JTTA elated at return to action
... But PCR testing forces overspend for national championships
Published:Saturday | August 14, 2021 | 12:08 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
To access this article in full please login or register today
THE JAMAICA Table Tennis Association (JTTA) is hosting its first local tournament in over a year, with the staging of the National Junior and Senior Championships at the National Indoor Sports Centre, which began yesterday and ends today. The...
THE JAMAICA Table Tennis Association (JTTA) is hosting its first local tournament in over a year, with the staging of the National Junior and Senior Championships at the National Indoor Sports Centre, which began yesterday and ends today.
The championships served off with junior competition yesterday. The men’s and women’s open singles competitions will take place today.
Nearly a hundred players are competing at the championships, over 50 per cent less than the usual participation. However, many players chose not to compete because they were not in shape.
Nevertheless, JTTA president, Andrew Lue, said the national championships is the first step to consolidate their international ranking.
“This is really a special occasion, as it is the restarting of (local) table tennis. It is critical for us to maintain our international presence, and this particular championship will help us look at the athletes and select squads for international games,” he explained.
“So we were very determined to have this tournament because it gives athletes a chance to compete and enables us as an association and a country to get our team selected so we can start working on our international ranking,” said Lue.
In spite of his joy for a return to competition, Lue said a government requirement for everyone to present a negative PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test before being admitted forced the association to spend more than they had budgeted.
BUDGET PROBLEMS
The requirement will also be compulsory for any tournament the JTTA intends to stage in the near future. With the new administration planning monthly tournaments to fast-track local development, Lue said this will hinder their plans.
“It (the tournament) will be under strict COVID-19 protocols. Participants will be required to do a PCR test and, as a result, we are not allowing any spectators,” he noted. “However, the cost for testing is very prohibitive. At $15,000 per person, the cost is going to be doubling our budget for this tournament.”
The association, he said, budgeted $3.5 million for the tournament, but nearly $2 million of that amount was spent on testing alone.
“We were able to host this tournament because the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) contributed towards the testing. But it didn’t cover all the participants, so we will still be in the red as far as that is concerned,” he said.
The JTTA plans to host regular tournaments and they are hoping that the authorities can find ways to ease the financial burden on the association. The PCR testing is stipulated by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, but Lue suggests that the cheaper antigen testing could be used instead.
“Find some way to ease the requirement for testing. Our development plan is to have a tournament every month. If we have to do testing, it will be very challenging to host future tournaments,” Lue said. “People who are fully vaccinated will get to come, but even if you are vaccinated, they still want you to get the PCR test.”