France-based table tennis player Rheann Chung is the reigning Caribbean women's singles champion, and is therefore among an elite group of 12 female players eligible to compete at the Latin America Cup.
The problem, though, is funding.
In an interview with the Express, yesterday, Dexter St Louis appealed to Minister of Sport Anil Roberts for assistance in getting Chung, his stepdaughter, to San Jose, Costa Rica, for the May 25-27 tournament.
St Louis explained that the Latin America Cup is an invitational tournament and will feature the best players in South America, Central America and the Caribbean.
"Rheann qualified, and I see it as a tournament she should go to. The problem is that the (Trinidad and Tobago Table Tennis) Association doesn't have a cent."
Earlier this month, the T&T Olympic Committee (TTOC) sent St Louis and Chung to the Latin American Olympic qualifiers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In the second of three men's singles tournaments, St Louis fell one win short of qualifying for the London Games, losing to Brazilian Hugo Hoyama. In the other tournaments, St Louis was beaten by Mexico's Marcos Madrid and Dominican Republic's Juan Vila jnr.
Chung was defeated in the opening round in each of the three women's singles tournaments.
The T&T players had neither a coach nor a manager in Rio. "To go alone is real, real stressful," said St Louis. "When I asked about lunch arrangements for the second tournament, they said managers made arrangements for how players would eat during the day. But we had no manager. Basically, there was no eating from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
"I would really have liked for an official to come with us—Reeza (Burke), who could manage and coach."
St Louis will have Burke in his corner at the March 25-April 1 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Dortmund, Germany. Burke is manager/coach of the T&T team.
St Louis, Curtis Humphreys and Terell Abbott will represent the country in the men's team competition. And in the women's team event, Chung, Aleena Edwards and Catherine Spicer will fly the flag.
St Louis, who celebrates his 44th birthday today, said because of T&T's non-participation at the World Team Championships in recent times, neither team will have the opportunity to play for a top-72 placing.
"There are 123 men's teams, but T&T are not in the top three divisions, each with 24 countries. On Sunday, they will decide if there'll be a division four with the rest of teams, or divisions four and five... I hope it's one division with the rest.
"There are 96 women's teams," he continued, "so our women are in division four. If you're in the first two or three, you can get a promotion at the next Worlds."
Though he is based in France, St Louis keeps a close eye on table tennis here in T&T. He was disappointed about Ashley Quashie's no show at last weekend's National Classified Championships.
The four-time Caribbean men's singles champion described Quashie as "one of the most talented local players we have", and said he will do whatever he can to ensure she keeps playing table tennis.
"I'm going to supply all the equipment she needs to continue to play. I will get rubbers to her on a regular basis, starting in April. I spoke to her coach, Dennis La Rose. His part of the bargain is to make sure she keeps playing and is involved in all tournaments in T&T.
"I understand she plays good football, too. So, instead of losing her to football," St Louis ended, "this is my way of keeping her in the sport."
By Kwame Laurence
Source: www.trinidadexpress.com