Home Sports 2022 Caribbean Mini and Pre-Cadet Table Tennis Championships: CASH to burn from...
The Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) will be hosting the 2022 Caribbean Mini and Pre-Cadet Table Tennis Championships during the period October 14th to 19th, and tennis fireworks are expected to take place at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Homestretch Avenue during that time.
These Caribbean Mini and Pre-Cadet Championships engage players from the age of 11 years up to 13 years and under, and have been the ignitors and incubators of the development of regional table tennis, since they represent the first steps taken into the careers of many players at Caribbean level.
With the COVID-19 pandemic inhibiting the hosting of these championships over the last two years, the competition has taken on a different level of importance to regional table tennis development, given that the absence of the competition has robbed players from across the region of the opportunity to vie for regional table tennis supremacy, in addition to administrators indicating that their developmental programmes at this level have suffered negative impacts from the non-hosting of the games.
These championships provide Guyana the opportunity, as host, to expose and showcase thirty-two (32) of our pre- cadet players: 8 boys and 8 girls in the 11-years-and-under category, and 8 boys and 8 girls in the 13-years-and-under category, in addition to allowing the GTTA to promote and work with our young, talented players as an asset for future success and growth of the sport, as we embark on the road of excellence, growth, and enhancing the wellbeing of the game itself.
In this regard, the GTTA has selected some of its emerging talented, disciplined and brightest prospects to represent Guyana at this engagement. We have competitive players in the 13-years-and-under category in Samara Sukhai, Jasmine Billingy and Akira Watson, along with Malachi Moore, Ebo Mc Neil and Darius Daniels; with Jasmine and Samara being strong contenders for the girls-13 and 11-years-and- under categories.
The association’s plan is to use this championship as a catalyst/stimulus to jump start/synchronise and market our national cadet and development programmes. In this regard, our association has already commenced the following:
• Inviting schools to witness the championships, and engaging in strategies to involve children in our developmental programmes.
• Implementing the MCYS and NSC nursery training and competitions programmes, National Table Tennis for Schools programme, and marketing of these programmes to schools across Guyana, among other initiatives.
Countries such as Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Suriname have confirmed their participation. Teams would start arriving (today) on Wednesday 12th October from Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The Guyana Table Tennis Association sees this as a great opportunity to invest in the future of Guyana’s table tennis, and to develop our capacity to host key events.
Action will be daily at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, running from 10am to 12:30pm and from 2:30pm to 6:00pm.
Categories to be contested include
• Boys and girls 13-years-and-under team events: singles, doubles and mixed doubles
• Boys and girls 11-years-and-under team events: singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
Matches will start with team events doubles and mixed doubles, and conclude with singles in the respective age categories. First set of matches will start on Friday, with the formal opening slated for Saturday 15th October at 3pm.
