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PRESIDENT OF the Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA), Andrew Lue, said there was a whole lot of work to be done if Jamaica table tennis is to regain its competitiveness at the regional and international level.
Lue predicted that Jamaica’s team would have found it very difficult at the just-concluded 2022 Caribbean Region Table Tennis Federation (CRTTF) Senior Caribbean Table Tennis Championships in Havana, Cuba, and they did.
The Jamaicans only got through the first round in two events, with Solesha Young progressing to the women’s singles round of 16 and Kane Wale repeating the feat for the men.
Although Lue knew the association had its work cut out, the Caribbean Championships brought the enormity of the task the organisation has on its hands to reality.
“As expected, it was a tough championships for us despite the best and most gallant effort from the athletes.
“We had only two people reaching the round of 16, and we established a presence. The fact that we turned up was a big plus, and those are positives we want to take from the tournament.
“But now we have a lot of work to do. We have to focus on development locally and the young players coming up. We want to get the younger age groups starting to play so we can have a (national) squad in place and look at their development and have a core that we can invest in to build the sport back up,” he said.
“The current situation is a result of what has been happening in the sport for the past several years. We knew there was a lot to do when we took over, with the pandemic curtailing all our development and fundraising efforts. But it is glaringly obvious now. It has put us further behind the eight ball.”
PLANS
With the country opening up to sports again, Lue said plans are in the pipeline to get the development back on track.
From the age-group squads now in training, the JTTA will select members for the Caribbean Junior Championships in May. They also expect to get the prep, primary, and high competitions going in the Easter school term, and then by the summer, look at getting some leagues going again.
“In addition, we have grass-roots programmes we are looking to establish in community centres across the island so we can establish a broader base of talent because the more people we have playing, the more talent will come to the fore. That is our focus in the short term.”
According to Lue, while the plans were already in place, sponsorship support was critical to execution.
“Hopefully, we can put a package together that will attract sponsors and we can get the support that we need so we can put the development plans that we have on paper into reality,” he said.
livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com
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