By Treiston Joseph
Stakeholders in table tennis are working to decentralise the sport by having tournaments outside of Georgetown.
The newly formed Linden Table Tennis Committee (LTTC) has been very active of late, hosting a development programme for juniors last Saturday at the Mackenzie High School auditorium where over 49 children from Linden and the East Bank Demerara (EBD) participated.
The brain child of LTTC’s General Secretary, Shavin Greene, the tournament was held to give both Linden and EBD players some competition after the conclusion of their training camps over the school break in August.
The tournament was held in three categories with Kester Albert winning the 14-16 age group easily against Rayvon James, who won silver, while Trevor Vangenderen and Curtis Mc Rae took joint third.
Jamal McCalman was the top player in the 10-13 age group, defeating Shania Barrow, who was relegated to silver. Joshua Lucas won the bronze medal.
The youngest category of the day, 6-9, saw Macanden Bacchus winning a tough battle with Ebo McNeil, who took silver. Yohance October and Taliba Yarde took joint third in the category.
Linden dominated the proceedings, taking most of the top spots. Coach of the EBD side, Candacy McKenzie, noted that her players did not have as much table hours as the Lindeners.
Nevertheless, the tournament, which was witnessed by President of the Guyana Table Tennis Association Godfrey Munroe, was deemed as success.
Green highlighted after the tournament that the LTTC aims to remain active in order to produce some of the top players in the country in the near future.
Cover photo caption: The participants strike a pose at the conclusion of the event
