THE Rasville, Roxanne Burnham Gardens-based Rasville Table Tennis Club (RTTC) yesterday left these shores for their maiden tour, heading out to Trinidad and Tobago, where they will be competing in the Tobago Open Tennis Championships.

While it has not been confirmed, RTTC is the lone club from Guyana heading to these championships and according to the club’s founder and coach Melissa Dow-Richardson, her aim is to expose her players to a different brand of tennis, while fine-tuning their preparations for the upcoming Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) Junior and Senior national championships.
The six-member team, that left for the two-day championships which will serve off today, includes national Under-11 player Tyriq Saunders, who recently participated in the Caribbean Junior Cadet Championships in Jamaica.
“The postponement of the national championships by the GTTA is a blessing in disguise for us, as we are able to go to the Tobago Open Championships and compete, while the players would be given an opportunity to practise their art in a different brand of tennis,” stated Dow-Richardson.
The former national player believes Saunders and Edward ‘Bo’ Favorite are the key players in the travelling party. She exhibited a high level of confidence in Yenkini Favorite, Darrell Fraser and Anfernee George.
“These players have a bright future in the sport, as long as they remain disciplined, dedicated and committed and one of the purposes for this trip is to highlight those three areas, which are critical towards an upward mobility in life.”
Meanwhile, the South Georgetown-based club which recently celebrated its first anniversary, held an in-house ‘Back to School’ tournament for three weeks, which saw several players display development in the sport.
Trophies for the tournament were sponsored by the Trophy Stall of Bourda Market and Hadi’s City Mall, while Splashmin’s Resort and Fun Park provided sponsorship for one of the players to travel to the Tobago Championships, for which Dow- Richardson expresses her gratitude.