Britton, Edghill set the bar high for 2022 Commonwealth Games

Jul 27, 2022 Sports

By Rawle Toney (Team Guyana Press Attache)

Kaieteur News –The two highest-ranked Table Tennis players from Guyana, Shemar Britton and Chelsea Edghill, are hoping for improved performances at the Commonwealth Games this time around. Guyana’s Table Tennis contingent will head into battle on Friday (July 29) on Day One of competition, where they will compete in the team event.

For Britton, the games in Birmingham, England, will be his third following his debut in 2014 (Scotland) and 2018 in Australia. Edghill, on the other hand, is returning to the Commonwealth Games for the second time since competing in 2014.

Joel Alleyne and Chelsea Edghill during training in Birmingham.

Both Guyanese are also the two highest-ranked players in the English-speaking Caribbean.

Currently ranked 265 in the world by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), Britton stated that at the start of this year, his target was to finish 2022 in the top 200, adding “I got to 261, so I’m hoping that before the year ends I go to the top 200.”

Britton, like the rest of team Guyana at the previous Commonwealth Games, had a good performance in 2018 before he was edged out by Canada’s Antoine Bernaden in the preliminary round.

“Last time I lost in a pretty hard match in the decider, this time I want to go at least to the round of 16 and I think I have the capabilities to do that,” Britton said.

As it relates to Guyana’s over-all performance at the Commonwealth Games, Britton noted, “We have history, since my first commonwealth games, in 2014, we’ve always finished in the top 10 teams. We want to finish in the top four this time around. We know it’s a big goal but we’re going positive.”

Meanwhile, Chelsea Edghill, who created Caribbean history when she qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, said one of her goals for the 2022 Games, “Is to surpass my last games that I attended in 2014 and to execute what I’ve been learning at the training camps in Germany and Portugal the last few months.”

Shemar Britton (L) and Chelsea Edghill following their first day of training since arriving in Birmingham, England.

All eyes will be on Edghill in Birmingham. She has racked-up one of the most impressive Table Tennis résumés in the English-speaking Caribbean, becoming the Region’s first-ever female Olympian in the sport of Table Tennis.

Asked about living up to expectations, Edghill highlighted, “Everyone will have expectations of me, but I think at this point in time what matters are the goals that I’ve set for myself and the goals that my team would’ve set for me – my coaches. It’s just a matter of managing those expectations and going out there and giving my best.”

Table Tennis Team:

Men – Shemar Britton (Singles, Doubles, Team, Mixed Doubles), Christopher Franklin (Singles, Doubles, Team, Mixed Doubles), Johnathan Van Lange (Singles, Doubles, Team, Mixed Doubles) and Joel Alleyne (Doubles, Team).
Women – Chelsea Edghill (Singles, Doubles, Team, Mixed Doubles), Natalie Cummings (Singles, Doubles, Team, Mixed Doubles), Priscilla Greaves (Singles, Doubles, Team) and Thuraia Thomas (Doubles, Team, Mixed Doubles).

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News