Junior TT team in danger of missing Latin American c/ships
- unless business houses, gov't come to the rescue
By Donald Duff
Stabroek News
May 13, 2004
The Guyana table tennis team to the Latin American championships scheduled for May 16-22 in Valencia, Venezuela is in danger of not attending the championships unless business houses or the government come to the rescue.
According to senior vice-president Godfrey Munroe, the team is in urgent need of additional sponsorship if they are to participate in the tournament.
So far, Munroe said a number of sponsors have supported the association's drive to get the youngsters to Venezuela but the anticipated support from the National Sports Commission (NSC) has not materialised.
"They (NSC) basically told us it was too late," Munroe said adding that "commitments from other sponsors also failed to materialise."
The GTTA earlier this week, announced a 12-member team comprising eight male and four female players to contest the under-21 and under-18 categories of the championships.
Some of the players are expected to be key members of the junior and senior teams to this year's junior and senior Caribbean championships. Munroe said he feels the players will give a good account themselves due to the fact that they have been training extensively under chinese coach Zhou Ping.
"It would really have been good to get the coach to the championships since he worked so hard with the players," Munroe said.
Munroe said participation in the tournament would help the long-term development of the players.
Additionally, there is the incentive of players doing well to qualify and represent Latin America at the second World junior championships in Kobe, Japan from November 28 - December 5.
Rising star Matthew Khan is expected to do well in the under-21 singles after just having won the Berbice Open championships where he defeated none other than former Caribbean champion Sydney Christophe in the finals.
The other members of the under-21 male team are Christopher Franklyn, Paul Meusa and overseas-based Orin Hickerson.
Jonathan Sankar has also just won the Berbice Open junior boys crown defeating Raymond Baksh in the finals. Baksh is unavaliable through studies but Sankar, who has improved leaps and bounds and also reached the semi-finals of the men's singles at the Berbice Open will have Mae's student Zach Gonsalves, Marlon Joseph and Edinho Lewis as teammates in the boys under-18 division.
But it would be a shame if 14-year-old `wonder-kid' Trenace Lowe were to miss the championships. At the Berbice Open last week-end Lowe not only won the women's singles but she also defeated a number of male players in singles matches giving credence to coach Zhou Ping's assertion that the Mae's Secondary School student is a special talent.
Lowe, Caribbean junior girls champion Jody Ann Blake, Michelle John and Delicia Cummings make up the girls team which will contest the under-21 and under-18 teams and singles events.
Munroe said he was still optimistic of the team attending the championships since they have until tomorrow night to depart. He is appealing to business houses who are interested in assisting to contact the organisation.
The GTTA senior vice-president said he would like to thank the sponsors especially BWIA which has given the GTTA a significant reduction in the airfares, and other sponsors Beepat, Michelle Ming, Nigel Hughes, Johnette Gonsalves, Footwork Plus, Docol, Geology and Mines, and Beterverwagting NDC for their assistance.