While she was unable to participate in the tournament last year, top female table tennis racket wielder Michelle John is looking forward to participating in the Mashramani table tennis tournament that served off on Monday.
“I am very excited to play in the Mash tournament because I didn’t get to participate last year due to CXC,” John told Stabroek Sport.
John said that she expected to win the women’s under 18 and 21 singles as well as the ‘A’ and ‘C’ classes and that her only rival was Junior Sportswoman-of-the Year for 2006 Trenace Lowe.
John won the Junior Sportswoman-of-the-Year award in 2004 and 2005 and she and Lowe have been rivals for quite some time.
John said she has been identified as an Olympic prospect for next year’s Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2012 Summer Games in London.
In order to participate in those games John would have to qualify at the Latin American trials as well as other tournaments and meet the specific qualifying times as required.
John said that she enjoyed playing table tennis but the sport could be stressful at times.
Her table tennis career kicked off in 2000 at the age of ten when she participated in the Junior Caribbean Tournament in French Guiana where the girls’ team won the gold medal.
In 2001 John attended the Junior Caribbean Championships in Trinidad and won a silver medal. Earlier that year, she had participated in the Goddard’s Championship in Barbados, placing second in the under-13 girls’ singles and first in the mixed doubles event where she teamed up with Raymond Baksh to defeat Jody Ann Blake and Jonathan Sankar.
In 2004, she participated in the cadets under 15 at the Brazilian Games and placed eighth in the top 16th and fifth in the Open Singles division.
Apart from that, John was elected most courageous player at the junior championships in Barbados after playing with a dislocated shoulder, securing silver in the team and gold in the under-15.
John added that she is currently receiving sponsorship for sports gears from Tibhar, a German company whose founder (Tibor Harangozo) was a former table tennis player. She has a two-year contract with the company; that contract ends in December.
