The Ghana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) National Youth Championship tournament themed “Discover Series 1-Talent meets Opportunity” was held today, Saturday October 2, 2021 at the Accra Sports Stadium.
The program is expected to run in sessions as today marks the 1st phase of the program. The subsequent phases are expected to take off by the end of the year. Over 300 players registered for this event with females dominating with over 80% and 20% to their male counterpart.
The Sheroes project is one of such project from the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) meant to encourage female to take active role in Table Tennis either as players or vie for leadership roles within the Table Tennis fraternity. The idea behind this project boils down to providing females the platform to exhibit their talent and nurture it to the greatest of their potentials.
The Discovery Series wraps up with trophies, cash prizes and some souvenirs to deserving players as they get ready for the next phase of the competition. There are 4divisions which are Under 21, Under18, Under 15 and Under 11.
The winner of the under 21 male category, Mr. Godwin Alarbi won a cash prize of Ghc 350.00, a gold medal and souvenirs from the sponsors. The 2nd runner up takes a cash prizes of Ghc 300.00, medal and some souvenirs, the 3rd and 4th runner up will each be take Ghc 200.00 cash prizes, medal and some souvenirs as well.
The Under 18 female category winner, Judith Acheampong takes home a cash prize of Ghc 300.00, gold medal and souvenirs from sponsors, 1st runner up Ghc 250.00 cash prize, medal and souvenirs and the 3rd and 4th runner up take Ghc 150.00 each, medals and some souvenirs. All divisions were given a cash prize with the exception of the under 11 divison who received souvenirs.
According to the Technical Director, Mr. Charles Tachie-Menson, there will be other competitions that will take off within this month through to the end of year. The all ladies competition will also take off on the 16th October which will purposely be for ladies with different categories. He added that, this year’s Homowo tournament will also come off on 30th October. The knockout competition is equally scheduled on the 4th December 2021 to wrap up for their series of program for the year.
He mentioned that, they will hopefully be accessing all the facilities of the National Sports Authority across the country and expressed his gratitude to them and all the media partners that have helped to envisage the dream of these young ones.
The President of the Ghana Table Tennis Association, Mr. Mawuko Afadzinu in his closing remarks applauded the organizers of the program, the sponsors, media and NSA for making the program a success. He also congratulated the winners and urged all players to focus on their studies and prepare ahead of the next phase of the tournament.
📸: Parvis Dornu|NSA|