National Table Tennis Championships begin on January 17

The Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA), in collaboration with the National Sports Commission (NSC) and some key sponsors, will stage the National Senior/Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships for 2020.

According to a release from the GTTA, the event, which kick-starts the association’s year of activities, is scheduled for staging from January 17 to 19 and from January 24 to 26 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) on Homestretch Avenue in Georgetown.
The Junior and Cadet Championships will engage male and female players in the age category of 15 to 18 years and will have a novices’ component, while the Senior Championships will engage senior males and females, and would have under-21 male and female components and ‘B and C’ Class components.
These National Championships are premier domestic tournaments. They are used for the crowning of national champions, and serve as a key component for establishing a ranking and selection system, among other benefits.
With the continental qualification event for Games of the XXXII Olympiad scheduled for April 15–19, 2020 and the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics scheduled for August 2020, many of the events scheduled on the regional and international calendar of activities have been advanced.
This will see the Caribbean Junior and Cadet Championships scheduled for March 2020, the Caribbean Senior Championships scheduled for April 2-8 in Havana, Cuba — which is being used as the qualification event for the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships in Houston Texas, USA — and the Continental Olympic qualification event being held early in 2020. This will provide greater impetus to the national championships.

Snr National Championships

The men’s category of the Senior National Championships truly offers a treat for table tennis fans and enthusiasts, given the competitiveness of the current lineup of male players. In this division, current National Champion and 2018 Caribbean Men’s Singles bronze medalist, Christopher Franklin, will face the likes of a surging, in-form and hungry 2018 Caribbean Under- 21 Champion, and 2019 Caribbean Under-21 silver medalist and men’s singles bronze medalist, Shemar Britton; former national champion Nigel Bryan, and Joel Alleyne, Elishaba Johnson, Miguel Wong, veteran Colin France, Orin Hickerson, Jonathan Sankar, Edinho Lewis, and the young brigade which would be making their claim to the throne.
In the absence of Chelsea Edghill and Trenace Lowe, current National Women’s Champion Natalie Cummings would face challenges from Jody-Ann Blake, Priscilla Greaves, Neveah Clarkston, Thuraia Thomas, Nhecki Mc Crae, Crystal Melville, Abigail Martin and Jasmine Billingy, among others.
While, in the B Class, there are Warren Hacksaw, Devon Richmond, Levi Percival, Remy Taitt, Xen Goliath, Krystian Sahadeo, Maurice Cummings, Shavin Greene, Raynor Anderson, Junior Isaiah Layne and Jonathan Van Lange.

National Junior and Cadet Championships
Current National Junior Boys Champion Jonathan Van Lange, together with Jamal Nicholas, Isaiah Layne, Colin Wong, Kaysan Ninvalle, Yeudistir Persaud, Terrence Rausch, Krystian Sahadeo, Dhanesh Persaud, Peter Persaud, Curtis McCrae, Ajay Persaud, Uriel Isadore, Kyle Chung, Ebo Mc Neil, Malaki Moore, Andell Austin, Narren Persaud, Salim Rahim Percival, Jaswan Seenarine, Rhys Belle, Adrian Melville, Tyler Orderson, Christopher Barrow and Joshua Lucas, among others, will be making their claim to the throne.
In the Girls’ category, current National Under-18 champion Thuraia Thomas will be hard pressed to defend her title against the likes of Neveah Clarkston, Thuraia Thomas, Crystal Ann Melville, Abigail Martin, Jasmine Billingy, Akira Watson, Samara Sukhai; and new talents Lisana Ramascindo, Sufah Burrowes, Samirah Burrowes, Alana Gouveia and Upha Hackett Isasha.
With the great nucleus and quantum of young, immensely talented athlete players who possess lots of potential currently emerging and playing the sport in the respective categories, it truly makes for a competitive championship tournament, filled with key rivalry and excitement.
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File: Natalie Cummings

File: Christopher Franklin