one of the 20 girls and 20 boys who will benefit from the ITTF World Hopes programme.
The process, the release stated, offers the players and opportunity to progress to other High-Performance programmes; Interaction with World top players and coaches; Educational sessions (strength & conditioning, sport science, nutrition and other relevant areas) among other benefits.
The online activities will form the main evaluation of the programme and will result in selecting the players for the World Hopes Week & Challenge.
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely limited the ITTF’s ability to host actual Hopes programmes in the region, stated the release.
Associations can nominate up to two girls and two boys under 12 years of age along with their coaches, who commit to consistently participating in the programme.
The evaluation from the online activities will consider attributes such as a player’s performance and attitude during the training sessions. In addition, the attendance at the Hopes Around the Clock sessions will also be a relevant element for the final evaluation and selection.
Wild Card selection will be based on assessment and evaluation of performance over the entire period of online sessions and having attended the Continental Hopes, if applicable.
The first scheduled session will take place today from 3pm.
“The GTTA has worked out the online details to allow coaches Linden Johnson, Idi Lewis and Shavin Greene to connect with the training experts for the first scheduled training programme,” the release stated.
“The GTTA is appreciative of the support and patience of the players in the fraternity during these challenging period as we navigate ensuring the best opportunities and outcomes for our hard-working players,” the release ended.
