GOA serves for Wong in Pan Am preparation

The Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) on Saturday announced a hefty contribution to Miguel Wong’s preparation as he gears up for back-to-back Pan American tournaments.
Wong, who departed Guyana on Saturday evening, will be heading to the Topspin Tischtennis Center in Germany for a three-week high performance training camp. Thereafter, he will head to Lima, Peru for the International Table Tennis Federation’s (ITTF’s) Pan American Senior Championships, and later to the Junior Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia.

Taking into account airfares, accommodation, PCR testing, equipment support, therapy and nutrition, the GOA has invested close to US$8000 into Wong’s venture.
“With regards to Miguel, we had received a proposal from Godfrey as it regards his training. It was to have been either in Germany or in the United States, I believe California. The feeling from Godfrey and his executive was Germany was the better place. We agreed to that, as a result of that, we decided that we will so fund,” GOA President K.A. Juman-Yassin said during a press briefing on Saturday morning.
He added, “I and the members of the GOA have looked at Miguel. We have seen him developing, and I could say that he has that determination to do better. I know (that) in his first sojourn, there was a lot of sacrifice on his part, I compliment him for that, and I sincerely hope this next training session that he would have in Germany will be able to improve his game, so that when he goes to Cali, he will be a different player.”

Giving some clarity on why Germany was chosen, Guyana Table Tennis Federation (GTTF) President Godfrey Munroe shared, “The option of Germany was because the training was more intense and it is less costly than the US. The US is a little more costly because of the accommodations and meal provisions and so on.”
While the GOA’s contribution has completely funded Wong’s training and travels, the support he has received from Corporate Guyana would cover miscellaneous expenses. Notably, it was Speaker of the National Assembly and President of the Everest Cricket Club, Manzoor Nadir, who assisted in having Wong’s visa expedited, so that he would be able to train outside of Guyana ahead of the tournaments.
The 21-year-old, who expressed his gratitude to all those involved, will spend approximately 3 weeks in Germany, before going to Peru for the November 13-19 competition. He will remain there and get in some match practice before going over to Colombia for the Junior Games. There, he will be accompanied by Jonathan Van Lange, who has qualified for the Junior Games.
In other sports, Aleka Persaud has made the qualification mark for swimming, and Priyanna Ramdhani and Akili Haynes have so done for Badminton.