President of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) Kalam Juman-Yassin Monday urged members of the national junior table tennis team to combine sport and academics adding that he viewed them as future Olympic Games prospects.
Yassin was head of a high-powered GOA delegation which visited the team as the players went through their final paces at the National Gymnasium ahead of the commencement of their participation in the 21st annual Caribbean junior and cadet championships in the Dominican Republic this morning.
Yassin was accompanied fittingly by Secretary General, Hector Edwards, a former national cyclist and former national junior table tennis champion and Caribbean squash champion Garfield Wiltshire.
Yassin who also presented a cheque to assist with the team’s participation, said he was happy to support the young talents and asked the players to give of their best whilst representing the Golden Arrowhead. Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) president former national men’s singles champion Godfrey Munroe, thanked the executive committee of the GOA for its intervention which, he said, was critical to making the team’s participation in the event a reality.
“We feel the team selected has a very realistic chance of qualifying for the Pan American Championships to represent the Caribbean Region and has high chances to medal at these Caribbean championships,” said Munroe.
Guyana will only field a boys’ 18 years and under team to the championships and the team comprises Shemar Britton, Kyle Edghill, Elishaba Johnson and Miguel Wong. They will be accompanied by Nicholas Romain who will play in the boys’ 15 years and under category. GTTA General Secretary Linden Johnson is the manager/coach.
The tournament is being used for teams to qualify for the inaugural International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Pan American Junior Table Tennis Championships scheduled for Vancouver, Canada in June 2016.
The top four teams from the Caribbean championships will join four teams from Central America and six teams from South America along with USA and Canada.
