Table Tennis continued its long road to recovery in 2014

Jan 09, 2015 Sports

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The Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) was basically left in the rubble of the sport after the death of former President, Henry Greene. It is worth mentioning because it is that context that shaped the following years of the association with incumbent President, Godfrey Munroe left with the unenviable task of rebuilding the sport.
That process has been painstakingly slow for the former national table tennis champion, but he has persevered. We present a chronological account of what the GTTA did in 2014 as we continue to review the various sport disciplines practiced in Guyana.
The GTTA Season last year began with the annual Mashramani Tournament at the National Gymnasium. National junior player Elishaba Johnson celebrated his birthday in fine style when he won three titles.
Chelsea Edghill was in top form, running away with three titles of her own, as she captured the mixed doubles, the girls’ doubles and the girls 18 and under category. Nevaeh Clarkston won two titles in the girls 11 years and under and the girls 13 years and under categories.

The tournament had more than 220 participants from 16 categories and 22 schools as players came from Linden, Berbice, Bartica, East Coast Demerara, East Bank Demerara and the West Demerara to participate.
A representative 10-member national team comprising some of its new, and emerging players, departed Guyana February month end for Suriname to participate in a Hinterland Table Tennis Championships and Developmental Engagement involving Guyana, French Guiana and Surname.
Nigel Bryan, Shemar Britton, Joel Alleyne (senior “A” team), Orin Hickerson, Stefan Corlette, Kevon Corbin (senior “B” team), Elishaba Johnson, Kyle Edghill and Alec Hopkinson (junior team) represented Guyana, which won all three categories.
In March, the GTTA launched the Business School Mini Cadet, Cadet and Junior Team’s Table Tennis Tournament with Mae’s Primary ‘A’ team winning the 11-years-and-under teams title as Mae’s ‘B’ finished second in the category.
Mae’s Secondary ‘A’ team also won the 13-years-and-under competition with Mae’s ‘B’ second and Rama Krishna Primary third. With their dominance in the two categories Mae’s School won the overall teams contest with 36 points.
The association hosted an Easter Holidays Training Camp that commenced on April 14 and concluded on May 2 at the National Gymnasium. The Camp attracted 27 players, ages 4-18 years old from 10am – 12 noon Monday to Friday.
In May, National Sports Commission (NSC) hosted the Independence tournament in conjunction with the GTTA at the National Gymnasium before Junior Sportswoman-of-the-Year; Chelsea Edghill went to Shanghai, China where she took part in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Road to Nanjing Training Camp, which was held in June.
Edghill joined Britton, and Trenace Lowe, who were in China for the training programme at the Shanghai Sport Training Base. Overseas-based Guyanese Paul David was also in China but at a different training programme in Beijing.
The association sent a female team to the Olympic Festival in Mexico. The Guyanese females qualified for the event during the Caribbean Table Tennis Championships in 2013 in St. Lucia.
The three females that represented Guyana at the Festival were Natalie Cummings, Trenace Lowe and Chelsea Edghill.
In August, GTTA continued a relatively busy and all-round developmental year when it hosted an ITTF Level I and level II Coaches’ Certification Programme at the National Gymnasium.
Spaniard, Ramon Ortega Montes, ITTF Latin American Development Officer, conducted the programme.
Table Tennis participated in the 2014 Commonwealth Games with Guyana’s women’s team of Edghill, Lowe and Cummings toppling the higher ranked Scotland team in the women’s team competition. The men’s side included Christopher Franklin, David, Idi Lewis and Britton.
Edghill reached the main draw at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China. Competing in the Women’s Singles in Group F, Edghill lost in three sets, 5-11, 5-11 and 7-11 to Natalia Bajor of Poland; in her second group game, the Guyanese fell 3-0 to Karoline Mischek of Austria while also losing to Rea Rakovac of Croatia in her final group game.
Edghill, Cummings, Lowe and Akecia Nedd then competed at the Central American and the Caribbean (CAC) Games in Mexico. The players failed to reach the main draws in the Teams losing to Venezuela 3-0, Dominican Republic 3-0 and Cuba 3-0 and in the singles segment all four players lost in the their respective groups.
In September, national table tennis teams participated in the Inter-Guiana Games Table Tennis Championship in Suriname. The Guyanese team dominated their Surinamese and French Guiana counterparts on their way to winning the table tennis title.
The Digicel National Schools’ Table Tennis Championships was held in November, featuring 20 schools and 150 players from Georgetown, Berbice, West Demerara, East Bank Demerara and East Coast Demerara. Mae’s ‘A’ again was the top school when they outperformed their peers at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
“Table Tennis in Guyana has managed to improve and currently has more persons playing at all levels. The profile of the sport has improved. It has also witnessed an increase in tournaments and a positive coaching programme for players,” the GTTA believes. (Edison Jefford)

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