Guyana’s junior racquet wielders will swing into action this morning when the 18th Caribbean junior table tennis championships serve off at the Jean Pierre Sports Complex, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain.
Some nine countries including powerhouses the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico will contest the championships.
The other countries set to compete are Barbados, Curacao, Grenada, Guyana, St Lucia, St Maarten and hosts Trinidad and Tobago.
Play will commence this morning and continue tomorrow with the team events with doubles action on Friday and the singles on Saturday.
Of significance in this year’s championships is that all the players stand to receive world rankings a feature that was never prevalent before but was fought for by President of the Caribbean Regional Table Tennis Federation Juan Vila with several negotiations with the International table Tennis Federation
Vila, a former Caribbean men’s singles champion, at the Latin American Table Tennis Union (LATTU) General Assembly in Mexico 2011 requested that the Caribbean Championship be recognized by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and was told that the CRTTF would have to improve the quality of the championship by having the officials certified.
Last year in the Dominican Republic Vila again requested assistance in having the regional officials certified in order for the Caribbean Championship to be recognised by the ITTF and this has been agreed.
As a consequence, countries are required to pay US$50, 00 per association in order to allow CRTTF tournaments to receive World ranking consideration.
The Guyana team departed on Monday on a Caribbean airlines flight at 5.30 am.
The boys 18 years and under team is Stefan Corlette, David Duncan, Scott Garraway and Bryton Murray while Chelsea Edghill will spearhead the girls’U18 team which will include Akecia Nedd, Anna Joao and Jewel Todd.
The girls’ U15 team will be led by Priscilla Greaves and will include Kristie Lopes, Salanas Jackman and Neveah Clarkson while the boys U15 team will be led by Shemar Britton and will include Elishaba Johnson, Kyle Edghill and Sheldon Atherley of Bartica.
The manager of the team is Deidre Baynes Edghill while Idi Lewis, Dwain Dick, Linden Johnson and Lisa Lewis are the coaches.
