By Donald Duff
A strong four-member team comprising Matthew Khan, Paul David, Colin France and Sydney Christophe will represent Guyana at the one –week Olympic Trials which takes place in Santo Domingo.
The four players were chosen by the selection committee of the Guyana Table Tennis Federation for the March 30 – April 6 qualifiers.
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has scheduled a number of qualifying tournaments for players wishing to compete at the Beijing Olympics and though there will be other qualifying tournament for players from other continents, this is the final qualification tournament for players coming under the jurisdiction of the Latin American Table Tennis Union (LATTU).
A total of 86 men and 86 women and 16 men’s and women’s teams will qualify for the games. Each NOC is allowed no more than three men and three women players.
It is expected that by April 15, all the qualification tournaments will be completed.
David and Christophe are based in the USA while Khan and France, who are locally-based, left yesterday for the games.
According to general secretary of the GTTA Godfrey Munroe, … “The team has a 50-50 chance of qualifying. It will be pretty tough, but the team has the experience talent depth to do it.”
The general secretary, who is also the current national men’s singles champion, said a major disappointment was “not being able to send Christopher Franklin due to work commitment and sponsorships issues.
Munroe said Franklyn was a very strong player who is extremely good at doubles play and would have been the ideal partner for Khan.
The Guyanese players will have it easy. Brazil’s Gustavo Tsubi, recently upset Korea’s lee Jin Kwon in four straight games at the Erke Qatar Open while compatriot, Thaigo Monteiro scored a upset win over Chinese Taipei’s Wu Chih-Chi at a tournament in Kuwait one week earlier.
Both players will be attempting to book their spots for Beijing when the tournament commences today.
Six places are up for grabs with one already going to Lin Ju, who won the men’s singles at the 2007 Pan American games.
Other contenders are Argentina’s Lui Song, the 2006 and 2007 Latin American singles champion, Trinidad’s France-based professional Dexter St Louis, Brazil’s Hugo Hoyama, Guatemala’s Jose-Maria Ramirez, Mexico’s Marcos Madrid and Cuba’s Juan Papic.
