Young TT players fare well among best in region
to reach the World Cadet Challenge, and Davidson reported that the players and coaching staff benefited greatly from the experience. “It was really an eye-opener for me,” he said. “I can say factually that this is where table tennis being played, not necessarily in the Caribbean, but in South America.”
He continued: “So in order for our players and our coaches to improve and to be more competitive, even for the Caribbean to move forward, we need to participate more often in these championships.”
The team missed national senior champion Solesha Young. “Based on her form at the National Championships and the previous championship that she played in the Dominican Republic, she was the form player, and she’d have made a significant difference in this championship,” Davidson said.
CBesides that, the tournament revealed two areas in which Jamaica need to improve. “They spend more time in training, so they will play more consistently and win more matches because they have more time in training,” Davidson said. “Unlike our girls, what I’ve found out is that when they play team events and start the singles, they’re a bit worn out.”
The conclusion was clear. “That means we’re not playing enough table tennis long enough for a five-day championship,” he said.
The other shortcoming was tactical. “We go into a game and we want to play every player the same way,” he observed.
“Apart from that, we’re right up there with them, and I see if we had the best training together, going forward, we can compete in South America, not only the Caribbean, because that’s where the table tennis is.”
hristopher Henry Gayle, ‘the Universe Boss’, is arguably the best Twenty20 (T20) batsman in the history of the game.
Blessed with incredible hand-eye coordination and immense power, Gayle was made for T20 cricket.
He hits good-length deliveries for boundaries, a talent that helped him score the first ever century in T20 internationals – a 57-ball 117 – against South Africa in 2007.
He exploded after that, scoring 20 more hundreds and 80 fifties, playing for the West Indies, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Jamaica Tallawahs, Somerset, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, Stanford Superstars, and Sydney Thunder, among others, that have established the powerfully built Jamaican as an all-time great in the format.
During the 2011 and 2012 seasons of the Indian Premier League, he hit more hundreds and 50s than any other batsman. Those hundreds included a blistering 175 in just 66 balls for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2015, the highest score ever in the format. He has also held the records for the fastest century and most sixes in a T20 innings.
Gayle is also blessed with an abundance of confidence and a personality that intimidates opposing bowlers and fielders alike, things of which he is very much aware.
“The star of T20, the boss of the boundary boards. I’ve been called a pioneer, and I’ll take that word; I am a legend. Most people wouldn’t call themselves that, but I think I am great. Put it more simply: I am great. The things I have done, trus’ mi. Serious things I’ve done,” he once said.