Lamont seeks to correct JTTA’s executive

Singer Samuel Lamont is perturbed by the operations of the current Andrew Lue-led Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA) executive, and he will be contesting the upcoming election for the post of president, hoping to change the workings of the body.

Lamont, a stalwart of the sport who hails from Portland, is insisting Lue made several errors during his two-year tenure as president of the association, and that these decisions were detrimental to the development of the sport on the island.

"I offer myself because I saw things not being done how they ought to be. I saw resources being withheld from the stakeholders, resources that I worked hard to put in place," Lamont said.

According to Lamont, a decision of the current executive that upset him was the withholding of JTTA equipment from affiliates who were having tournaments. He said this was particularly heart-wrenching for him, as he was the person who was instrumental in the JTTA acquiring the equipment.

"I was one of those persons who got a lot of equipment for the country and gave my resources to the country, too.

"I went to a KSATTA (Kingston and St Andrew Table Tennis Association) tournament and saw that they were playing with substandard boards, because the association did not lend them to the affiliates, and I was the person that brought Stag, the equipment manufacturer, to the Caribbean.

"I was also the sponsor of the 2008 Caribbean Championships, having loaned the national association Stag equipment. So that is one of the chief reasons I decided to run, because I can't take it any more," Lamont said.

Lamont stated that his contribution to table tennis is well documented, having helped to develop the sport across Jamaica, but with critical contributions to the eastern section of the island.

He also expressed dissatisfaction with the communication of the current executive of the JTTA.

"The association is not talking to us, and then withholding the equipment, so we just have to make sure that we get there and offer ourselves, so that we now can do what we need to do ourselves," Lamont said.

Lamont is among four candidates vying to become the president of the JTTA. The others are the current head, Andrew Lue; general secretary of Skills Unlimited Table Tennis Academy, Ingrid Graham; and president of the Kingston and St Andrew Table Tennis Association, Stephen Grant.