Fresh from participating in the South American Youth Championships where he surpassed expectations Guyana’s Jonathan Van Lange will turn his attention to the Caribbean table tennis championships looking to medal.
The 2022 Caribbean TT championships get cracking tomorrow in the Dominican Republic and Guyana will be represented in the boys U15 and U19 divisions.
General Secretary of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) Linden Johnson, told Stabroek Sport that the 16-year-old Van Lange will spearhead the U19 boys team which also includes Krystian Sahadeo and Niron Bissu.
The U15 boys team will be Colin Wong, Malachi Moore and Ebo Mc Neal, who Johnson said played well at this year’s national championships.
Seven teams including Guyana will contest the boys U19 team championships and much will be expected of Van Lange. Earlier this year he was a member of the men’s team which participated at the senior Caribbean TT championships in Cuba where he acquitted himself well.
He also had an excellent tour of Argentina where he reached the round of 16 of the singles event after defeating David Herrera of Panama 12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-5.
He also defeated another Panamanian Sammy Mercado 4-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-3 and 11-9 in the team event which Guyana lost 1-3.
But by far his biggest win was his 3-2 defeat of Nicolas Callaba of Argentina in the team event which Guyana also lost 1-3.
Van Lange’s performance in Argentina could serve as preparation for a run at the singles title at the Caribbean championships.
However the players from the host country the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico will obviously stand in his path.
The other competing teams in the U19 division are St Lucia, Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
Six teams including Guyana and the host country, will contest the boys U18 competition.
The other competing teams are Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Trinidad and Grenada.
The team events will commence tomoorow and end Sunday with the awards ceremony while the individual singles events will commence Sunday and end Wednesday.
Guyana will not be represented in the female competition.
