Intensive workshop for table tennis coaches opens

Sekondi, (W/R) July 11, GNA - An intensive intermediate workshop for 40 youth table tennis coaches in the Western Region opened at Sekondi on Tuesday.

The five day workshop is being organised by the National Sports Council (NSC) and the Ghana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) under the theme "Selling Table Tennis To Million Young Stars To Shine In Their Communities".

Mr Vincent Arhin, National Table Tennis Coordinator told the GNA Sports in an interview that the NSC and the GTTA have decided to collaborate to organise series of workshops to train coaches to improve the performance of tennis players in the country.

He said the newly trained coaches would be expected to popularise table tennis in across the nook and cranny of every part of the country. Mr Arhin who is a retired table tennis coach said the newly trained coaches are to select 16 talented tennis players to participate in a regional competition.

He said four players including two females would be selected after the regional competition to participate in a National championship competition in Accra.

Mr Arhin said the championship would also be used to assess the performance of the coaches and their trainees.

The National Coordinator added that the best three players would be trained to participate in the 2008 Africa Youth Table Tennis Championship and other international competitions. He said the vision of GTTA is to set up mini table tennis centres with trained coaches with the needed equipment across the country as well as encourage mass participation in programmes of the centres. Mr Arhin said the best three table tennis players and their coaches would be presented with certificates and awards after the competition.