Young counting on strategy to retain TT title
Published:Wednesday | August 18, 2021 | 12:12 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
NATIONAL FEMALE table tennis champion, Solesha Young, said defending her title at the Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA) National Junior and Senior Table Tennis Championships, which has been rescheduled to begin tomorrow at the National Indoor Sports Centre, will require a good strategy as she is not fully fit.
The two-day tournament, which was scheduled for August 13-14, was postponed after the first day of competition due to the Government’s COVID-19 vaccination blitz, which took place at the same venue last Saturday.
Young has been experiencing pain in her wrist and admitted that she has not been able to perform as intensely as she would like. Nevertheless, she is confident that she can retain her national crown by playing smart.
“There is a negative and that is my wrist has been giving me a bad time. I try to play but I cannot play my best because if do, I will severely hurt my wrist. I don’t pressure it, so we will see,” she said.
Young has no idea what the problem is, but has been doing all she can to treat the injury, so that she can put up a solid title defence.
“I am not sure (it will hamper title defence). I am working on it with rubbings and whatever makes it feels better. I am not sure what’s wrong. I need to go to the doctor and get an X-ray because it is getting out of hand,” she continued.
The 17-year-old added that coupled with the injury, she has had very little training over the last year due to the pandemic, plus exam studies.
STRATEGIC APPROACH
Despite those factors, the young champion is convinced she still has a few cards left up her sleeve and that it is going to take a strategic approach to retain her crown.
“It wasn’t held last year and it gave us an extension to train, but I wasn’t able to because of exams and COVID causing everything to be pushed back. So I had very little training and didn’t get to work on my fitness,” she shared.
“So for this tournament I will be depending on tactics, strategy and brains. That is what I will use to reclaim victory,” she stated.
Young’s coach, Sean Wallace, admitted that most of her preparation has been mental and despite the niggling wrist, he is confident that she will retain the title.
“Undoubtedly, I am not seeing where she will lose. There are some good competitors but based on the type of work we have put in, as we’ve worked mainly on the mental and tactical aspects, she should be able to retain the title.”
He added that they have monitored and managed the injury well thus far.
“She participated very well (Friday) and we monitored it and had the personnel in the ambulance assess it, rub it and wrap it and we managed the injury very well and up until the end, she was okay,” Wallace said.
“On the weekend, I took her to play with some males and we consistently monitored it and she was okay. I believe the treatment the medical personnel gave was really effective. We want to continue in the same vein and for her not to irritate it and hurt her chances,” he said.
Meanwhile, five junior titles were decided on the first day, last week Friday. Suri Bellamy took the girls’ Under 19 title and Sajarto Murray won the boys’ equivalent. Logan Royes won the boys’ Under 11, Keeara Whyte took the girls’ Under 11 and Karecia Peterkin took the girls’ Under 13 honours.