YUVRAAJ Dookram returns to the national senior men`s table tennis teams after a five-year absence to contest the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games qualifiers (March 16-19) and the senior Caribbean Table Tennis Championships (March 20-26) in Guyana.
The team was announced on Wednesday by the Trinidad and Tobago Table Tennis Association (TTTTA) following the departure of the contingent on Thursday afternoon. The top 8 teams in the CAC Qualifiers will qualify for the games in San Salvador, El Salvador in June.
Dookram is in good form recording back-to-back silver medals in the two local Super Sunday Series tournaments and being the Most Valuable Player in the latest league to have been played. Dookram will be playing alongside teammates Aaron Wilson and Derron Douglas. The 24-year-old Wilson is a senior player for over a decade and has professional experience playing in Europe. The team will be banking on his experience as well as US-based Douglas who is on a scholarship at Texas Wesleyan University.
Dookram switched gears in his preparation heading up to the tournaments. He said, “I'm happy to be back on the national team. A few months ago, I was behind a lot and knew I would need to put in extra work to regain some form to compete with the current players. Since joining Queens Park Cricket Club, I have been training regularly and had a programme in place with the help of the coach Aaron Edwards and good sparring with top young players as well as Guyanese player Shemar Britton.”
The 33-year-old added, “The main goals for the upcoming tournaments are to finish top 8 in the CAC Qualifiers also try to medal in the Caribbean Championships team events. There are very strong teams in the tournament, so we know we must fight and give our best, but I believe it is possible for us to achieve a medal in the team events.”
The women`s team selected is one of the youngest senior teams to ever be selected to represent the twin-island country. Junior players Imani Edwards- Taylor and Priyanka Khellawan are both seventeen years old whilst France-based Chloe Fraser is 14. Taylor is showing remarkable strength and dedication by making herself available to represent her country. Her grandmother Verna Edwards passed away on March 8 and she was one of the driving forces in her table-tennis journey.
The TTTTA executive was recently elected on January 22 and had the herculean task of preparing a squad, attaining funding and selecting a team to compete at the championships. They are yet to receive funding; therefore, the tour is self-funded with the hope of reimbursement after funding is approved by government entities and sponsors.
CAC Qualifier Teams:
Men: Barbados, Guyana, Guatemala, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, St. Lucia, TT.
Women: Guatemala, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Guyana, Barbados, T&T
TT Squad:
Men: Aaron Wilson, Derron Douglas, Yuvraaj Dookram
Men`s Doubles: Aaron Wilson/ Derron Douglas
Women: Chloe Fraser, Priyanka Khellawan, Imani Edwards-
