By Donald Duff
Guyana’s top female table tennis racquet wielders Trenace Lowe and Michelle John have qualified for the Pan American junior championships set for Halifax, Canada from July 7-11.
Secretary of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) Godfrey Munroe told Stabroek Sport that the two qualified by virtue of their performances at this year’s 13th annual Caribbean and Cadet championships held at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall earlier this year.
John is the reigning Caribbean junior girls champion after she had defeated Lowe in an epic final which went the distance.
According to Munroe the Caribbean region has been awarded four spots with Caribbean junior boys champion Kenwin Small of Trinidad and Tobago being the other player identified to participate in the tournament with the fourth spot going to Puerto Rico.
Lowe and John are currently participating in the Colombian Open championships and are through to the quarter-finals of the girls’ doubles event after playing in the Latin American and Cadet junior championships.
“At the Latin American Junior Championships they impressed, at the Colombian Junior Open they are underlying the improvement they have made in the past 12 days,” an article on the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) website stated yesterday.
Munroe was yesterday buoyed over the achievement of the two players.
“I think it is a big step to be able to send players to the international junior world circuit,” he said.
“It is a pity that we could not send a full team but school commitments and financial difficulties prevented that,” he added.
The two players are acquitting themselves well at the Colombian Open, a tournament which has attracted players from all over the world.
According to the ITTF website, Lowe topped her group recording wins over Michelle Vitteri of Ecuador, Angie Araya of Costa Rica and Carolina Pina of Colombia while John, who finished second in her group was declared as “impressive” by the website which noted that she competed against “highly-rated adversaries.
In the next round John came from two sets down to defeat Vitteri while Lowe staged a dramatic comeback against Lucia Marte of the Dominican Republic as she trailed by two games to three and was down 2-8 in the sixth game before recovering to win that and the decisive seventh game.
Lowe said she felt it was her greatest match ever.
“The Dominican Republic player has a higher ranking than me; she plays in more international tournaments than me. I came back from being down to win, I think it was my greatest match ever.
“I want to try and get a world ranking if I can do that it would be good for table tennis in Guyana,” the website quoted Lowe as saying.
Munroe said the performance of the two players have had positive results.
“Ecuador has made an offer to house the team free for a tournament in September,” he said.
Munroe praised GTTA vice-president Arron Fraser who was instrumental in having the players participate at the championships.
“Arron worked tirelessly in getting the team there, kudos to him but in terms of what it means it brings recognition to Guyana, more exposure for the players and definitely some spin offs for the two players’ participation at the Commonwealth Games later this year,” he said.
