11th Indian Ocean Islands Games – Table Tennis |10 August 2023

Youth, Sports and Family Minister Marie-Celine Zialor and youth and sports principal secretary Ralph Jean-Louis in a souvenir photo with the players from the Nottingham Sports University (Photo: Neil Sirame)

Table tennis hopeful of good results ahead of 11th Games

With less than three weeks before the start of the 11th Indian Ocean Islands Games, the table tennis selection is stepping up preparations, and is positive of a good performance, despite a late start due to logistical issues, precisely with utilities at the Roche Caïman Omni-sports gym.

Speaking to Sports NATION, coach Janice Mellie said despite the late start to their preparation campaign, the players are motivated and positive about achieving good results.

She noted that due to venue issues they could not prepare as they would have wanted.

“We started our preparation campaign in March due to no electricity at the Omni-sports gym, and this did not allow us to organise our pre-season whereby we had to touch all the attributes at the same time, including tactics, techniques and physique, all in just five months,” said coach Mellie.

She added that her players are very determined regardless of the challenges and are making the most in training for the Games.

Coach Mellie further added that the ceiling also drips at times, making it difficult to use part of the gym, thus, limiting their training space.

“We have to move tables away from the wet part of the floor to prevent our players from getting injured,” added coach Mellie.

Chief executive of the National Sports Council (NSC), Marc Arrisol, said they are doing temporary work on the gym, including patching, to enable training, before major renovation work begins on the facility.

Even with the grim pictures, the national selection was able to host its training camp which began on Tuesday August 1.

The local players attended a one-week training with three players from the Nottingham Sports University, namely Robert Pelk, Gabriel Achampong and Matt Johnson.

 According to coach Mellie, the Nottingham Sports is the best university for table tennis in the world.

“Last week they attended sessions with the three English athletes and this week we have scheduled a three-day tournament to bring in the competitive atmosphere and give the younger players an idea of how they might feel during the games,” said coach Mellie.

Pelk, one of the three foreign players, said they were influenced by Denise Payet, a Seychellois studying at the Nottingham sports University and Social Club.

“We made contact with her father at the Commonwealth Games and she brought us here as coaches for the upcoming Indian Ocean Islands Games,” explained Pelk, who added that since they began the training camp, he has seen improvements in the squad as he has played with all the local players and find their game to be very impressive.

He added that the players are naturally talented but they lack just a few techniques and experience.

“We all bring different experiences from vast competitive atmosphere from England and I am positive they have learnt what we have taught them,” said Pelk, who also emphasised on the very good team spirit that reigns.

“Everyone is together as a team, whether in a team match or on the bench, supporting their teammates, and there is a very good vibe among those lads,” said Pelk who along with his colleagues left the country yesterday.

Neil Sirame