Lue: Local TT well behind regional powerhouses
Published:Tuesday | March 1, 2022 | 12:10 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
Jamaica’s male and female table tennis teams will depart the island today for the 2022 Caribbean Region Table Tennis Federation (CRTTF) senior championships in Havana, Cuba, from March 3-8.
Ahead of their departure, Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA) president, Andrew Lue, said there are no great expectations but it was important that they participated in the event.
Lue said that Jamaica has fallen well behind the likes of regional powerhouses like Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Cuba.
He anticipates that it is going to be an uphill battle for the teams but they are in a rebuilding process and need the tournament to gain international exposure and experience and qualify for international tournaments.
“It is a very important for us to be at this championship. We have slipped far down the ladder over the years and we have to be looking at rebuilding a younger group of players so we can compete regionally and internationally.
“We have to start somewhere and we are putting in the groundwork from now,” Lue said.
“We will be going up against powerhouses like Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Cuba and we expect Barbados and Guyana will be there in the mix because these are teams that are currently ranked above us.
“It is our first (international tournament) since the COVID-19 pandemic, so it is going to be a real hard task because of the long lay-off from competitive table tennis,” he added.
The championship also serves as a qualifier for the Pan American Games, and will allow players to pick up individual and international ranking points as well.
Jamaica will compete in the men’s and women’s team events, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles and the men’s and women’s singles.
The male team consists of Kane Watson, Peter Moo-young, Mark Phillips and Christopher Marsh.
While, the females include Solesha Young, Tsenaye Lewis, Gianna Lewis and Jannel Blake. The female team is coached by Sandra Riettie and the men’s team by Dale Parham. Sean Wallace will manage the teams.