From left: JTTTA President Ingrid Graham, Coach Orvill Young, Coach Dale Parham, Peter Moo-Young and brothers Shacoil Bird, Malone Bird and Anthony Bird.
Atlantic Industrial Electric Supply Company Limited, the company owned by former national Table Tennis champion Peter Moo-Young, has signed on to help three members of Jamaica’s team to the Caribbean Mini and Pre-Cadet Table Tennis Championships set for July 1-7 in the Dominican Republic.
The three members, brothers Anthony, Malone and Shacoil Bird, were left with very little resources after an unfortunate and tragic house fire in February.
“We had reached out to Mr. Moo-Young about sponsorship of three of the youngsters. The fire earlier this year left them lacking with certain resources so we reached out to Mr. Moo-Young to see if he could assist in any way to help us send these three players off to the Dominican Republic for the upcoming Pre and Mini Cadet Championships,” JTTA President Ingrid Graham told Sportsmax.tv in an interview earlier this week.
Moo-Young happily obliged, providing background on how he first heard about the three brothers and how this sponsorship came together.
“About a year or so ago, Dale (Parham) alerted me that he had identified three youngsters that happen to be brothers who are uniquely talented and invited them to come to my club to play. I saw the kids and I will confirm, they are exceptionally talented for their ages,” he said.
“In keeping track of their progress, I was told that they had a tragic fire a few months ago and it hurt my heart because we wanted them to keep playing. So, I was pleased to hear that they continued to play,” Moo-Young added.
Atlantic Industrial Electric is going into this with their partners, KIC Ventures, an American company involved in the medical field.
“We will jointly underwrite the cost of the three brothers to go to the tournament,” Moo-Young said.
Founder of KIC, Dr. Kingsley Chin, also commented on the decision to help out.
“The only reason I’m able to do what I do today is because, when I was young, I got the opportunity to play sport. This is what I love about these boys; they faced obstacles and they kept going, they never stopped. You never know the future of somebody but if they show they have an interest in being good at something it’s like a plant, you water it and the fruits will bear,” he said.
“Exceptional,” was how National Coach Dale Parham described the talent of the youngsters.
“They’ve been playing for about two or three years now and they have shown dedication to the sport. I can tell you that these guys play probably about 4-5 hours everyday and that is something that is unheard of based on our situation now here in Jamaica,”
“When you have youngsters like this with that kind of drive and passion for the sport, I think it’s only fitting that we try to support them as best as possible,”
Students at Whitfield Town Primary and Junior High School, the brothers recently emerged victorious at the JTTTA/ OSIL/SDF Prep and Primary School Rally at the Excelsior High School on June 24.
Jamaica’s team is scheduled to leave the island on Saturday for the championships.
Bradley Jacks is a budding journalist and an avid sports fan. His love of research and sports has led him to SportsMax.tv, a place where those passions work hand in hand to allow him to produce content.
Watson, Whyte take singles titles at JTTA National Table Tennis Championships
Kane Watson and Keeara Whyte emerged as the respective Men’s and Women’s open singles champions at the 2024 Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA) National Senior and Junior Championships held from September 6-8 at the National Indoor Sports Center in Kingston.
Watson returned from retirement to claim his sixth national title by a score of 4-3 in a seven-game thriller over 2023 champion Mark Phillips.
Watson won the first three sets 11-7, 11-3 and 11-8 before Phillips rallied to win the next three sets 11-6, 11-5 and 11-9, setting up a decisive seventh set.
It was a close contest throughout but Watson held his nerve to emerge victorious by a score of 11 points to nine.
In the women’s singles final, Keara Whyte got the better of defending champion Tsenaye Lewis in a 4-0 straight-sets win.
Whyte won the first set comfortable 11-4 before two hard fought sets (11-9, 11-9) in the second and third.
The fourth set proved to be the most competitive with Lewis fighting to prolong proceedings but Whyte eventually prevailed 12-10 to secure the title.
Watson and singles semi-finalist Paulton Madden combined to win the men’s doubles title while sisters Tsenaye and Gianna Lewis took the women’s double crown.
