The Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) has been approved by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) to receive a grant worth approximately US$7000.00, GTTA general secretary Godfrey Munroe said yesterday.
The ITTF had issued a special grant to Guyana in November 2007 and Munroe said the GTTA had been informed last week that the grant had been approved.
The grant, which is valued at over US$7000.00, consists of six professional table tennis tables, six gross of balls and 88 beginner racquets.
The equipment is expected in the country shortly.
Munroe said Guyana qualified for the ITTF grant because of its participation in international tournaments such as the Commonwealth Games and the World Table Tennis Championships where Guyana had showed potential as a lesser developed country (LDC) which qualified them to benefit from the Latin American Development programme (LDP).
Munroe said that the grant could not have arrived at a more opportune moment as the association would be preparing to host as well as compete in international competitions.
“The lack of facilities has plagued table tennis just as it has many other sports disciplines in the country and with Guyana having to host many international events this year, the ITTF grant will certainly help, especially in our training and preparation,” he said
Munroe added that the GTTA agreed with the observations made by Chinese national coach Cheng Jian Hua who recently spoke of the lack of proper facilities for the development of the sport here and said that they were currently addressing those concerns.
“The GTTA acknowledges the concerns made [by] the Chinese coach Cheng Jian Hua about the country’s insufficient table tennis facilities and is currently embarking on many initiatives to remedy this problem,” Munroe said.
“One such initiative is the ‘table tennis in schools’ programme which is focused on putting a table tennis table in every school, spearheaded by president of the GTTA, Anil Nandalall,” Munroe said.
He said that the rationale behind this project was to acquire facilities by soliciting contributions from various organizations locally and internationally in an effort to develop a wider base of players in the sport.
Munroe said once the interest had been stimulated, systems would need to be put in place to continuously stimulate that interest.
Meanwhile, Munroe said that the table tennis equipment company Tibhar had renewed its sponsorship agreement with national player Michelle John.
John, however, is required to participate in more international competitions.
The sponsorship has so far provided John with official Tibhar clothing and equipment.
