By Charmaine Austin, Staff ReporterTHE JAMAICA Table Tennis Association (JTTA) has said it will continue with plans to stage the Caribbean Championship although the organisation is still facing a monetary crisis.
A venue still has not been secured although the association has been eyeing the National Arena and the new National Indoor Sports Centre (NISC), where the recent World Netball Championships were held.
Thirteen countries including Jamaica have been confirmed to participate in the event scheduled for August 16 to 23.
Teams down to compete are Aruba, Barbados, the Dominican Republic, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Curacao, Guyana, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela and Honduras.
Organisers have for weeks been negotiating to get a reasonable cost for the proposed venues but the National Indoor Centre is preferred as it is deemed to be more competition friendly.
"Negotiations are still in progress at this point," said Donald Salmon, chairman of the organising committee for the championship.
"The venue is not going to be a problem because even if it means having a scaled down version, the championship will go on.
"We're looking at the new arena not only because of the newness but it is more friendly to this kind of event and offers the kind of space we are looking for," he added.
At a meeting last week with Sports Minister Portia Simpson Miller and senior advisor Ann Shirley to discuss re-costing on the stadium complex venue, the JTTA was given a figure of $300,000, down from the previous estimate of $450,000, but they are still seeking further reduction.
"We're seriously short on funds," said Salmon. "We already had money problems before we knew of the cost of the venue but hearing that only served to compound an already severe problem.
PLANNING
"A number of things have happened during the period of planning which have sort have affected us like the general elections, the local government elections and even our own internal elections.
"The new administration is trying its hardest for things to work out. The Minister (Simpson Miller) is trying her best to help us as well," he said.
Jamaica last staged the Caribbean Table Tennis Championship in 1993. Salmon, recognising table tennis is not a mass appeal sport, sees it as important for the tournament to get off for the benefit of the youth if nothing else.
"We would love to give our Jamaican youth an opportunity to compete with people from the region," he explained. "We don't get to travel very often due to a lack of funds but having so many teams come here for such a big event is the kind of thing we need to keep them focussed and build their confidence.
"We want the young players to experience the game from a different level and we're going to try our best to let them have that because the sport cannot afford to lose our kind of talent," he pointed out.
On the same note, a main sponsor has not yet been identified but Salmon believes this too will work out.
"We don't even have a main sponsor as yet but we are confident everything will work out," he said. "Some people have verbally committed themselves but until we get something in hand we can't say yes, this is the main sponsor.
"What we are trying to do is trying to sell ticket packages to private sector companies. Teams have been confirmed to attend the championship so we can't back out at this point.
"Money is hard to come by but we are seeking out ways in which to attract sponsors and raise our own funds. We don't want to be totally dependent on the government to do everything."
