Chelsea Edghill to vie for another Olympic spot at Pan-Am qualifiers

National Table Tennis champion Chelsea Edghill will commence her campaign for possible qualification to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games when she competes at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Americas Pan American qualification event, which will be held from May 14 – 18 in Lima, Peru.

Edghill became the first Table Tennis player from Guyana and the first female player from the English-speaking Caribbean region to qualify for and compete at the Olympic Games when she participated in the 2020 Tokyo Games.

At the Tokyo Games, she had an impressive showing, captivating Guyana and the Caribbean region when she defeated two-time Olympian Sally Yee of Fiji 4-1, 11-5, 4-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-8, a commanding debut performance in the preliminary round at the global Games.

Edghill progressed to the Round of 32 but lost against a top Korean player.

The qualification events will see the region’s best male and female stars vying for four spots.

There will be two individual events: men’s Singles and Women’s Singles.

Four men and four women will qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The tournament will consist of two stages, each with two knockout draws.

The competition is also a precursor for candidates eligible for tripartite selection, for which Chelsea is a candidate.

In round one of the draws of the first qualification, Edghill is scheduled to play against Venezuela’s Roxy Gonzalez.

However, former Caribbean champion Shemar Britton will be unavoidably absent from the qualification event owing to exams for which he is completing final year studies at Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad.

Britton was seeded 19th among men and is a tripartite candidate, having qualified for the Pan Am Games with solid performances in region competitions.