Lothian elected regional table tennis vice-president
Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA) president, Godfrey Lothian, said his election to the vice-presidency of the Caribbean Regional Table Tennis Federation (CRTTF) means he is better positioned to assist the local governing body.
The Teddy Matthews-led slate, with Lothian as VP, was elected unopposed at the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) headquarters yesterday, and Lothian thinks his ascension to the new role could have a positive impact for the local TT fraternity.
“I will now be in a better position to assist the local body. I will interact with the top brass of various regional organisations. Now that I am inside, I can say please assist Jamaica with some of what we need. I am now better positioned to speak to the things Jamaica need,” he told STAR Sports after yesterday’s elections.
Lothian thinks the fact that they were elected unopposed is a testimony of the good work they have done regionally.
“Based on our work in Jamaica and our focus on Caribbean integration, their entire slate did not oppose. So I was unopposed. They did not contest, so no one contested us. But there was no doubt I would have been elected vice-president. I didn’t have any second thoughts that it would become a reality,” he stated.
HAVE A VISION
He said they have already started working and the second regional table tennis conference will kick-start their tenure in office.
“I have been advocating for these issues with the Caribbean people. I am not just speaking for Jamaica but the Caribbean people. When you speak for Caribbean people and they understand you have a vision and pride and you point to where you want to go, then they will elect you and that is what happened
“We have put forward three of the most important projects that needed to be done. A Table Tennis College of the Caribbean, the regional conference, and a Caribbean Premier League, as we (Jamaica) had our National Premier League here in Jamaica this year,
“We will have the second conference, which has been implemented already. Now we are working on the second one (project) that we want in 2019, the Caribbean Premier League. And the third one, the Table Tennis College of the Caribbean, we are in discussions to implement by 2020,” he said.
The Jamaica table tennis president expects to implement all these plans over the next two years.
“How things are shaping, we expect to achieve this in short order, like over the next two years. But we need to change the culture of the English speaking Caribbean to get on par with the other nations,” he added.