The Jamaica Table Tennis Association is kickstarting their effort to resurrect the sport in the country from the ground up with the hosting a one-day rally for Preparatory and Primary Schools on Monday, June 24 at the Excelsior High School.

The rally, put on with support from the Sports Development Foundation and Optical Solutions International Limited, will include a total of 27 teams from 18 schools, an increase from last year’s 13 schools.

“This year I am overjoyed. We have never had such a vast turnout,” said Jamaica Table Tennis Association President, Ingrid Graham.

“We have over 150 young Table Tennis players who will be participating. It is way more than I expected. The children and coaches are overjoyed. This is something that has been in the making for a long time and it is showing you the positive way forward that Table Tennis is back, we’re alive and we’re here to stay,” she added.

Prior to last year’s staging, the tournament wasn’t held since 2019.

Graham told Sportsmax.tv on Saturday about the importance of having this tournament to foster the development of the country’s young players.

“Last year we decided that we have to get it going again because all of our juniors, they have moved up to senior level and some maybe stopped playing,” she said.

“We had to do that in order to encourage the sport in the schools and the development of Table Tennis moving forward,” she added.

Graham says this commitment to youth development goes beyond the sport of Table Tennis.

“It is very important to give these young people a chance in life whether it’s in sports or academics or whatever area they choose. Sometimes they are going through some phases in their lives and they are not able to speak to their parents or guardian in the way that they would speak to us. So, reaching out to these youngsters, we are trying to say that there are so many things you can do. We are trying to steer them away from the path of going negative and towards something positive,” she said.

“We are trying to create avenues that will provide for our youngsters. We have quite a number of kids involved in Table Tennis now who are from the inner city. They don’t have it like that so it’s hard on us as an Association to help them in the capacity that we would like to help them but we are trying to do our best in that aspect and to guide them in the right path of development,” she added.

Other sponsors for Monday’s event include Supersonic Table Tennis Club, Kingston & St. Andrew Table Tennis Association, Western Sports, Skills Unlimited Table Tennis Academy, American Jewellery, GraceKennedy, Graham International and GEWO Jamaica.