GTTA president pleased with 2003
By Leeron Brumell
Guyana Chronicle
January 4, 2004
GUYANA Table Tennis Association (GTTA) president Sydney Christophe is pleased with the year 2003 and is looking forward to this year when his association has a number of plans to further develop the game.
Christophe, speaking to Chronicle Sport, described the past year as a challenging one, yet rewarding.
“It was indeed a challenge for me as president for the first time. Having to sit in the driving seat was the challenge and I’d like to recognise the other members of my committee for the job they did in trying to develop the sport.
We started with a new committee in May and we were successful in running off the junior CAC (Central American and Caribbean Tournament) and we recorded good performances in Jody Ann (Blake) and Michelle (John).”
The former secretary of the association said the juniors did well and he was also pleased with the seniors.
“We had a fairly successful year at the junior level at the regional and international level where we picked up four medals in Cuba and also at the Latin American Games where we placed fifth out of 13 teams.
I’m happy with the performance of the seniors at the CAC where we placed sixth overall. The team was fairly young, but we were not surprised with their performance, because they played well. They’re a good bunch coming up.”
Notable mention at the junior level went to Jody Ann Blake, the junior CAC number one and Michelle John, seeded number two.
The GTTA undertook three outreach programmes under Christophe to Linden, Bartica and the West Demerara area.
The former national champion said that he recognised some of the difficulties in the areas and they are working to curb some of these problems, but he is looking for more feasible ways to help this year.
“We have plans to assist these areas and I’m thankful to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, the NSC (National Sports Commission) for the role they played and the will continue to play in assisting us,” said the GTTA) president, while referring to the addition of Chinese coach Zhou Ping to the programme.
He said that after the first month is completed, he is hoping to introduce Ping to the rest of the country to develop the game.
Ping is here on a one-year stint, thanks to the Guyana/China collaboration and has been working with the national junior and senior players for the past three months and already his efforts have paid off.
“I’ve been seeing the improvement in the players given the recent performance at the Islamic Games in Iran where the team placed fifth out of some 36 countries at what I would call a high level competition. It’s a remarkable performance and I expect a lot more from the players in the junior and senior Caribbean circle.”
Christophe is hoping that the players will be able to benefit from any competition or training that they will be exposed to.
He said some of the successes for the year were also based on the involvement of players.
He said that from meetings held with parents, training had been fruitful and that players have been cooperating more with the coaches and one other and he is optimistic that the parents-association relationship will strengthen.
The GTTA has a number of plans for this year which include participating at the Olympic Trials in February in Chile and they are looking to send at least two players to try to qualify for the Olympics, while also preparing juniors for the Latin American Cadet Under-15 championships.
The U.S. Open in June and the junior and senior CAC games are also on the cards.
Locally, Chinese coach Ping will be taken to Linden, Bartica and other identified areas to work with players to form stronger teams to represent Guyana.
Christophe said that the association would also be targeting former overseas players to assist with the school programme.
“We are asking them to donate or at least to contribute tables so that we can provide coaching.”
The association has already benefited from overseas sponsorship since a Two-Player Tournament, jointly sponsored by Optimum Homes Reality and Ameri-Source Funding, will be starting at the end of this month.
Christophe said the tournament would receive sponsorship to run until April, when the finals will be played in Berbice.
There will also be a special category for Berbice players only, since one of the sponsors, overseas-based Mark Ramjeet was a former Berbice player.
The president expressed his gratitude to all those persons and entities that have assisted the sport over the past year.