Guyana Table Tennis Association, Chinese Consulate discuss training programmes

The Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) and the People’s Republic of China through their Consulate in Guyana are seeking to strengthen their strong partnership with potentially more training stints in China for Guyanese players.

A team from GTTA met with Chen Xilai, Deputy Chief of the Embassy on Wednesday to have discussions on the shared vision.

According to a release from the GTTA, Xilai shared a quote, which forms part of the Chinese philosophy, “It is joyful to play alone but it’s more joyful to play with others.”

The GTTA further indicated the discussions premised on the relation of overseas and local training stints for players at all levels at High-performance centers in China during 2023.

More so, the hope is for “training opportunities for officials, high-performance coaches to visit Guyana to work with national teams, technical support and combined efforts on projects that will be geared to impact the livelihood of members.”

Other initiatives discussed included a Goodwill Tournament, similar to the one held last year to celebrate 50 years of bilateral engagement between the two nations.

There is also expected to be a review of the initiatives such as the donation of equipment to the national programme and the school programme in partnership with the Ministry of Education.

GTTA President Godfrey Munroe indicated Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, is keen on having China’s support for expanding the national school project and the plan to have each student exiting the school system exposed and oriented to sport language and playing one musical instrument.