THE Guyana Table Tennis Federation (GTTA) received a quantity of equipment as part of the International Table Tennis Federation’s (ITTF) global development programme/plan 2015.
The equipment grant was given to the association to assist with the development of the sport in Guyana.The grant includes 6 STAG 1000 DX competition tables, 6 clip-on table tennis nets, 6 score cards, 80 STAG Elite beginners racquets, 4.5 gross of STAG, one gross of Star Plastic training balls and 2 gross of STAG 3 Star Plastic competition balls.
According to the GTTA, the grant will significantly impact the development efforts in allowing them to expand their programmes.
The grant will positively impact the decentralisation efforts of the association given its plan to take national competitions and training camps to the rural areas with a long-term plan to provide competition tables to regions such as Berbice, Linden, Bartica and Region 2.
This is with the view of gradually building capacity in the regions, allowing the steering committees in these areas be able to host programmes and the association to host National competitions and training in the rural areas as part of a decentralisation plan.
It is the body’s aim to lobby the ITTF for support in this regard through the Development of a National Sport Structure grant through XIOM, a table tennis equipment manufacturer
The racquets, balls and tables were used to conduct a table tennis for a schools programme for 30 secondary schools in the Georgetown area.
The programme was done between the GTTA, Ministry of Education Department of Sports and the National Sports Commission with the central aim of the programme being the orientation of students to the fundamentals of the sport of table tennis.
The executive committee is truly appreciative of the ITTF Latin American Development Officer Mr Ramon Ortega Montes, who lobbied for Guyana to benefit from the grant, based on our advocacy and his assessment of our potential when he visited Guyana in 2015.