Guam – The Guam Table Tennis Federation (GTTF) and the organizing committee of the 2011 ITTF Guam Global Junior Circuit Event, under the auspices of the Oceania Table Tennis Federation (OTTF) and the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) announced that Guam will host the 2011 Guam Table Tennis Junior & Cadet Open on April 22 through 25, 2011 at the University of Guam Field House.
ITTF Executive Director of Competition Ms. Judit Farago commented at the Global Junior Circuit meeting in Moscow, “It is great to see a new country (Guam) host a Global Junior Circuit Event in 2011. We are very pleased that Guam made the application to host the event and we look forward to a very successful competition hosted by Guam”.
The 2011 Guam Table Tennis Junior & Cadet Open will be the first time for a Micronesian Island to host an Oceania Cadet Challenge qualification competition; which will also be the only qualifying event to be held in the Oceania region this year. Through this event, Guam’s youth players will compete for placement in the international tournament. Participation of over 20 countries is expected, including the leading Oceania countries from Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Tahiti, and Fiji, as well as the Asia power-houses of Hong Kong, Korea, China-Taipei and Japan.
OTTF Development Officer, Mr. Scott Houston says, “Since it is the first time an international event has come to Guam and also that Guam is the smallest country/territory in the history of the Global Junior Circuit to host an event we will be filming the entire event for a short documentary to be released on ITTF itTV and YouTube. The event will also be comprehensively covered on the ITTF website during the live event, and will be available after the event through the Global Junior Circuit link.”
Table tennis is the third highest participation sport worldwide with 205 member associations. GTTF’s mission is to foster island-wide and international table tennis competitions. The sport on Guam has quickly expanded over the past two years and through the GTTF Family Community Youth Development Program, plans are underway to place a total 55 table tennis tables throughout the schools on Guam, benefiting over 7,000 students, encouraging exercise, fitness, self confidence, discipline and team work.
Information from press release.
frankie@spbguam.com
