Head coach of Jamaica’s team to the Caribbean Regional Table Tennis Championships, Dale Parham, is expecting a competitive showing from his team.

The championships, set for St. Michael in Barbados, begin on Tuesday and end on June 22.

On the first day, Jamaica’s women will tackle the Dominican Republic and Barbados while the Men’s team will face Cuba.

Coach Parham says he is happy with where the team is right now after a long period of preparation.

“We have been preparing for the past six to seven months. I’m pretty happy with where we are now. A couple of the players have been exposed to tournaments internationally and we had more local tournaments this time around to prepare them in terms of match readiness for the Caribbean Championship,” he said.

“This administration is trying something different. We’re having yearly training instead of just a two-month training in preparation for a championship. It’s a continuous training program that we’ll be having and I’m pretty happy,” Parham added.

When speaking about expectations for the championships, he refrained from promising a Jamaican victory, instead expressing confidence in a competitive showing from the group.

“Overall, I wouldn’t say that we’re looking to win the tournament this year because we’re rebuilding. I’m looking for good performances from Azizi Johnson and Kane Watson. We have Solesha Young who’s making a comeback in the sport which I’m happy for because we want to rebuild our female program. We’re going to be very competitive and anything’s possible,” he said.

President of the Jamaica Table Tennis Association, Ingrid Graham, says playing in this tournament is another step in bringing the sport in Jamaica back to its glory days.

“I see Table Tennis back as a viable sport here in Jamaica. We have many persons coming on board especially at the grassroots level. Our main constraint has always been financial but we will put in as much as we can for the development of the players as best as possible,” she said.