NATIONAL table tennis ace Arun Roopnarine and Aaron Wilson will leave for Austria on Monday to take part in an intensive five-week training camp at the world renowned Werner Schlager Academy in Vienna.
This period of training will be followed by their debut participation in the Polish Open, in Warsaw, Poland. This development initiative comes after the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) made a commitment in 2012 to assist both players as part of the “With The Future In Mind” (WFIM).
This unique programme targets both players’ possible participation in the Junior Olympics in Nanjing, China, next year.
The ITTF recommended the training stint at the Werner Schlager Academy. It is intended to identify weaknesses, improve strengths and introduce new training techniques designed to lift their game and make them more competitive on the world stage.
The Werner Schlager Academy is one of the top training centres outside of China and currently is the home of the Chinese national team which is preparing behind closed doors for next month’s World Championship in Paris, France.
This Academy holds 50 tables, and training is done by the top International trainers who use state of the art technology and incorporate training techniques from different playing systems all over the world. Ball machines and video analysis are incorporated with nutritional and psychological input which comes from experts in the various fields and there are massage areas as well as infra-red cabins and modern fitness gyms.
Not since the glory days of the late 70’s and early 80’s has local table tennis seen two young players who have made their mark in local and regional table tennis at such early ages. Roopnarine and Wilson, along with Meshach Pillai, won gold in 2007 in the Under-10 Team event in the inaugural Caribbean pre-Cadet Championship. They have not looked back since, and return with medals every time they represent TT regionally.
In 2011, both boys copped two gold medals in the World Junior Circuit in Guatemala. They topped the field in the Cadet team and Cadet doubles events. Last year in Cuba, the local duo along with Sarvesh Mungal won bronze in the Cadet team event, while Roopanrine teamed up with Wilson to claim bronze in the Cadet Doubles event. The former also bagged bronze in the Cadet singles event. Wilson earned a similar Cadet bronze last week in the 2013 Caribbean Cadet Singles.