By Tony Becca, Senior Sport EditorTHE JAMAICA Table Tennis Association's annual general meeting is set for Friday evening at the Sports Development Foundation's office on Phoenix Avenue in Kingston, and when it is over there could be a new president, a new first vice president, and many new faces on the Council.
The current president is Justin Allen, the first vice-president is Keith Garvey and a move is afoot to vote them out and elect former Jamaica and Caribbean champion Stephen Hylton as president and current national representative and former champion Peter Moo Young as first vice-president.
Once one of the most popular sports in the country, table tennis has been losing its popularity in recent years, unlike years gone by when they were the best or among the best in the region, today Jamaica are numbered among the weak, for some time now there has been dissatisfaction over the way the game is being managed, and over the past few weeks a group of players and supporters of the game have been meeting and planning to change things.
The dissatisfaction surrounds what the disgruntled refer to as poor management, the Council's lack of ability to find money to fund the development of the game, the poor standard of the game today, the embarrassment when players selected to the national team have to be left behind because of the lack of money, the failure of the association to hold its AGM last year, the lateness of this year's AGM which should have been held in February, and the participation of players, including the secretary of the association, at the World Championships without the knowledge of the Council.
TAKE-OVER
The man behind the take-over is Peter Moo Young, he remembers the days when table tennis was a strong sport in the country, and he is adamant that there must be a return of these days.
"I am a businessman," says Moo Young "every thing, including table tennis, need to be run like a business, I am used to a certain level of competence, and what is happening in table tennis demonstrates a lack of competence."
The problem facing Moo Young, and the others for change, is the fact Hylton lives in Florida and not in Jamaica.
"That is a reasonable concern," said Moo Young yesterday, "but the advantages far outweigh the disadvantage. We need someone with a presence in the market place, Stephen has presence, and if elected, he will be in Jamaica as often as is necessary.
"What is important, however, is that we want to put an administration that will be strong, and one that will be able to the job even when he is away."
According to Moo Young, Hylton is willing and ready to serve as the president. "We have been talking to him, and he has said that he cannot sit and watch while the sport he grew up in, the sport he played, continues to be ruined.
Allen, who has served three years as president, is aware that there is a plan to remove him, but he is not worried about it.
"I know what is being planned, but I am not worried. Maybe they will be able to remove some Council members, but not me. I am confident the people who can vote will vote for me."
