By Iva Wharton
The Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) has identified four players to undergo training in the United States of America (USA) in preparation for upcoming tournaments.
National men’s and women’s champions Nigel Bryan and Trenace Lowe, Denzel Hopkinson and Joel Alleyne are being sponsored by the GTTA to participate in a training programme in New Jersey.
The other two players Edinho Lewis and Priscilla Greaves are footing their expenses to the training programme which has been co-ordinated by former junior player Roger Chang Yuen.
Chang Yuen, who was in Guyana recently, had told Stabroek Sport that the programme costs US$65 a day and will see the players benefiting from coaching stints from a number of top Chinese coaches at the Lily Yhip Training Centre in New Jersey.
Lowe, Greaves and Hopkinson reportedly left Guyana yesterday and will start their training today while the remaining three will be travelling on Sunday as their visa applications were not processed in time.
They will, nevertheless, be exposed to the full two weeks of training.
Speaking with Stabroek Sport via telephone Lowe said that the programme will assist the players with their preparation for the Caribbean Championship as they were not exposed to any international tournaments thus year.
Having to train with world rated players also gives them a better chance to test their skill level, she added.
President of the Guyana Table Tennis Association, Henry Greene has said that the programme will further aid in the development of the players.
“Those players will not only be exposed to World champions but also have sessions with the champions apart from the normal training programme,” Greene said.
According to Greene the current Executive is working to ensure that the game grows and develops.
“We might even send a coach there to see what they are doing and how they are doing it. What we can learn to improve our coaching skills across here.”
The training programme, he said, was a good one from what the GTTA has learnt.
“The USA team has just gone to the Olympics from training there. We were trying to do something in California, but there were some difficulties with that and we are still having difficulties with China so we decided to go to New Jersey in the meantime and once that training is good we hope to send more persons there and perhaps for a longer period,” Greene added.
Asked what criteria were used to select the players to attend the training programme, GTTA General Secretary, Godfrey Munroe, said…”Their performances in domestic tournaments was heavily weighted on the persons being selected. The selection committee met, named and the executive agreed, but this is not something just specific to these players. What we want to do is have our elite players able to access international training and international competitions. So while we may have this group going out it does not exclude other players,” said the two times national men’s singles champion.
The issue according to Munroe is that the GTTA has budgetary constraints which mean that the GTTA has to cut corners at times.
The Caribbean Championships are scheduled for November 22 to 26 in the Dominican Republic.
