Four Guyanese nominated to attend ITTF Hopes Programme

Four young Guyanese table tennis players have been nominated to attend the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Hopes Programme, which will be held Virtually this year.

The players are Ebo McNeil, Jasmine Billingy, Samara Sukhai and Malachi Moore, the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) has announced.

“The players will participate in a weekly Virtual training session along with their coaches and ITTF experts Mr. Dominique Plattner, ITTF high-performance manager and ITTF High Performance and Education Director Mr. Massimo Costantini with a view of possibly being selected as one of the 20 girls and 20 boys who will benefit from the ITTF Hopes Programme under the ITTF purview,” the GTTA said.

“This process offers the opportunity to progress to other High-Performance programmes; interaction with the world’s top players and coaches; educational sessions (strength and conditioning, sport science, nutrition and other relevant areas) among other benefits,” the GTTA added.

With the COVID-19 pandemic creating significant limitations in the ITTF being able to host actual Hopes Programmes in the region, the international body has moved the Hopes programme to a Virtual engagement, allowing Associations to nominate up to two girls and two boys under 12 years, along with their coaches, who commit to consistently take part in the programme.

“The evaluation from the online activities will consider common attributes of a player’s performance and attitude during the training sessions. In addition, the attendance at the Hopes Around the Clock sessions will also be a relevant element for the final evaluation and selection,” the GTTA explained.

“Wild Card selection will be based on assessment and evaluation of performance over the entire period of online sessions and having attended the Continental Hopes, if applicable. The first scheduled session is on June 29 at 15:00h.”

The GTTA has worked out the online details to allow coaches Linden Johnson, Idi Lewis and Shavin Greene to connect with the training experts for the first scheduled training programmes.

“The GTTA is appreciative of the support and patience of the players in the fraternity during these challenging period as we navigate ensuring the best opportunities and outcomes for our hard-working players,” the GTTA release concluded.