The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas and the sport of table tennis itself made history.

The Bahamas Table Tennis Federation became one of the final four countries in the world to join the International Table Tennis Federation. With the additions of the Bahamas, Cape Verde, Eritrea and Guinea Bissau, the ITTF became the only sport in the world to have every country as a member federation. Global membership of the organisation now stands at 226 countries.

The ITTF international course conductor, Richard McAfee, officially represented the international governing body at a press conference to announce the partnership. “ITTF is very proud to be the first international federation on earth to have every country in the world as a member. The Bahamas was one of the last four to come in and in honour of that the ITTF has launched a developmental project, which will last about a year in the country,” he said. “They have already sent in an equipment package, we will be hiring a local developmental officer and hopefully we will get table tennis back to the glory days you have had here before, but this time it is going to be interconnected to the ITTF and programmes around the world. Hopefully we will be able to raise it to a new height and support it in a lot of different ways.”

The goal of the BTTF is to encourage, promote and control the sport of table tennis throughout the country.

To that end, the Bahamas hosted a two-day “club coaching” course, taught by McAfee at the home of table tennis, the YWCA on Dolphin Drive.

BTTF secretary Shameka Fernander said the organisation seeks to educate the public on the sport.

“We want to give special thanks to the Bahamas Olympic Committee for assisting us in this process. Table tennis has been around in the Bahamas for a very long time and The Nassau Table Tennis Club has been playing for over 40 years. Our home is at the YWCA on Dolphin Drive and a lot of people don’t know about it, but we want to increase the amount of players, clubs,” she said.

“One of our first projects is to integrate table tennis into the schools so we are hosting a course with the Ministry of Education teachers and we are very excited to have that.”

Table tennis was once one of the leading sports in The Bahamas, and the sport is a part of the curriculum in schools. The BTTF has taken part and won numerous awards from prestigious tournaments around the region, and on the international circuit.

Said BTTF president Geoffrey McPhee: “We hope the country can pick up the enthusiasm we have for the sport and we now have to share it with a younger generation. We want the younger kids to know there is an even greater sport they can participate in so we can grow this sport to the level of others in the country.”

Bahamas Olympic Committee president Wellington Miller said it was a step in the right direction to have another sport join the Olympic movement.

“This discussion started last year in Rio. We sat down and went through it. We figured that if it was properly organised, everyone will be able to benefit from it. We look forward to the day when table tennis can benefit and be on our national teams,” he said.