Barbados’ table tennis ace Tyrese Knight will have to wait a while longer to realise his Olympic dream, as he lost his knockout match 4-1 against Zeyad Aldmaisy of Jordan this past weekend.
Knight was hoping to net one of the four places up for grabs and possibly secure his ticket to the Tokyo Olympics. But he was unable to stop Aldmaisy who won 11-5, 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 11-7 in the four of seven sets played at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena in Doha, Qatar.
During an interview with Barbados TODAY Knight said that despite the disappointing result he was really happy to see the level to which he has to aspire.
“It was an overwhelming experience to even participate in the high-performance camp and to train with high-quality players. Overall, I’m happy that I came to see the level that I need to get to and the work I need to put in to be a force to be reckoned with.
“In terms of my participation in the tournament, I just felt like I could have played much better. But I will take this more as a positive more so than a negative, see what I was doing wrong and work on it,” Knight told Barbados TODAY.
“With a sport like table tennis you need constant training and it was difficult to make up for the lost time of the last year. But from here onwards it is only progress,” he said.
Next on the agenda for Knight is the Latin American qualification in Argentina from April 13th to 17th. There, he will have another shot at qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics.
Knight’s manager Sherdon Pierre who was in Qatar said he thought the match was winnable. However, going forward he believes Knight can only get better.
“It has been an excellent opportunity accompanying Tyrese here in Qatar. Unfortunately, we did not get the result that we wanted. I thought that the game was winnable, the guy was in Tyrese’s range.
“We only had a few hours to prepare for our opponent. We gathered as many videos and strategized but at this level, you need your A-game from ball one. But we have learnt, we have grown and we are motivated to take his game to the next level,” Pierre explained.
He added: “I too am fuelled seeing that I have my first opportunity at this level. Learning the ins and outs, asking a lot of questions. We can only improve from here onwards.”
While not yet certain if he will be accompanying Knight to Argentina, Pierre revealed that while in the United States, Knight will be under the guidance of Barbadians Robert Roberts and Rawle Alleyne at Westchester Club.
But whether or not Pierre gets the green light to accompany Knight as a manager to Argentina, he is still committed to assisting Knight on his journey.
“My job is to get him prepared and to stay at a high level. So, we are looking at clubs in the US as well as an opportunity to train in the Dominican Republic with their players. We will know what is happening in the next few days. I am awaiting word from the Barbados Olympic Association.
“This is just one step of a long journey which I am willing to go with him to carry him to the next level to make Barbados and the Caribbean proud. So, I am still going to be there supporting him and we will still plan for the next year and onwards for him to be at that level,” Pierre said.
morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb
