“Teams were better prepared than us” Coach Johnson

Aug 30, 2016 Sports

Ninvalle cops Guyana’s only Gold Medal

By Sean Devers
Team Guyana returned on Sunday night from Jamaica where they participated in the Caribbean Table Tennis Federation (CTTF) Pre-Cadet Championship which ended on Saturday at the National Indoor Sports Arena,

GTTA and team officials with the youngsters at yesterday’s Media briefing.

Kingston, Jamaica.
Guyana’s Kaysan Ninvalle copped Guyana’s only Gold Medal, while Isaiah Layne & Nevaeh Clarkston captured Silver. Thuraia Thomas, Abigale Martin, Krystian Sahadeo and Colin Wong all put in credible performances as Trinidad & Tobago dominated the competition.
At a Media briefing yesterday afternoon at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall which is now a Basketball facility, President of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) Godfrey Munroe was handed a report on the Championship by Team Manager Daniel Thompson who along with Head Coach Linden Johnson updated the Media on what transpired in Reggie Country. Mooniram Persaud traveled as Assistant Coach.
Johnson disclosed that he was ‘comfortable’ with the team’s performance and was high in praise for Ninvalle who was the youngest player in the team in 2013 and performed as expected.

The winners proudly show off their hardware.

“Both Jamaica and T&T had larger teams than us due to our lack of funding and were better prepared than us,” Johnson explained.
Johnson added that he felt Guyana could have converted their Silver Medals to Gold but the pressure of very vocal support from the fans from opposing teams resulted in too many little mistakes being made by his charges adding that teams like T&T were preparing four months before the Event.
Munroe noted he would have liked a longer camp and wanted to keep this team together and not only prepare for tournaments but added that academic lessons and the lack of more funding hampered this plan.
“We need more exposure for our young players and moving forward we (GTTA) are planning to host (in collaboration with the 11 districts of the GTU) a National School’s Table Tennis championships and start training teachers to coach,” Munroe.
Thomas noted that the venue in Jamaica was air conditioned and it was strange for the young players who encountered problems with their grip due to coldness.
“We play at the Sports Hall and Gymnasium but we plan to make recommendations to the Government to bring our venues up to that level. We are encouraging Corporate Guyana, Individuals and Government to lend more support to Table Tennis since equipment is very expensive,” Thomas said. It was stated that the desire is also to bring more girls to the sport.
T&T was denied a clean sweep of the singles, after Jalen Kerr went under to Ninvalle, the son of Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) President and former Member of Parliament Steve Ninvalle, in an entertaining final, 8-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 7-11, while Layne was beaten by T&T’s Derron Douglas 11-8, 12-10, 11-3 in the final.
Layne’s route to the final was a tough one as he first beat Jamaican Jordan Campbell 11-6, 11-9, 13-15, 11-13, 11-9, then ousted T&T duo, Mikhail Dookie 5-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 and Nicholas Lee 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9 in his quarter final and semi-final encounters.
Trinidadian Shreya Maharaj had a much harder task in the Under-13 Girls decider as she was taken the distance by Guyana’s Nevaeh Clarkston before she prevailed 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-9.
Young Ninvalle said it was a tough competition adding that it felt ‘good’ to win a Gold medal.

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