National junior table tennis champ Thuraia Thomas has made a bold pronouncement, making it known that she is aiming to tussle with Guyana’s number-one female player Chelsea Edghill down the road.
Thomas, during a recent interview with Stabroek Sports, said Edghill, who is a former Caribbean 13 years and under and 21-years and under 13 champion, was her inspiration when she began playing table tennis nearly five years ago.
“Chelsea Edghill was the first female table tennis player I heard of when I first started playing table tennis. She was, and still is, an inspiration but she is also now one of targets,” Thomas said.
The 15-year-old indicated that she is inspired by Edghill, who has broken barriers and shown what mental toughness and hard work can do. Edghill is currently in Europe as a pro athlete.
“…She [Edghill] has shown players here in Guyana what sports and the right mentality can do for you,” said Thomas, who plays for the Titans Table Tennis club locally. After making her first appearance for Guyana in 2015 at the JOOLA North American Teams Championship in the United States, Thomas has gone on to represent Guyana on six other occasions.
Her credentials include a Caribbean Under 11 singles bronze medal, Caribbean Under 15 bronze medals in the female and mixed doubles categories respectively and Caribbean Under 13 and 15 girls teams silver medals. Recently, in November 2019, while competing at the Westchester November Open, the Marian Academy student placed second in the U1600 category.
Despite her credible returns for Guyana, Thomas believes that there is more to achieve at the Caribbean level before her junior playing days are over. She is currently Guyana’s reigning female Under-15 champion having lost to Crystal Melville in the U-18 final.
“…I am very eager to transfer my performances to the Caribbean level,” she articulated.
“My junior days will soon be ending in three short years but before that happens I would like to win a Caribbean championship for my country, club, family, and myself. I would also like to go down in the history books as a multiple senior women’s champion of Guyana.
“I know that I have the capability to make it happen. Coaches in the Caribbean know that I am a threat but I haven’t gotten the opportunity to showcase it as yet, mostly due to missing two Caribbean Championships (2018 and 2019). There are still quite a few things that need to be mastered but I believe that I have the capability to do so.”
Thomas also hopes to become one of Guyana’s ‘go-to’ women at the senior level.
“Yes, I do have hopes to represent Guyana at the senior women’s level. I had a taste of it when the championship was held in Guyana last year and that has motivated me to work much harder and develop new tactics that my coach and I believe may work.”
To achieve her goals, the young woman said she is willing to do whatever it takes to become one of the “greats”.
She underscored the need to embrace determination, effort, and hard work. Attaining a scholarship is also one of her strong desires.
