THE ongoing strike by teachers countrywide has halted the start of the inaugural nationwide schools Table Tennis Championship.
The tournament was originally scheduled to start last December but was moved to this week by the organising body, the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA).

GTTA President, Godfrey Munroe, said, “We reached a little snag with commencement because as you know, there is strike action taking place.”
He noted that start of the championship depends on the teachers being available to administer the programme.

According to the GTTA boss, “We have all systems in place relevant to the requisite approval from the Ministry of Education; we have got the regional coordinators already established and working; invitation has been extended for registration for the various participating schools.”

He said that regional coordinators continue to engage schools to have teams registered and the organising body has already sourced and provided tables which were a vital implementation component for regions 1, 8 and 9.
The ground breaking tournament is set to see eleven independent regional championships (15 school districts).

The top players will then converge into one venue for a grand finale featuring the best of the best.
The school teams will battle it out in boys’ and girls’ singles, team boys, team girls, elite and novices.
The tournament is sponsored by Oil Company CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited to a value of more than four million Guyana dollars.

The GTTA is also getting support from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports.
The inaugural tournament is designed to ‘breed’ new talent by showcasing and exposing athletes on a national platform.