Keisha Hill, Staff Reporter

The table tennis fraternity in Jamaica received a significant boost on Monday as Mayberry Investment Limited were confirmed as title sponsors for the Jamaica Table Tennis Association's journey to the Caribbean Junior Championships, scheduled to take place from April 11-14 in Georgetown, Guyana.

Twelve of the island's top junior table tennis players will depart the island today to participate in the Under-15 and Under-18 competitions that will be contested in teams and singles categories. Michael Cai (Wolmer's Boys) will captain the boys teams and teammates Don-Walker Petinaud (Calabar), Simon Tomlinson (Ardenne) and Shane Frost (St Mary High) will participate in the Under-18 category.

Jermaine James (Kingston College), Glen-Ross McDonald (Kingston College) and Jaime Allen (Manchester High) will represent Jamaica in the Under-15 category.

Fourteen-year-old table tennis champion Yvonne Foster (Meadowbrook High) will captain the girls delegation that will include Andrene Hart (Edith Dalton James) and Tracey-Ann Dattadeen (St Mary High), who will compete in the Under-18 category.

Petrina Bogle (Gaynstead) and Kristen McKenzie (Campion) will serve off in the Under-15 event.

QUALIFICATION

The tournament will also serve as qualification for the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Global Junior Tour, which is a series of 20 international junior events held over the world to determine the top junior teams.

According to Keith Garvey, president of the JTTA, the tournament will be competitive as the team members have prepared well and will represent Jamaica at the highest level. On behalf of his organisation, Garvey also expressed appreciation to Mayberry for their timely contribution.

"The JTTA has been going through challenging times' but we have begun to make a positive turn. We are sure that we will do well at the championships. The players have been training very hard and I am positive that they will make us proud," he said.

Robert Hyatt, manager of the delegation, stated that he is looking forward to the team's qualification for the World Junior tournament and was confident that the team had prepared themselves adequately for the encounter. The team will also be accompanied by coach Rohan Schloss and chaperone Morine Dawson.