GTTA Umpires officiate in Dutch Colony tournament in Suriname

Oct 09, 2016 Sports

Ten recently International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) – accredited Guyanese umpires departed Guyana on Thursday overland to Suriname to officiate in the first Dutch Colony Table Tennis Championships this weekend in Paramaribo.
The Guyanese umpires include: Ryan Narine; Shavin Greene; Debra Bacchus; Xenophiah; Maurice Cummings; Candacy McKenzie; Raynor Hilary Anderson; Waren Hackshaw; Leona Kyte.
The tournament is being played among Suriname, Curacao, Aruba, and Bonaire in team singles doubles and mixed doubles events to determine who would be the best in among the former Dutch colonies.
According to President of the Suriname Table Tennis Association, Desire Hooghart, the tournament will become an annual feature aimed at further developing the sport in those countries and with a view of making them competitive internationally.
In an unprecedented first for Guyana, the recently certified umpires under the ITTF Basic Umpire and Referee training programme conducted by Silvia Garro, will form the nucleus of officials who will officiate in the competition.
This provides an opportunity for the umpires to further harness their skills moving along a path of becoming International Umpires, which will make them more eligible to officiate in international competitions around the world.
The engagement will truly serve to enhance and improve the tournament coordination capacity in Guyana a release from the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) said yesterday. Further, the presence of these umpires is key to Guyana presenting a good representation at this forum.
The GTTA identifies tournament coordination and umpiring as key pillars upon which the sport must be built and made representation to the ITTF to host an Umpires and Referees Workshop earlier this year with a central view of increasing the amount of persons with tournament coordination and umpiring skills and to raise the standard and profile of the sport.
Later this year, the GTTA will be sending a few representatives to a Competition Manager programme organised by the ITTF. The programme will be conducted in Barbados and is scheduled for December.

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