The 2020 Silver Bowl Juniors Table Tennis Championships, organised by the Trinidad and Tobago Table Tennis Association and sponsored by The Insurance Company of the West Indies Ltd, were held over the weekend at the National Racquet Centre in Tacarigua, Republic of Trinidad & Tobago.
Jasmine Billingy and Samara Sukhai won the U-11 and U-9 titles respectively
Emerging in winners’ row after this tournament were Guyana’s Jasmine Billingy and Samara Sukhai, who topped the U11 and U9 categories respectively.
Before winning the U11 title, Billingy competed in the U13 category, where she easily defeated all her opponents, thereby earning herself a place in the finals against Chloe Fraser.
She, however, bowed out 3-1 to Fraser, as she lost the first game 11-6 but went on to win the second one 11-8, to level the scores. Fraser then won the other two games 13-11 and 12-10 to claim the title.
Remaining focused going into her U11 finale against Ashlea Mohammed, Billingy flipped the script and won that encounter 3-1. Having lost the first game 11-8, Billingy won the other three games 11-5, 11-3, 11-7, to take the title.
In the U9 category, Samara Sukhai battled Jannah Mohammed, and won the encounter 3-0 by the dominant scores of 11-1, 11-2 and 11- 0.
Asked how he feels about the victory, head coach of the Titans Table Tennis Club, Dwain Dick, said: “Basically, this was done to give them the exposure and competition lacking here. We have nothing to look forward to as, once again, the national association (GTTA) has failed to put out an itinerary.
“As a club, we will be forced to look further afield for competition. As you would have noticed from our local competitions, neither our under-11 or under-9 categories (boys and girls) have 12 competitors, due to lack of junior programmes.
“We need to target nursery and primary, and host weekend camps to talent spot and encourage younger players; then have regular competitions and activities to keep them training and developing.”
