A five-member Liberia National Table Tennis Association (LNTTA) delegation is expected to depart Liberia for Accra Ghana this Sunday, April 23, 2023 to represent Liberia in the West African qualifier for the 2023 Durban, South Africa ITTF world cup.
The delegation is headed by the association’s president, G. Gbassay Golee, an official of the association and three athletes include Lasanah Weh, Armah Kamara and Boton Paye.
Mr. Golee explained that if the three Liberian athletes who are to participate in the Accra qualifiers score the necessary points against their opponents, they will represent Liberia in the ITTF September 2023 world cup qualifier in Durban, South Africa and they will be joined by athletes from two other countries.
The LNTTA boss described the responses from the Ministry of Youth and Sports Ministry about financial assistance as very positive and hoped to receive it soon because without that assistance, the trip to Ghana might not be possible and that failure on their part to take part in the West African qualifier, they will have to face fine.
Mr. Golee stated further that one of the main goals of his association is to take the game to youth that are having passion for table tennis in communities within Monrovia and they started in the Slipway Community on Thursday, April 20, 2023 and they will be at the Lakpazeh Community with one board because April 23, 2023 is World Table Tennis Day and Liberians are having passion for the game with a theme that says take tennis to the people.
“We started the awareness dissemination on the important of the game in the Slipway Community with a tennis board to help the youth because the only way we can actually have a viable national team is to take tennis from the grassroots level with the young people and graduate them from one stage to another level so that we can be able to have a viable national team that will be able to score more victories against her opponents locally and internationally.”
He called on parents of youth that are having passion for tennis to always help to encourage them to focus their minds on the game.
