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Lowe and John making Guyana proud: -Through to Doubles quarter-finals
Over the years, Guyana, a country geographically situated in South America, but has been associated with the West Indies both socially and culturally has been the birthplace of some of the world’s finest cricketers for those who follow the sport which is played predominantly by countries once part of the British Empire.
Rohan Kanhai, Clive Lloyd, Carl Hooper, Roy Fredericks and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are legendary figures.
They were all born Guyana; ask the names of legendary table tennis players and the cupboard is comparatively bare.
However, this situation is about to change since Caribbean Under-18 table tennis champion and her compatriot Trenace Lowe have stepped forward and has been rapidly making a name for themselves and the country as a whole.
At the Latin American Junior Championships they produced impressive performances, while at the Colombian Junior Open the two Guyanese underlined the improvement they had made over the past twelve days. Both steered safe passages through the group stages of the Girls Singles event and both secured opening round victories.
John recovered from a two-set deficit to beat Ecuador’s Michelle Vitteri, while Trenace Lowe fought back from the depths to overcome the Dominican Republic’s Lucia Marte.
She trailed by three games to two and was down 2-8 in the sixth game, before recovering to secure victory.
“The Dominican Republic player has a higher ranking than me, she plays in more international tournaments than me,” explained Lowe.
“I came back from being down to win, I think it was my greatest match ever.”
WORLD RANKING
Certainly, the charming seventeen year-old from East Coast Demerara in Guyana showed composure and mental strength. “I want to try and get a world ranking,” continued Lowe.
“If I can do that, it will be good for table tennis in Guyana.”
PROMISING PLAYERS
Undoubtedly that will be the case, but under the guidance of Linden Johnson, the National Coach since 2003, table tennis is moving forward. We have sixty players in our coaching group in Georgetown,” he explained. “The national team consists of four boys and four girls, but we have many young promising players.”
MEDALS
Good news for Guyana and good news for table tennis in the Caribbean where at the recent Caribbean Junior Championships Lowe and John contested the Girls Singles final with the latter emerging successful. Needless to say they won the Girls Doubles title.
Success has come their way in previous Latin American Championships.
In 2003, they were silver medallist in both the Cadet Girls Team and Cadet Girls Doubles events, while in 2004; they were bronze medallists in the Junior Girls Team competition.
DEBUT
However, the Colombian Junior Open was their first appearance on the ITTF Junior Circuit. “Here, we see a good level of play,” said John, who had taken a little time to acclimatise in her first round match against Michelle Vitteri. “I was cold, John explained; a comment which baffles me. Cold in Cartagena is impossible!
CONCENTRATION
Nevertheless, she soon warmed up! “The third game was close, I won that game and that gave me confidence,” explained John. “Sometimes I lose my concentration, I know I must try always to keep my focus playing her is good experience and it’s important now that when I return home I train hard.”
TRAINING
No doubt she will do just that; under the guidance of Linden Johnson, she practises every weekday night for two hours at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall in Georgetown, the sports hall is named after the professional boxer, Cliff Anderson.
“We have a twelve month programme in operation,” explained Johnson and the girls practise from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.”
DOUBLES
The programme would seem to be paying dividends, both have caught the eye in Cartagena, both have gained creditable results and together they form a potent doubles force.
Lowe and John are through to the quarter-finals of the Junior Girls’ Doubles.
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