2021 a bitter-sweet year for Chelsea Edghill
Chelsea Edghill
Chelsea Edghill

THOUGH sports made a slow return in Guyana this year, there are some athletes who had a sensational year competing on the international stage.

We often equate success in a sport to accolades achieved from an athlete’s performance, but in some cases, the mere fact of participation, taking the circumstances into consideration, can be heralded as an accomplishment that should be celebrated.The name Chelsea Edghill (OLY) will forever be remembered in Guyana’s sporting realm, but more importantly, throughout the English-speaking Caribbean.

This year was a bitter-sweet one for the 24-year-old table tennis star. While she was able to see her Olympic dream come true, months later, she lost one of her biggest supporters – her father, Godfrey Edghill, to COVID-19.

In fact, Edghill, despite her young age, can be considered Guyanese sports folklore. Students will be quizzed on who is the first tennis player, male or female, to represent Guyana at the Olympics.

OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION
Chelsea Edghill was one of 86 women in Tokyo, Japan this year, vying for Olympic glory. How she got there isn’t by luck, or winning the table tennis lottery, as some would say, but really through her brilliance over the years.

“2021 started off pretty normal, focused and highly motivated with the goal in mind to qualify for the Olympics,” Edghill told Chronicle Sport in an exclusive interview.

The 2018 Caribbean U21 Singles Champion said “Even though the road wasn’t smooth having battled so many injuries and setbacks I’ve managed to compete and give a good showing at the Olympic trials in Argentina.”

“I didn’t get the result that I was hoping for and I was taken aback. But as God would have it, I gained the Wild Card to the Tokyo Olympics. I was over the moon and was even more motivated to work harder to give a good result,” Edghill reflected.

After not being able to directly qualify for the Olympic Games at the qualification tournament in Argentina where she exited at the Round-of-16, the Tripartite Commission had two slots (one male and one female) to select from among National Olympic Committees that didn’t have more than eight athletes at the two previous Olympic Games in London (2012) and Rio (2016).

The Tripartite Commission selected Togo’s Dodji Fanni and Guyana’s Chelsea Edghill.

Table tennis was first played at the Olympics in 1988 at the Games in Seoul, South Korea.

Following her selection for Tokyo, Chelsea Edghill became the first Guyanese and first female from the English-Speaking Caribbean, to compete in the sport at the Olympics.

LIVING OLYMPIC DREAM
After joining swimmer Andrew Fowler as Guyana’s flag-bearer, Edghill got off to a dream start when she defeated Fiji’s Sally Yee, 4-1 (11-5, 4-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-8) in the opening match of the Women’s Singles Olympic tournament.

While on the surface Edghill’s match-winning performance may seem casual, in the table tennis world, it represented ‘history’; not just for Guyana, but the Caribbean.

“At the Olympics, I set a plan of winning the first match and executed. It was an unreal feeling and moment for myself, Guyana table tennis and the Guyanese people,” Edghill said.

Following her sensational victory over Fiji’s Sally Yee, the former Bishops’ High School student and Linwood University graduate (Chemistry) went on to play South Korea’s Shin Yubin in the Round-of-64.

Shin Yubin is South Korea’s youngest-ever representative in the sport at the Olympics, and against Edghill, the-then world 85th ranked player showed why she’s one of the best players in the world, winning 4-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-1, 12-10).

Edghill is as accomplished as it gets in the sport of table tennis and certainly a player that is on the path of one day receiving a National award for her dedication and contribution to the sport in Guyana and the Caribbean.
And while tragedy struck her family, Edghill said she’s happy that her father had a chance to see her compete and win a match at the Olympics.

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