More than 100 student-table tennis players from the Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) schools graced the halls of Westminster Secondary School auditorium to compete for honours when the Region Three edition of the CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited-Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA)-Ministry of Education (MoE) and Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCYS) Nationwide National Schools Table Tennis Championships got underway on Friday.
More than 40 girls who competed in the various categories were of significant note and truly offered great prospects for the development of the sport in the region.
Competing in the 13 years and under boys and girls team events, 15 years and under boys and girls team events and 19 years and under team events, Uitvlugt Secondary, Zeeburg Secondary, West Demerara Secondary and Westminster Secondary dominated the team edition of the championships, with the last acting as hosts of the key competition.
National coaches Linden Johnson, Alister Munroe, Candacy Mc Kenzie and Beverly Johnson provided great coordination to the championships on hand; also lending support were the teachers who came to supervise and support the students. Regional Education Officer (Department of Education 3 ) Akbar Chinedu provided great support to making the championships a success.
A look at the participants in the Region Three Edition of the CNOOC-sponsored championships
The Region Three Edition of the CNOOC Petroleum Guyana-sponsored tournament was described as a groundbreaking initiative sponsored by CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited.
The results of the tournament are as follows:
Girls 13 Years and Under
Uitvlugt “B” defeated Zeeburg “A” in the finals to take championships honours
Boys 13 Years and Under
Uitvlugt “B” defeated Uitvlugt “C” in the finals to take championships honours
Girls 15 Years and Under
Zeeburg “A” defeated Uitvlugt “B” in the finals to take championships honours
Boys 15 Years and Under
West Demerara defeated Uitvlugt “B” in the finals to take championships honours
Girls 19 Years and Under
Uitvlugt “A” defeated Zeeburg “A” in the finals to take championships honours
Boys 13 Years and Under
Westminster Sec defeated Uitvlugt “A” in the finals to take championships honours
The GTTA also divulged the aims of the championships, which are as follows:
• Aligning with the Ministry of Education and Education Minister Priya Manickchand’s vision and strategic plan of ensuring that sports becomes an integral part of students’ scholastic orientation and experience.
• Providing the opportunity for new talents to have an active platform to showcase and expose their talents and represent their schools.
• Re-establishing schools championships as a basis for the GTTA’s development thrust by having more players actively participate in table tennis activities, both recreationally and competitively.
• Re-establishing an active framework for school competitions through school leagues, teams, and linkages of players to clubs, regional hubs.
• Serving as a catalyst for creating talent identification, development and incubation systems for the recruitment, training, orientation, development and teaching of lifelong learning/skills which will positively enhance the profile and marketability of the sport and impact higher performances and sustainability of the sport at the national and international level.
• Identifying, recruiting and training the best student-athletes/students from participating schools who exhibit the potential for growth in view of selecting the best talents for training and high-performance programmes of the GTTA and for selection as possible prospects for national team representation.
• Forming school team clubs that will compete for inter-house, inter-school, regional and national championships in different age group categories and levels.
• Partnering with regional education departments, sponsors and other stakeholders to establish relations and structures for the continued support and development for the sport.
• Fostering camaraderie among students.
• Promoting/creating healthy lifestyles and learning of a lifelong skill through sport (table tennis).
• Sponsoring engagement and investing in the development of Guyana’s youth.
• Establishing and integrating the sport of table tennis into the National Schools Championships alongside the disciplines of athletics, swimming, and cycling.
• Providing the opportunity for new talents to have an active platform to showcase and expose their talents and represent their schools.
• Re-establishing school championships as a basis for the GTTA’s development thrust by having more players actively participate in table tennis activities, both recreationally and competitively.
• Re-establishing an active framework for school competitions through school leagues and teams.
The next edition of the championships is slated for Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) at the Bartica Community Centre.
