THE Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) made lots of strides during the year 2014, organising and coordinating numerous training programmes and tournaments during the year and also sending teams overseas for international exposure.

The GTTA’s first programme for the year was the Mashramani tournament where national junior player Elishaba Johnson celebrated his birthday in fine style by playing his way to three titles in the National Sports Commission (NSC)-sponsored Mashramani tournament.
Johnson started his day by teaming up with Stephan Corlette to win the Boys doubles competition, before going on to capture the 15 years and under category in easy fashion by defeating Kyle Edghill 4-0 in their final encounter.
However, Johnson’s doubles partner soon became his greatest challenge as he and Corlette battled in the final of the Boys 18 years and under category.
In the semifinals Johnson beat Scott Garraway 3-1, while Corlette beat number one seed Shemar Britton 3-2.
Meanwhile, Chelsea Edghill was in top form, running away with three titles of her own, as she captured the Mixed doubles, the Girls doubles and the Girls 18 and under category, while Nevaeh Clarkston won two titles in the Girls 11 years and under and the Girls 13 years and under categories.
Some of the top performers in the tournament included Chelsea Edghill, Elishaba Johnson, Shemar Britton, Nevaeh Clarkston, Kristie Lopes, Khalil and Kaysan Ninvalle.
The tournament had more than 220 participants from 16 categories and approximately 22 schools. Participants came from schools and clubs in Linden, Berbice, from Bartica, on the East Coast Demerara, East Bank Demerara and in West Demerara.
A representative 10-member national table tennis team, comprising some new and emerging potential talented young players went to Suriname to participate in a Hinterland Table Tennis championships and Developmental Engagement involving Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname. The Guyanese team comprised Nigel Bryan, Shemar Britton, Joel Alleyne (senior ‘A’ team), Orin Hickerson, Stefan Corlette, Kevon Corbin (senior ‘B’ team), Elishaba Johnson, Kyle Edghill and Alec Hopkinson (junior team).
The championship which was split into three divisions (senior ‘A’, senior ‘B’ and juniors) saw the locals defeat their Surinamese counterparts in the `A’ division 3-0 and French Guiana ‘A’ 3-1 to win the gold.
In the ‘B’ Teams, Guyana ‘B’ beat Suriname ‘B’ 3-0, and came from behind two down, to beat French Guiana 3-2 to cop the gold medal.
In the juniors’ division, Guyana blanked French Guiana 3-0 and Suriname 3-0 to walk away with the gold medal. During the month of March, the GTTA staged the Business School Mini Cadet, Cadet and Juniors Teams and Singles tournament which attracted approximately 150 students from 15 schools.
Mae’s Primary ‘A’ team won the 11-years-and-under team competition with Mae’s ‘B’ coming second in the category. Mae’s Secondary ‘A’ team then won the 13-years-and-under competition with Mae’s ‘B’ finishing second and Rama Krishna Primary third.
With their dominance in the two categories Mae’s School won the overall teams contest with 36 points with Marian Academy finishing second with 14 points after winning the 15-years-and-under competition. Central High School were third with 11 points.
Some 15 schools participated in the competition, including St Stanislaus College, who finished fourth with nine points, Chase Academy fifth with five points, while Queen’s College, Rama Krishna Primary and The Business School tied for sixth with four points each. East La Penitence Primary held the next position ahead of North Ruimveldt Primary.
A training camp was held during the Easter holidays and attracted 27 players between the ages of four to 18 years old.
The association also staged its annual Independence tournament in conjunction with the National Sports Commission (NSC).
The tournament attracted some of the top players in the nation, including Kaysan Ninvalle, Cieara Sukhu, Niran Bissu, Joshua Khan, Nevaeh Clarkston, Abigail Martin, Khalil Ninvalle, Tyriq Saunders, Jeremey Singh, Selenas Jackman, Aneka Phillips, Brittany Bunbury, Kyle Edghill, Elishaba Johnson, Miguel Wong, Priscilla Greaves, Kristie Lopes, Jamaali Homer, Shemar Britton, Stefan Corlette, Sheldon Atherly, Chelsea Edghill, Akeicia Nedd, Nigel Bryan, Orin Hickerson, Joel Alleyne, Jonathan Sankar and Brandon Belle.
Junior Sportswoman-of-the-Year Chelsea Edghill went to Shanghai, China where she took part in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Road to Nanjing Training Camp. She joined Shemar Britton, and Trenace Lowe, who were already in China for the training programme at the Shanghai Sport Training Base. Overseas-based Guyanese Paul David was also in China but at a different training programme in Beijing.
The GTTA held its annual Teach Them Young training camp during the month of July, targeting children 18 years and younger and was aimed at developing and improving the level of table tennis; to help children with the basic skills; to be better prepared for future tournaments; to increase the number of participants involved in table tennis; to create an integrated coaching programme, that incorporates the coach’s education and generally develops players.
The GTTA also sent a female team to the Olympic Festival in Mexico where the Guyanese females qualified for the event during the Caribbean Table Tennis Championships held last year in St. Lucia.
The three females who represented Guyana at the festival were Natalie Cummings, Trenace Lowe and Chelsea Edghill.
During the month of August, the GTTA hosted an International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Level One and Level Two Coaching Certification Programme.
GTTA also sent a team to the Commonwealth Games in Scotland where the Guyanese women’s team of Chelsea Edghill, Trenace Lowe and Natalie Cummings did their country proud after their determination and skills saw them topple the higher-ranked Scotland team in the women’s Team competition.
However, with the men’s side, Christopher Franklin, Paul David, Idi Lewis and Shemar Britton, things were not as bright, and there was mention of the need for some players to hang up their racquets.
The local racquet-wielders outplayed their Dutch and French neighbours to come out on top in the Inter-Guiana Games championships.
Elishaba Johnson (St Stanislaus College) won the Caribbean Boys Pre Cadet silver medal; Kyle Edghill (Mae’s School) – Caribbean Boys Pre Cadet bronze medal, Priscilla Greaves (Marian Academy) – Caribbean Girls Cadet silver medal, Selenas Jackman (St John College) – Caribbean Girls Mini Cadet silver medal.
Guyana’s foursome, led by Elishaba Johnson dominated the hosts and their French counterparts on their way to sweeping the gold medals for each category.
Playing in front of the top brass of the NSC at the Anthony Nesty Sport Hall, the local racquet-wielders, Kyle Edghill, Priscilla Greaves, Johnson and the pint-size Selenas Jackman did not disappoint and earned the praises from those in attendance.
The female racquet-wielders topped Suriname `A’ 3-0 and gained a similar result against Suriname `B’, before inflicting defeat of the same score line against French Guiana in the ‘gold medal’ game.
The Guyanese boys were also in a no-nonsense mood, toppling Suriname `A’ and `B’ and French Guiana, all by 3-0 margins.