Mental strength will determine our qualification – Franklin

…as team departs today for Cuba

By Akeem Greene

Experienced National table tennis player Christopher Franklin has pinned their qualification for the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games on whether the players can withstand the mental rigours when they compete in the qualifiers from Wednesday to Sunday in Cuba.
“It will come down to mental strength; physically everyone is prepared so mentally we have to be able to push ourselves until the end, don’t touch the brakes just keep playing to the best of our ability”, the team captain told Guyana Times Sport at the final training session held at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Monday.
Franklin, Nigel Bryan, Shemar Britton, Joel Alleyne, Natalie Cummings and JodyAnn Blake will leave these shores today to meet Trenace Lowe  in Havana for the five-day event.

The seven-member team is not short on experience at this level and preparation has been on-going for over three months which gives optimism to the seasoned racket-wielder
“I am very impressed with the hard work and dedication given the time slots we have been getting to train but everybody has been giving 110%”.
He added, “Based on what we did in Cuba last year [at the senior championships] with limited preparation, we took notes from that to improve and are familiar with the environment [in Cuba]”.
At the 2010 CAC Games which were held in Puerto Rico Franklin played a sublime role in the country reaching the quarter-finals. It such experiences among others the player plans on using to guide his teammates.
“As a team leader now I have to share my experience with them, I have been to a lot of games and will share my knowledge with the other guys to help them get better at their game so that they can play to their potential and help put us on the map in the sport”, the 33 year-old posited.
Team Guyana is ranked fifth team behind Venezuela, Dominica Republic, Guatemala and Panama. Their chances of qualification seem very good given the top eight of the 13 teams make the cut for the male and the same of the nine female teams.
However, only the top four for singles make the qualification which follows the Olympic format; teams that do not qualify there will have an event for singles which two can participate.
The CAC Games are scheduled for   July 19 to August 3 in Barranquilla, Colombia and immediately after these qualifiers Britton and Allyene will stay on in Cuba for the Latin American championships from March 4-9.