Table tennis players Christopher Franklin and Edinho Lewis along with manager Dr Pradeep Balram will be a part of the contingent departing Guyana today for New Delhi, India to participate in the Commonwealth Games scheduled from October 3-14.
The pair will participate at the Games in conjunction with overseas-based players Idi Lewis (no relation) and Paul David, both of whom are scheduled to join the group when the team travels through the US en route to India.
The players are departing Guyana in high spirits after receiving an incentive of US$150 from the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA). The presentation was held on Monday night at the Officers Mess, Eve Leary.
Franklin and Edinho Lewis were presented with their stipend by Commissioner of Police and President of the GTTA, Henry Greene.
Greene noted that the incentives were apart of an initiative to motivate the players and to ensure that they can “meaningfully and comfortably” perform at the Games.
He encouraged the players to do their best, and reminded them that all of Guyana will be looking forward to receiving the good news of their performance at the Games.
“I would like to offer my congrats to the players and to say to them that all of Guyana will be looking forward to those e-mails running with news of their good performance while over there,” Greene said.
Speaking on behalf of the players, Franklin expressed gratitude to the association and to Greene for their enthusiastic support of the players.
Franklin assured that the team has been working assiduously towards sharpening their skills for the Games and will be looking forward to their participation.
“I just want the Commissioner and the association to know that we are very grateful for their support. We have been working very hard, coming off of the CAC Games we just kept going, we never stopped and we’re looking forward to performing well in India,” Franklin said.
Franklin also expressed his gratitude to his employers at Nigel’s Supermarket for their support towards his preparation for the Games. In Guyana, Franklin and Edinho Lewis have been in training from 6AM – 9AM in the morning and from 6:30PM – 9PM at night. Speaking with Stabroek Sport, Franklin said that he feels that his performance at the CAC Games helped him to identify some of his weak points which he has since been working on.
“From CAC we had realized that we had to get our fitness up, and work on our services and returns we had to get quicker on those because those are the tiny little things that make a difference. But we’ve fixed that due to the programme that Mr. Johnson had us doing. We’ve been working with multi-ball training and some specific endurance, speed and agility work,” Franklin said.
“I’d say I’m about 90% there, and that’s because there’s always those nervous moments that you have, but as it is right now I’d say I’m best prepared mentally than I’ve been for some time,” he added.
On the other hand, Edinho Lewis says he feels very well prepared owing to the hard work that he has been putting into his preparation. He also noted that while he has represented Guyana on the regional scene, this will be his first time out at an event of such international magnitude, and he is going brimming with confidence. “I feel very prepared, I’ve been working very hard on the table, and I’ve been doing a lot of other physical fitness training…. This will be my first international event, I’ve been to the regional events before but I’ve never really been to something like the Commonwealth Games and I’m looking forward to it,” Edinho said.
Meanwhile, at the presentation Greene also gave recognition to junior cadet table tennis players Chelsea Edghill and Jamaal Duff, who were present at the ceremony.
Edghill and Duff are scheduled to represent the Caribbean in table tennis at the Pan American Championships to be held in the Dominican Republic from October 4-11.
The pair will be attending the event accompanied by team manager Diedre Edghill and coaches Lisa Lewis and Dwain Dick. The team manager is expected to depart on October 4 while the others are expected to follow on October 7.
Edghill and Duff earned the right to represent Guyana at the tournament after gaining a gold and a silver medal respectively at the fifth Caribbean Pre-cadet (under-10 and under-13) table tennis championships in Utuado, Puerto Rico earlier this year.