Four of Guyana’s national table tennis team members – Natalie Cummings; Joel Alleyne; Nigel Bryan and Elsihaba Johnson – will depart Guyana today for China to participate in a one-month high-level training camp at the Hebei Zhengding Table tennis Training Centre.
This critical high-level table tennis training programme, being offered to eight of Guyana’s national table tennis team, is facilitated through the support of the Government of the People’s Republic of China via its local embassy through current technical and diplomatic engagements with the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA); the Guyana Government and Foreign Affairs Ministry aimed at supporting and improving the performance and development of Guyana’s table tennis. This engagement signals the commencement and forms part of the many initiatives to be unfolded between China and Guyana aimed at improving Guyana’s table tennis prospects.
The GTTA had selected Miguel Wong, Nicholas Romain, Kyle Edghill and Jamal Nicholas as the other members to benefit from this engagement; however, this group will be the first set undertaking the training program.
The members attending the programme have made tremendous sacrifices for this engagement; they were under intense practice pressure over the last few months in preparation for this training programme in order to be ready to maximally benefit from this training engagement.
The GTTA has recognised and identified that there was a critical need to reorient the culture and process of training in the psyche of our national team representatives at all levels and for them to commence training and play in high-yield competitive environments similar to international peers in order for them to bridge the gap and excel in regional and international competitions in the future.
The Hebei Zhengding International Table Tennis Club has a repertoire of high-level and quality players and coaches. It is the centre for China’s national table tennis team and many international players, and has a tradition of producing world-class players at the junior and senior levels
With Guyana scheduled to host the 2019 Caribbean Table Tennis championships and based on the International Table Tennis Federation assigning this competition, as the Pan American games qualification event to be used to select four teams from the Caribbean Region to participate in the 2019 Pan American Games – a key qualification event for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Guyana have given great importance to the hosting of the Caribbean championships and our push to have our players benefit and prepare for these types of arrangements.
The GTTA would like to extend appreciation to Chargé d’Affaires Chen Xillai; Chinese Ambassador to Guyana, Cui Jianchun and Mrs Wang Qiuyi; Minister of State, Joseph Harmon; the Guyana Olympic Association; Guyana Power Producers and Distributors; Dominion Enterprises CEO Dwayne Munroe; the Guyana Revenue Authority and all who have assisted in making this venture a reality.
