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Munroe should mambo
By Edison Jefford
It is a known fact that the absence of Godfrey Munroe from the National Senior Men’s team in August when
Godfrey Munroe
Guyana hosted the Caribbean Championships did not help the team’s chances of getting past third place in the premier regional competition.
Munroe is arguably the best player in Guyana. The evidence of three consecutive national titles with the last two being attainted when he is in the twilight of his playing career, is enough to support the view that Munroe’s ability is superior in 83,000 square miles.
Before the Caribbean Championships, the administrative responsibilities he had as the General Secretary of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) in helping to plan the event, took an untoward toll on him. He had no time to prepare for competition.
At least that was what Munroe said. So, with another National Championships looming in a few days’ time, the big question is: will Munroe defend the title he won for a third time last year? He has not officially said so, and refuses to clearly indicate whether or not he will.
Munroe has a number of distinguished local and regional credits to his name, but became distant from competing owed to the fact that he single-handedly kept the competitive aspect of the sport in the mainstream media through several years of finding a suitable President.
Kaieteur Sport has tried on several occasions to ascertain from the extremely talented player that comment on whether or not he will pick up his racquet next week. Given the fact that he won the Championships last year with just about two weeks of preparations, it is quite easy to suppose that Munroe often needs very little time to whip himself into shape.
It is worth mentioning that when Munroe won the title last year, Guyana’s highest placed player in the singles competition at the Caribbean Championships this year, Idi Lewis, did not compete, and was based in the United States of America at the time.
However, Lewis was in Guyana up to last week and with the National Championships beginning in about 10 days, the best players in and out of Guyana are expected to compete since the contest is one of the primary bases for the selection of national teams.
Idi Lewis competes in Venezuela earlier this year.
Noticeably, Lewis did not compete at a Power16 competition a few weeks ago at the Malteenoes Sports Club. Lewis inadvertently said, then, that he decided to step back from competing at that event since he was one of the persons who helped organise the competition.
The question marks hovering over Munroe and Lewis’s participation in the upcoming National Championships ought to be removed with both top players clearly clarifying whether or not they will be competing at the highest ranked competition in Guyana.
For the sake of the competition, however, both players should compete with Munroe being the defending Men’s champion and Lewis being the highest ranked player at the last Caribbean Championships. Munroe should mambo, with mambo of-course being used colloquially to say that Munroe should play.
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