Edghill lone Guyanese at ITTF Americas Olympic Qualifying tournament

May 14, 2024 Sports

FLASHBACK! Chelsea Edghill during the Tokyo Olympics.

By Rawle Toney

Kaieteur Sports – Chelsea Edghill will be the only Guyanese competing at the ITTF Americas Olympic Qualification tournament in Lima, Peru.

The tournament serves off today and marks the final opportunity for athletes from the Americas and Caribbean to secure direct qualification for the Olympic Games in Paris, France.

Edghill made history as the first Guyanese and first female from the English-speaking Caribbean to compete at the Olympics, following her qualification for the Tokyo Games.

Kaieteur News understands that Shemar Britton had to forgo participation in the qualification tournament due to scheduling conflicts with his exams at the Hugh Wooding Law School.

For the Tokyo Games, the Tripartite Commission had two slots—one male and one female—to allocate among National Olympic Committees with fewer than eight athletes in the last two Olympic Games in London (2012) and Rio (2016).

The Tripartite Commission ultimately chose Dodji Fanni from Togo and Chelsea Edghill.

After proudly joining swimmer Andrew Fowler as Guyana’s flag-bearer, Edghill soared with a dream start, defeating Fiji’s Sally Yee, 4-1 (11-5, 4-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-8), in the opening match of the Women’s Singles Olympic tournament.

Her next challenge was against South Korea’s Shin Yubin in the Round-of-64.

As South Korea’s youngest-ever representative in the sport at the Olympics, Shin Yubin, the then world 85th ranked player defeated Edghill 4-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-1, 12-10).

Table tennis made its Olympic debut in 1988 at the Games in Seoul, South Korea.

Americas, Britton Shemar y Chelsea Edghill de Guyana en acción en los Juegos Panamericanos, Guyanese, Tokyo Olympics, Tournament

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