A Berbice Open table tennis tournament will be held next month at the GuySuCo Training Centre, Port Mourant. This is one of the decisions that resulted from a meeting between representatives of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) and a committee headed by former Mayor of New Amsterdam Errol Alphonso on Saturday.
The competition, dubbed the Berbice Open Table Tennis Tournament, will be contested on February 16 and will be contested in three categories namely; boys and girls’ 13-years-and-under, boys and girls’ 18-years-and-under and the Open category. It is open only to persons residing in Berbice.
The tournament begins at 9am and, according to the GTTA, refreshments will be provided to the participants.
The GTTA team that visited Berbice comprised Junior Vice President, Pradeep Balram, Assistant Secretary, Linden Johnson and Public Relations Officer, Patrick Triumph while apart from, Alphonso, the Berbice committee also included Floyd Conway, former national
women’s singles champion Desiree Lancaster and GTTA committee member Gibran Hassan-Sarfraz. The meeting, which was held at the Community Centre, Rose Hall, Canje, was arranged to spearhead the GTTA’s initiative to breathe some life into the sport in Berbice.
Conway was appointed to lead a Steering Committee tasked with the responsibility of forming a Berbice Sub Association with Alphonso serving in an advisory role, Triumph said. Addressing the small gathering on Saturday, Balram explained that under the vibrancy of the GTTA’s president, Henry Greene, a lot of things have been happening for table tennis in Guyana and the outreach along with the upcoming tournament was just another step to popularize the sport locally. “In the interest of promoting table tennis we hope to popularize it throughout the country.
“I think we already started on a good footing and we have a well packed calendar of activities for this year, including local tournaments, sub-association tournaments and international tournaments,” Balram explained.
Alphonso, who was very actively involved in deliberations at the meeting, stated that he thinks the GTTA’s venture to resuscitate table tennis in Berbice was an excellent one adding that he was very enthusiastic about the upcoming tournament.
“Berbice has produced a lot of top table tennis players over the years so I think the talent base is there all we have to do is organize and unearth fresher talents,” Alphonso told Stabroek Sport following the meeting.
“This tournament that is being organized is excellent and I think it will bear a lot of fruit and my call is to encourage everybody to get involved behind the table tennis programme… It’s a good move, very positive, anything that pushes sport can only be a big plus,” the former New Amsterdam Mayor added. Persons interested in participating in the tournament are asked to contact Gibran Hussein-Sarfraz (625-6693), Floyd Conway (623-8481), Brentnol Richards (647-3232) or Desiree Lancaster (668-0088).
