KDTTA target more schools in talent search

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Bong (second right), KDTTA chairperson Helena Christine Wee (right) and Wang (third right) pose with the teachers and pupils.

KUCHING: The Kuching Division Table Tennis Association (KDTTA) will be going to more primary schools to implement their talent identification programme.

Its new president Bong Ah Loi said this was one of their activities to search for more talent at grass roots level.

“KDTTA, which was founded in 1958, have been training, grooming and nurturing players to obtain excellent achievements in various national championships over the years.

“Since 2002, our Kuching Elite Training Centre has produced five national paddlers and 20 junior paddlers who have represented Malaysia in varous international competitions,” he told reporters during the talent identification session at SK Chung Hua No. 2 yesterday.

More than 400 pupils from primary one and two were exposed to table tennis by KDTTA foreign coach from China Wang Chenrui and KDTTA paddler Benjamin Thian who has received a call-up from Table Tennis Association of Malaysia to join the national back-up squad.

Another Kuching player Christopher Goh Kho Hian Hui is now with the national back-up squad.

“We are very pleased with the number of pupils for today’s talent identification exercise and for that I would like to thank the school management and teachers for their cooperation and assistance.

“In fact, we have three pupils from this school – Too Ying Xin (Girls U12), Aw Jong Yee Ern (Girls U10) and Joshua Ling (Boys 8 and Below) – who are training with us,” added Bong.

He said KDTTA are also planning to go to SK Chung Hua No. 4, 5 and 6.

Bong, who is a lawyer, said the Kuching Elite Training Centre had been a dominant force in national age group championships as players produced by the centre are mostly core members for Sarawak’s impressive achievements at national and Sukma competitions.

“Sarawak have maintained a proud record of capturing five consecutive overall championship titles in Sukma within a 10-year period.

“Kuching paddlers have also managed to deliver 70 singles gold medals and 30 doubles gold medals from 1998 to early 2018 in various national meets,” he noted.

According to Bong, KDTTA had a group of long-serving and dedicated committee, with a China coach and two Indonesian sparring partners to train the players at the Elite Training Centre.

“For children and young people, table tennis is a sport that will help greatly in their character development. We would therefore like to encourage more parents to enrol their kids with our training centre,” said Bong.

Meanwhile, Bong said KDTTA will be celebrating its 60th anniversary this year with a grand dinner planned for October.

The association will be inviting many of its ex-national paddlers to the dinner in recognition of their contributions.

KDTTA will also be sending players to selection trials for three major competitions this year namely the Junior Youth Cadet from June 30 to July 3, Malaysia Hopes from July 14 to 15 and National Open from Aug 4 to 8.

Their players will also participate in the Sarawak Championship in Miri this December.