Shemar Britton’s exploits with a table tennis racquet have not gone unnoticed at least not by the Department of Sport.
Yesterday, Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle made a financial donation to Britton’s mother, Dawn Britton, to help the scholar/athlete attend a High Performance Training Camp later this year or early next year.
This is after Britton became the only Guyanese male player to qualify for the upcoming Pan American Games scheduled for next month in Santiago, Chile.
Director of Sport, Ninvalle, said that the donation to Britton was just the government, through the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and the National Sports Commission, fulfilling its mandate to its people.
“The Government, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and the National Sports Commission, is fulfilling our mandate which is to support the development of sport,” Ninvalle told Stabroek Sports in an invited comment, adding that last year his ministry had given support to Chelsea Edghill.
“Britton is the epitome of a rounded athlete who balances his tennis and academics well,” he added.
Britton, in an invited comment told this newspaper that he was not only delighted but grateful.
“I’m extremely delighted and grateful to be given this support from the Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle, and the National Sports Commission,” he declared.
“Mr Ninvalle, in his capacity as Director of Sport, has committed to support me along my table tennis journey to allow me to have access to high level training camps in order to take my game to the next level so that I can successfully represent Guyana,” he added.
Back in June at the ITTF Special Singles Pan Am Games qualification event in Lima, Peru, Britton, coached by former Caribbean men’s singles champion Sydney Christophe, reached the final of the second stage of the three stage qualification event, along with Barbadian Tyrese Knight to book his ticket for the singles event at the October 29 to November 5 Pan Am Games.
In reaching the final Britton defeated St Lucia’s De Andre Calderon 4-1 and Julian Ramos 4-3.
He had also reached the last eight of the singles event of the Central American and Caribbean Games losing 2-4 to Cuba’s Livan Martinez.
Britton recently returned from a training stint in China organized by the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA).
“China was a great experience,” he said adding…The Chinese pay attention to every detail and every day I was able to take part in high level training sessions twice a day. “My only regret was that I wasn’t in a longer engagement,” he said.
At the moment Britton is in Trinidad and Tobago where he is pursuing studies at the Hugh Wooding Law School.
According to the southpaw Britton, he is working along with his coach Aaron Edwards, a Trinidad national table tennis player, at Queen’s Park, in preparation for the upcoming games.
Ninvalle said that they have been impressed by Britton’s performances in his career so far.
“We are continuously impressed by his tenacity and his achievements and we are convinced that this support will assist him to reap more rewards for himself and his country,” he ended.