As far as the juniors are concerned, the following were the respective age-group winners: Kaylor Dyer (U-9 and U-11 Girls), Shacoil Bird (U-9 Boys), Malone Bird (U-11 Boys), Kira Scott (U-13 and U-15 Girls), Ajani Spencer (U-13 Boys), Gmarco Smith (U-15 Boys), Keeara Whyte (U-19 Girls), Azizi Johnson (U-19 Boys).
Andrea Wadsworth and Phillip Drummond won the women’s and men’s Over-40 singles titles.
Kingston took the title as the top women’s parish team while St. Andrew took the men’s crown.
Teams begin hunt for promotion as League B, League C action to kick off fourth Concacaf Nations League
The much-anticipated fourth edition of the Concacaf Nations League gets underway on Wednesday, when 16 League B teams begin their hunt for promotion to taste League A action in the tournament’s next edition.
Split into four groups, the countries will face each other twice during the FIFA Match Windows in September, October, and November. However, unlike previous editions, matches will now be played at a centralized venue per group to help alleviate some of the travel challenges in the region.
Group winners will be promoted to League A, while fourth-place finishes are relegated to League C. Additionally, the tournament will help to decide berths for the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup.
Group A
El Salvador, Montserrat, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Bonaire comprise the first group. El Salvador returns to League B after being relegated in last year’s tournament, while Bonaire makes its debut after earning a promotion from League C.
Montserrat and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines will try to build on their 2023/24 Nations League campaign, in which they both finished with nine points.
Group B
Curaçao, Saint Lucia, Grenada, and Saint Martin are the teams drawn into Group B.
Saint Martin was promoted to League B, coming off an undefeated run in last year’s Nations League, while Curaçao is back in League B for the first time in three years after being relegated from League A. Grenada is also back after being relegated for the first time in four years.
Meanwhile, Saint Lucia, which tallied 10 points last year, will be hoping to ascend to League A for the first time.
Group C
Haiti, Puerto Rico, Aruba, and Sint Maarten round out Group C.
Aruba returns to League B for the first time since 2019/20 via promotion. Haiti also is back after being relegated.
Sint Maarten and Puerto Rico will rely on top scorers Gerwin Lake and Ricardo Rivera to lead the way.
Group D
The four teams in Group D are the Dominican Republic, Bermuda, Antigua and Barbuda, and Dominica.
Dominica arrives via promotion from League C to rub shoulders with Dominican Republic, and Antigua and Barbuda, who are on the hunt for a first-ever League A promotion, while Bermuda aims to improve after going 2-2-2 in last year’s edition.
At the conclusion of the group stage in November, the four group winners will qualify for the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup Group Stage, and the two best second-place finishers will advance to the 2025 Gold Cup Prelims.
The Gold Cup Prelims are scheduled for March 2025.
Meanwhile, League C action is also scheduled for Wednesday, with Bahamas and US Virgin Islands to open their Group A accounts. Barbados is the other team in the group.
Anguilla and Turks and Caicos Islands are set to cross swords in Group B, which also includes Belize, while British Virgin Islands will visit Cayman Islands in Group C, which also has St Kitts and Nevis.
At the end of the Group Stage in October, the three group winners and the best second-place finishers will advance to the 2024 Concacaf Nations League Play-In. The Play-In will take place in November 2024.
JTTA National Senior and Junior Table Tennis Championships set for September 6-8
From September 6 to September 8, Jamaica’s top table tennis players will descend upon the National Indoor Sports Center in Kingston for the 2024 Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA) National Senior and Junior Table Tennis Championships.
In what promises to be an unforgettable weekend of table tennis excitement, players will be competing in categories ranging from Under-9 Girls and Boys all the way up to the Men’s and Women’s Open categories.
“This will be the largest participation in over 20 years,” according to JTTA President Ingrid Graham.
She also noted that this will be the largest number of participants ever in both the Men’s Open and Under-19 sections.
These championships will also see Jamaican citizens overseas coming to the island to compete for the top spot in their respective categories.
“We have over 10 Jamaican citizens living in London, Canada and the USA coming over to participate,” Graham said.
Sponsors for the championships include OSIL, Western Sports, Graham International Consulting, SDF, JOA, Insport, Virginia Deer, Mother’s, Altamont Court Hotel, Auto Channel, Jamaica Post and GEWO Jamaica.
Doors open at 9:00 am Jamaica Time each day.
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