09/02/2010      

A member of the Australian team at the Volkswagen World Junior Championships in the Colombian city of Cartagena de Indias in December 2009, 18 year Ashleigh Stevenson is a positive and resolute young lady.

Not only is “Ash” an international table tennis player of note, she is determined to promote the sport in her country and in particular promote the female cause.

Women’s Table Tennis is set to grow in Australia like the Phoenix from Ash’s initiative?

 08/30/2010      

Situated in Central America with the country and the capital city bearing the same name, Guatemala’s principal city was the home for an ITTF/PTT Level One Coaches Course and Training Camp from Saturday 28th August to Wednesday 1st September 2010.

The expert on duty was Cuba’s Evelio Alvarez.

 08/30/2010      

There are those people who are just happy to follow, to obey instructions and have a quiet life, no responsibilities, nothing; conversely, there are those who take initiatives, they try new ideas, they adopt the leadership role.

Such a person who adopts the latter role is Argentina’s Alejandra Gabaglio.

Promoting table tennis in general, she is very much at the forefront; especially when it comes to the cause of women in table tennis whether it be on a world, continental or national stage.

 08/29/2010      

Four days of competition that attracted no less than 86 entries from Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu came to a conclusion on Sunday 29th Augusts 2010 in the Lautoka

Michael Brown from Australia and the host nation's Carolyn Xuan Li were crowned respective Men's and Women's Singles champions.

 08/29/2010      

A record entry of 86 players competed in the Fiji Open Championships which commenced on Thursday 26th August and concluded on Sunday 29 August 2010.

Lautoka, situated in the west of the island, hosted the event for the first time ever.

 08/29/2010      

Lautoka, a city situated in the west of Fiji’s main island of Viti Levu, hosted a Basic Umpires Course from Monday 23rd to Wednesday 25th August.

The course was organised under the auspices of the Oceania-ITTF Development Programme.

Australia’s Dave Delpratt was the expert on duty.

There were no less than 25 participants on the course, a record for Oceania; of these 25 participants, 18 qualified, a very pleasing result and underlines the teaching ability of Dave Delpratt.

 08/28/2010      

Situated in South America and often referred to as the Heart of America owing to its landlocked central position in the continent, Paraguay was the home for an ITTF/PTT Level One Course from Friday 20th to Wednesday 25th August 2010.

The course was under the direction of El Salvador’s Carlos Esnard, a man who is no stranger to courses organised under the auspices of the ITTF Development Programme and often is one of the coaches at ITTF Training Camps prior to Junior Circuit Tournaments.

A total of 20 students attended the course, 17 being male with three female with Sajonia Club in the country’s capital city of Asuncion being the home.

 08/27/2010      

Table Tennis is moving in a positive direction in Iran; the results gained by their men’s team at international tournaments are most certainly improving and they have a growing group of bright young men.

Now, thanks to the motivational skills of Sima Limoochi, female table tennis is making strides.

An ITTF/PTT Coaches Course, the second of its kind, was held from Wednesday 28th July to Sunday 1st August 2010 at the Shahid Chamran Teacher Training Centre in Tehran.

A total of 30 women from different provinces in Iran, attended.

 08/27/2010      

Situated in southern central Africa, Zambia, a country which shares borders with Malawi, Tanzania, Angola, Mozambique, Namibia and Congo; whilst being renowned for the magnificent Victoria Falls which separate the country from Zimbabwe, an ITTF-PTT Level One Coaches Olympic Solidarity Course was the focus of attention from Sunday 1st to Tuesday 10th August 2010.

Home for the course was the newly built Youth Sport Development Centre in the country’s capital city. Sylvain Chermette of France was the expert on duty for the ten days with six hours per day being the order of proceedings.

 08/27/2010      

A very fruitful liaison between the West African country of Togo and China, came a close in July 2010 following a ninth month agreement.

China sent voluntary coaches to Togo to assist with four sporting disciplines: Basketball, Athletics, Wushu and Table Tennis. The venture proved most popular and was very well received.

The programme started in October 2009 with 100 children aged from seven to twelve years being organised by the Togolese Federation of Table Tennis Federation to receive assistance from two coaches from the city of Shenzhen.