Chelsea Edghill has become the first Guyanese Table Tennis player to make the cut for the Olympics as she will head to this year’s Games in Tokyo on a ‘wild card’ selection.
President of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA), Godfrey Munroe, confirmed to the News Room Sport on Thursday evening that the 23-year-old will attend the Games in July-August.
According to Munroe, Universality selection in the realm of Table Tennis is premised on performance in international competitions and athletes with the ability and potential.
Edghill, who is Guyana’s highest-ranked female player, related to the News Room Sport that she is ecstatic about being selected to attend the prestigious Games.
The Guyana Table Tennis Association said: “Great achievement for us as a Table Tennis nation and fraternity. We are truly elated of the ITTF and IOC recognition of our player’s talent and country programmes in selecting Chelsea.”
“This is a win for Guyana’s Table Tennis. It’s a testimony to the talent, hard work (and) determination. The GTTA would like to express our gratitude to all who have contributed and to our members who continue to work hard and play despite the challenges.”
Just last month, Mabelyn Enriquez of Guatemala stopped Edghill in the Round of 16 at the Latin American Singles and Mixed Doubles Table Tennis championship, a qualification event for the Tokyo Olympics.
However, her performances were extremely creditable, which sparked interest about if she had gotten more investment and exposure, the impact she could have made at the qualification event.
Edghill joins swimmers Jamila Sanmoogan and Andrew Fowler who will also attend the Games on Universality spots, while sprinter Aliyah Abrams has already qualified for the 400m.
The professional player, who is based in Portugal, recently returned to Guyana and revealed that it was her parents who financed her significantly for her training and stay there.
