Twenty participants have been certified as level one table tennis umpires after completing a Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) two-day seminar over the weekend at the Malteenoes Sports Complex.
The seminar was conducted by Merton Blake and co-ordinated by Linden Johnson and Godfrey Munroe.
The practical part of the seminar begins this weekend.
Munroe yesterday said that the event came off fairly well and that he was happy to see such a high degree of eloquence from the participants.
“We covered all the aspects as most other level one sports such as new developments in the game, players’ perspective and more,” he said.
Munroe said the GTTA aims to establish an umpiring committee in order to improve the institutional framework within the sport.
“You find most times that when the young players don’t grasp the basic concepts of the game it becomes harder for them to do it when they are older. So by having certified umpires we hope that they can bridge this gap,” Munroe stated.
“This will also bring some order to the sport because what happens most times when we have our domestic tournaments we hustle to round up a few persons to do the task. The next step we want to take is to bring down higher level instructors who will be able to administer higher level certification.”
The GTTA general secretary who is also the national men’s singles champion said that in addition there will be management courses and courses for tournament directors which will further open up the scope for international recognition of umpires.
