The Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) is set to hold national trials in an effort to select the senior national table tennis team to participate in the upcoming Senior Caribbean Championships set for July in Cuba.
The trials, according to national coach Linden Johnson, will also be used to identify a few younger players for possible selection to the national squad.
“Yeah, definitely we will have trials before naming a squad for the Caribbean Games,” Johnson said.
“This will happen shortly but it all depends on the venue because most of the venues are occupied up until after July but definitely we will have trials because we also want to include some of the youngsters on the senior team to give them the exposure to develop their game. We have a lot of good youngsters around and we want to keep them around and the only way to do that is by keeping them active in these tournaments,” Johnson added.
The coach assured that the prospective national players will begin training in the coming week.
He pointed out that a number of the players are not currently in the country but contended that upon their arrival, they will be expected to commence training on the weekends and gradually intensify their efforts as the championship draws near.
Johnson, who shied away from naming a few of the young prospects for the Cuba championships, articulated that the trials will speak for itself, as he assured that Guyana will be represented in the 21-years and under category by a male and female.
Meanwhile, Coach Idi Lewis, who only recently returned from the just concluded Islamic Solidarity Games, noted the players will be taking a few days off during which the selection committee will meet to shortlist the players.
“We are going to take a couple days off and we will meet with the selection committee to get up that squad. It was pretty much a good thing that we attended the games [Islamic Solidarity Games] because it was a great prep for the Caribbean Championship because a lot these same players, most likely are going be on the team and adding a few other players, especially Shemar Britton who we missed due to exams but those should be finished soon so he’ll definitely be available for Cuba and the Caribbean Championships.”
