Howard Walker, Staff Reporter
Donovan James (right), principal of North West Development, presents a sponsorship cheque valued at $100,000 to assistant general secretary of the Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA), Cecile Mc Cormack (left), while JTTA president Keith Garvey looks on, during a press conference at the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) office on Phoenix Avenue yesterday morning. - JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
THE NEWLY-elected Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA) executive secured its first sponsorship deal as Northwest Development pumped in $100,000 to finance a national club league that is slated to start in January.
The Keith Garvey-led administration that took over the troubled sport a month ago after the previous administration ran amok and was sidelined, welcomed the gesture and promised to move table tennis back to where it belongs.
"This is a league which for the past couple of years did not have a sponsor and we thank NorthWest Development for coming on board at very short notice to sponsor the club league which will be starting in January," said Garvey at yesterday's press conference at the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) office on Phoenix Avenue.
He continued: "We are basically a new association and we have decided that we are going to move table tennis back to where it was before in the 70s.
HUNGRY PUBLIC
"We believe that the table tennis public is very hungry for top class TT, especially to see international TT back in Jamaica and the league back to what it was."
Meanwhile, Donovan James, principal of NorthWest Development, said it was a pleasure for his company to provide sponsorship for the league.
Said James: "This is not our first time of sponsoring, but our biggest commitment to date. We are fully committed to the development of TT in Jamaica and the success of this new administration.
"Sponsorship for TT had been sadly lacking and I hope that other corporations will follow the lead set by us," he added.
Table tennis, like most small sports, lacks proper funding and Garvey promised to approach things differently.
CASH AND KIND
"We won't be asking everybody for cash. We will be asking for kind to turn it around and instead of making $200,000, we will be making a million. We are thinking 'out of the box' in making the JTTA much richer," Garvey pointed out.
Meanwhile, the Texas Wesleyan University team will be visiting Jamaica in February to play and assist the develop-ment of the sport.
Texas Wesleyan is the top table tennis University in the United States, having won 16 out of a possible 20 titles in four years.
The university has Keith Evans, a former Jamaican national player, as their assistant coach and Jamaican player Courtney Roberts, majoring in Sports Management, on their roster.
They won the national inter-collegiate championships in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
