Ministry of Sport launches Table Tennis Academy

As government continues to place heavy emphasis on sports, a Table Tennis Academy was on
Saturday launched. The academy will target youths between the ages of six and 16, orienting
them into the sport.
The initiative is being undertaken through collaboration with the Culture, Youth and Sport
Ministry and the Guyana Table Tennis Association. Sport Minister, Charles Ramson Jr., said
table tennis is one of the core sports that falls under the National Sports Academy. He expressed
this during the launch at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall. Ramson Jr. noted that the initiative is a
new one that requires everyone to be on board as it could turn into something special. “When we
take the time to do this, it is not because we want to drive the attention towards ourselves. Sport
is very important for the country and it is very important for you as young people because that is
where you get a lot of your skills and disciplines and learning how to work with each other and
understand each other,” Ramson Jr. told those in attendance.
Ramson Jr. disclosed that government, in collaboration with stakeholders, will continue to work
to ensure that sports in Guyana gets to the point that is admirable. He called on those
participating to put their best foot forward. “From our end, what really matters to us is
consistency, seeing that the space that is being allocated, the time that is being allocated that it is
being used at all times. Before it used to be the case that when we wanted to use these facilities,
it would come with a fee. We have waived fees for the usage of our facilities for the sports
academy,” the minister promised.
Sport Director, Steve Ninvalle disclosed that the academy will not be a talk shop, but one that
will bear fruit. He noted that the initiative is drawing regional attention to be used as a model
programme. “Through such a programme, tennis already has one olympian. Through this
programme, we may be sitting among other olympians in the next decade. So, these programmes
are very important and I would ask all, the young athletes that we have, the coaches that we
have, that you give your 110 per cent effort into making this just what the minister wants it to
be,” Ninvalle explained.
Additionally, during the launch of the academy, Ramson Jr. announced that $130M has been set
aside to modernise the sports hall. The sum will see the facility being fully air conditioned with
the installation of bucket seats, additional stands and the installation of a glass facing at the front
of the building. “We are doing this because yes, we want you to be comfortable and that is one of
the reasons but one of the big reasons is because we want to encourage families and spectators to
come to this location when we are hosting our national events because for all of the core sports,
they have to have their national tournament and it is the national programme that leads into the
elite training programme,” Ramson Jr. declared.
He revealed that in budget 2022, the sum of $5.5 B was allocated for the Culture, Youth and
Sport Ministry of which $2.2B goes the development of sports.