Table Tennis clinic at Couva

A TABLE Tennis clinic aimed at reviving the sport and taking it back to the heights attained by some of the country’s greats in the 1960s and 1970s was held at the weekend at Camden Park, Couva, at the auditorium of the Member of  Parliament Kelvin Ramnath. Project manager Seudath Samoondar addressed a group of 65 primary school students drawn from schools within the surrounding areas. According to Seudath, the large turnout will augur well for the objectives of the  first-time programme. He said also that ex-Caribbean and national table tennis champion Mansingh Amarsingh and the current Under-15 girls champ Priya Ramcharan and her sibling Nirveeta, were on hand to give tips to the youngsters.

The youngsters were then treated to a display of smashing and retrieving by Amarsingh and his training partner Hazare Gopaul. This duo went through their paces and took turns at attacking and defending as well as displaying their skills, dexterity and endurance needed to do well in the sport.  Later, the Ramcharan sisters gave a fast-paced demonstration of counter hitting, as well as forehand and backhand attacking, a reflection of how they made it to the national team.

The Couva district has been the hub of table tennis for many years and has produced champions in Edwin Niffikeer, John Gill and Adrian Bekhoo. Lisa Cuffy, the project secretary said the plan was to identify trainees in three age brackets - Under-7, Under-10 and Under-13. From this clinic, a four-month training programme will be conducted by coach Amarsingh and assistants on Saturday’s between 2 pm and 5 pm. According to Samoondar, an individual and team championship will be conducted at the end of the four-month session. The sessions will be used to assess the development of the young players and reward them for their efforts.