National TT player Chelsea Edghill lands historic Olympic berth

May 22, 2021 Sports

Chelsea Edghill

Kaieteur News – National Table Tennis Player Chelsea Edghill will represent Guyana at the Tokyo Olympics scheduled to be held from July 23 to August 8. Edghill, Guyana’s highest-ranked female player reached the quarterfinals of the Olympic qualifiers held recently in Argentina and was granted a ‘Wild Card’ to the games.
In Olympics, countries that fail to produce athletes who meet qualification standards are granted ‘Wild Cards’ which allow them to enter. This system of qualifying is added to a strict qualification system to encourage greater sports participation worldwide.
For Table Tennis only one (1) men’s singles and one (1) women’s singles Tripartite Commission Invitation Places for the sport are made available at the Olympic Games for which Chelsea secured the sole selection.
Edghill, a former Caribbean Under-21 Women’s champion becomes the first Table Tennis player to represent Guyana at a senior Summer Olympic Games. In the realm of this sport, the University of Lindenwood Missouri graduate in Chemistry performance in international competition attempts at qualification tournament wins; Pan American games qualification ability and potential of the athlete among others played a critical role in her selection of the Universality spots (wild card).
Edghill is a former ITTF With The Future in Mind Scholarship Awardee and a former Junior Olympian (Nanjing China 2014). This comes on the heels of Guyana’s Women’s team of Edghill, Trenace Lowe, Natalie Cummings, Jody Ann Blake and Priscila Greaves qualification to the World Table Tennis Championships in Buscan, South Korea which was cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic.
In an invited comment, Edghill said she is ecstatic about the feat. “I didn’t think I would have made it, but I must thank God. Hard work pays off., I want to be able to compete and want to leave a mark for my country and this will require a lot of hard work,” she added.
Edghill stated that one of her goals is to be ranked in the top 100 or even 50 players and has expressed gratitude to her parents, Sydney Christophe, Coaches including Edi Lewis and Lisa Lewis, friends and the GTTA as well as all those who have supported her.
President of the GTTA Godfrey Munroe said this is a win for Guyana and regional Table Tennis and is a testimony to the talent, hard work and determination of Chelsea, built on the sacrifices of the player’s officials and stakeholders.
“Olympic Games represent the pinnacle of all sports, this represents a truly historic achievement. This is a victory for us as a nation as a region,” he added. “It is significant in that is has shown ITTF and IOC recognition of our player’s talent and country programmes in selecting Chelsea. This provides the platform for us to enhance the sports profile and market Guyana to the world, lobby for more support for our athletes and truly shows we have players with the talent and ability. The key focus on is working on ensuring that Chelsea gets the requisite financial to support her preparation in being ready physically, technically, tactically and psychologically so that she can face the challenge head on.” The GTTA would like to express gratitude to all who have contributed and to the members who continue to work hard and play despite the challenges. (Zaheer Mohamed)

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