Table Tennis enjoyed another productive year

Dec 30, 2013 Sports

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Following the death of former Commissioner of Police and Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) President, Henry Greene, the incumbent, Godfrey Munroe, who was General Secretary, then, was tasked with the unenviable job of rebuilding a discipline that was hiding behind a veil of financial success, which disappeared when Greene died.

Following is a chronological assessment of Munroe’s first year as GTTA President and what the association was able to accomplish in 2013. We begin in January with the Berbice Training Camp, which was part of the GTTA’s ‘Decentralisation Programme’.
The GTTA in collaboration with the Berbice Table Tennis Sub-Association successfully held a one-day Coaching Clinic in Berbice at the Port Mourant Training Centre. Floyd Conway and Levi Nedd organised the Clinic, which was the first of a series of such sessions for the Berbicians. Linden Johnson and Munroe conducted sessions for some 21 participants.
Meanwhile, individually, Chelsea Edghill was selected for a US$8,000 grant from the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) for the Road to Nanjing, China, August 2014. The GTTA is exploring how to access the funds, which is done through Guyana Olympic Association (GOA).
Edghill received sponsorship for the Caribbean Junior Table Tennis Championships in Trinidad and will continue to receive long-term sponsorship from the Continental Group of Companies in an arrangement that is set to make her the face of Sunburst Juices.
The GTTA continued the annual Mashramani Tournament in collaboration with the National Sports Commission (NSC), which had more than 220 participants from 16 categories and approximately 22 schools with representatives from Clubs, Linden, Berbice, Bartica, East Coast Demerara, East Bank Demerara and West Demerara.
Chelsea Edghill won four titles, while Shemar Britton won three and Kristie Lopes two titles.
Kayson Ninvalle, Carlia Webb, Tyriq Saunders, Selenas Jackman, Miguel Wong, Priscilla Greaves, Elishaba Johnson, David Duncan, Nigel Bryan and Edinho Lewis won a title each at the Mashramani event.
In March, Johnson received an award from GOA as a person, who has made significant contribution to the development of sports in general and to table tennis in particular and Guyana participated in the Eight Caribbean Cadet and Junior Championships in Trinidad and Tobago.
Guyana also participated in the 18th Caribbean Championship from April 1-8 in Trinidad and Tobago. The 16-member Guyana squad won seven bronze medals to finish fourth overall in the medal standings.
The GTTA hosted its annual Inter-Organisation Table Tennis Tournament with twelve (12) teams in attendance namely NP Electronics, Guyana Defense Force “A”, Guyana Defence Force “B”, Blue Thunder Electronics “A”, Blue Thunder Electronic “B” Ministry of Education, Guysuco, Ministry of Home Affairs, Bank of Guyana “A”, Bank of Guyana “B”, Ptolemy Reid Rehab “A” and Ptolemy Reid “B”; a total of forth-eight (48) players represented the twelve (12) teams played at the National Gymnasium during May 3-6. NP Electronics won the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) Teams’ title, while Stabroek News’ Donald Duff claimed the Singles accolade.
Most significantly, Guyana participated in the World Table Tennis Championship in Paris, France. The GTTA had said that Guyana’s participation in this year’s event was critical to establishing world rankings for our national team players.
The Guyanese team was Mr. Arron Fraser as delegate, Deidre Edghill manager, Christopher Franklin, Paul David, Idi Lewis, Trenace Lowe and Chelsea Edghill.
The GTTA/NSC honoured their top achievers for the 2013 Edition of the Independence Table Tennis tournament at the National Gymnasium on Saturday June 2. Shemar Britton carted off the lion’s share of the awards after winning the U-15, U-18, U-21 and Men’s Singles titles in the competition.
The association continued its “Teach Them Young” Summer Camp targeting children 18 years and younger and had sessions running from 9-12 daily from Monday to Friday. The camp was aimed at developing and improving the level of table tennis; to help children with the basic skills; to be better prepared for future tournaments; to increase the number of participants involved in table tennis; create an integrated coaching programme that incorporates the coach’s education and generally develop players.
Guyana was successful at the Inter-Guiana Games Table Tennis Championships on August 9 after they comfortably defeated Suriname to retain their titles at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
The Eight Caribbean Pre-Cadet Table Tennis Championships was satisfactory for Guyana overall. Guyanese Nevaeh Clarkston copped gold, Selenas Jackman grabbed silver and Abigail Martin took bronze in the singles, while Clarkston and Jackman won the doubles in the Girls Under-11 category.
Trinidad and Tobago were crowned overall champions with a haul of eight gold, four silver and six bronze. Guyana took the runner-up spot with six gold, seven silver and thirteen bronze medals. Dominican Republic was third with two gold and three silver medals.
Six countries participated, namely; Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Dominican Republic, Barbados and Aruba, with 83 players.
The performance set the tone for the senior competition that followed. However, Guyana finished third place with one gold and two silver medals behind Dominican Republic, Trinidad & Tobago; other participating countries were Barbados, Guadeloupe, St Vincent & Grenadines, St Lucia, Martinique, French Guiana and Aruba.
Guyana’s Trenace Lowe fell just short of defeating defending women’s singles champion, Rheann Chung at the end of August on the penultimate night of the 55th Caribbean Regional Table Tennis Championships at the Beausejour Indoor Facility, Gros Islet, St Lucia.
The GTTA was also represented at the first South American Youth Games in Lima, Peru with Johnson as Coach along with players, Shemar Britton and Chelsea Edghill.
Both Edghill and Britton were eliminated from the Singles competition after the final preliminary round. The GTTA reported that both players are talented and will continue to be a focus of investment for the association.
The association then sent representative national teams to Cayenne, French Guiana and Suriname respectively. In October, the team comprised a mixture of youth and experience in an invitational contest in French Guiana and Goodwill in Suriname.
The GTTA in an effort to promote table tennis countrywide coordinated a team’s and single’s tournament involving schools in November. The tournament attracted 20 schools and 150 players from Georgetown, Berbice, Bartica, West Demerara, East Bank Demerara and East Coast Demerara.
Table Tennis in Guyana has managed to continue its robust domestic, regional and international programmes, which has led to the development of seasoned players, unearthing of new talents and moderate success internationally. With that, the association can safely say that it recorded another productive year.

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