… serves off today at National Gymnasium
OVER 200 entries from all across the country have been registered to take part in the annual National Sports Commission (NSC) Mashramani Table Tennis competition that starts today at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue.With registration closing off yesterday, the organisers of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) reported that they have already received entries from Georgetown, West Demerara, Berbice, Bartica, East Coast and Linden, to participate in the event.
The competition will have its official opening ceremony tomorrow, where the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr Frank Anthony, and the Director of Sport Neil Kumar are expected to make brief remarks.
Regarded as one of the top table tennis tournaments in the country, the tournament will have two segments – the juniors and seniors – with singles and doubles competitions.
Age groups for the competition include the girls and boys under nine, 11, 13, 15, 18 and 21. There will also be the men’s and women’s singles, the junior mixed doubles and the boys’ and girls’ doubles being contested for trophies and medals.
The singles competition will be played in two stages with players battling each other in groups to amass points to move on.
The first two players of each group will then move onto the knockout round of the competition.
During the group stages and all of the knockout round except for the finals, players will have to win three out of five games to win one match while in the finals the players will have to win four out of seven to be declared the winner.
Some of the notable players expected to participate are Kaysan Ninvalle, Isaiah Layne, Cieara Sukhu, and Shemar Husbands in the 9 years and under.
The 11 years and under category will have Niron Bissu, Nevaeh Clarkston, while in the 13 years and under Jeremey Singh, Tyriq Saunders, Terrence Rausch, Khalil Ninvalle, Amit Mookram, Brandon Jaikarran, Navendra Persaud, Jordon Conway, Selenas Jackman, and Simran Bissu are expected to be at the table. The 15 years and under category is expected to be lead by Kyle Edghill, Elishaba Johnson, Miguel Wong, Khalid Gobin, Sheldon Atherly (Bartica), and Berbice’s Stephan Sankar on the boys’ side while Kristie Lopes, Pricilla Greaves, and Davonna Bess will be on the girls’ side.
Shemar Britton, Jamaal Duff, Stefan Corlette, Kevon Corbin, Bryton Murray (Berbice), Joshua Lalbachan (Berbice), Chelsea Edghill, and Angeli Persaud (Berbice) will be in the 18 years and under category.