GTTA to clear new tables for Independence tournament

Jun 01, 2010 Sports

INTENSIFYING PREPARATIONS!!! One of Guyana’s leading Under-10 Players, Amit Mookram (right) works on his forehand with Kevon Corbin during a practice session at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

– players intensifying preparations, says Johnson

The Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) is hoping that the new tables that they got through a two-year sponsorship arrangement with India-based Stag would be cleared and ready to use at this weekend’s Independence tournament.
National Table Tennis Coach, Linden Johnson told Kaieteur Sport on Thursday that the association is stepping up the paperwork to get the container with the tables cleared as players also intensify preparations ahead of the competition.
“We are looking forward to using the Stag tables for this tournament. We have the papers to get them off the wharf so we are looking at getting them before Wednesday,” Johnson said, adding that the association is excited about using them.
The table tennis coach said that the word of the new tables has been generating interest at individual and club levels of the sport.
He said that most of the players are fine-tuning for the National Sports Commission-sponsored tournament.
Asked about the response from players in terms of number of entries, Johnson was quick to point out that “entries are not going as well as we would have liked but we’re certain that we will get over or close to 200 participants this year.”
He informed that last year they had 325 entries, and while that does not seem likely at the tournament this year he anticipates an escalation in the amount of schools that are likely to compete at the event. He said 30 schools would be an increase.
According to Johnson, any participation within the vicinity of 25-30 schools would be a major boost to the GTTA Schools’ Programme, which he hopes will serve off with all the equipment that is to be cleared from the container.