The Solomon Islands Table Tennis Federation (SITTF) had a successful year in 2021. From not having any table tennis tournaments on the island in 2020, they started to develop and host table tennis tournaments all over the Solomon Islands.
ITTF-Oceania spoke to Rob Dorovolomo from SITTF, who said, “I am not sure if any tournament happened in 2020…none that I’ve heard of. In my opinion, the tournaments started to happen in 2021 due to the upcoming Pacific Games that will happen in 2023, and because SITTF AGM was also in 2021 for a new Executive board.”
Since tournaments started again in 2021, the SITTF had held six big events:
- SITTF Para activities were sponsored by ITTF-Oceania and on average there were 25 to 30 participants per week at each school and organisation visited.
The program ran for eight weeks, from October 4 to November 29, 2021, with a fun day planned for the last week of the program. Three schools/organisations were selected for the program; the Red Cross School, Bethesda Vocational School, and People with Disability Solomon Islands. Each school/organisation had one two-hour sessions per week. For the SITTF Para activities project, Rob Dorovolomo was the project leader, Gary Nuopula was the head coach, and Jean Berry and Ian Sida were assistant coaches. During the table tennis sessions, they showed basic table tennis techniques and fun activities such as ball bouncing challenges. They had enough table tennis bats and balls for everyone, but the only problem was that each school had one table each and 25 to 30 students per session. Unfortunately, the ‘fun day’ slated for the final week of the program had to be cancelled due to the unrest in the Solomon Islands.
- Development Program in schools. This program was sponsored by the National Olympic Committee of Solomon Islands (NOCSI) and SITTF.
In each school, the program averaged 30 to 40 students. The program ran for the first half of the school year, which covered two school terms and only targeted primary schools. Gary Nuopula, table tennis development officer, was coordinating the program, with Rob Drovolomo assisting him. The schools that were visited were; Lunga Primary school, Ben’s Creek Primary School, Chung Wah Primary School, Coronations Primary School, and Mbokona Primary School. Those schools were chosen because SITTF left tables there in 2016. The activities consisted of basic technical skills and theory to help students understand.
- National Secondary School Games (NSSG) were sponsored by the Solomon Islands Government, through the National Sports Council. There were 22 secondary schools participating (81 students and 14 officials).
The NSSG table tennis competition ran over six days, and included teams and singles events. There were a total of eight secondary schools from the province and 14 teams from within Honiara city contesting the table tennis competition. Notable events were; Adua Secondary (girls’ category) coming second (the only provincial school that won a medal during the games), St Joseph Tenaru School making a clean sweep in the boys’ category, and the same for Betikama School in the girls’ category.
- Provincial Talent Identification Tour (TID), sponsored by NOCSI and SITTF.
There were over 500 students and community members involved. Francis Manioru from NOCSI was the project leader, whilst Gary Nuopula and Rob Dorovolomo were SITTF representatives. The team consisted of six sports federations, of which table tennis was one. Four provinces were visited during the tour; Central Island, Malaita, Western and Choiseul. During the Provincial Talent Identification tour, table tennis and other sports were introduced to a wider audience in the provinces so that potentially talented athletes could be identified, provincial table tennis associations could be established, and could be provided with equipment such as table tennis balls and bats.
- Isabel Province Games was sponsored by the Isabel Provincial Government, and organised by Rob Dorovolomo and Gary Nuopula.
There were a total of 35 males and 20 females who participated in men’s and women’s singles, doubles and teams events. The players had an opportunity to compete for four days to fight for the titles.
- SITTF High Performance (HP) training was sponsored by ITTF-Oceania.
The training had four Para-athletes, four senior players, six junior players and three coaches. This high performance training program was supposed to last for four days, but unfortunately it had to be cancelled after the first day of the program due to the unrest in the Solomon Islands. The SITTF will try to conduct the training again in 2022.
We asked Rob Dorovolomo what are the SITTF’s plans for 2022. Rob said that the National Championship will be in Honiara city and will be held around July. Also, there are talks of a Solomon Games that will happen this year, but that is not confirmed yet. At the moment they are working on developing an umpiring course for table tennis and some more Talent Identification Tour tours to be held in the provinces. The development schools programs will also continue once school begins.
To promote and improve the standard of table tennis across the Solomon Islands, Rob mentioned that the country needs top-class table tennis coaches to help them get to another level. The players from the Solomon Islands have the drive and the motivation, but they need extra support. Regular tournaments and joining the ITTF-Oceania Tour would be an amazing experience for Solomon Islands athletes. At the moment the SITTF have five athletes who can compete at a high level, three male and two female. The Para team have Noela Olo (standing female) and Shadrack Timothy (seated male), as well as many other potential young talented players that are eager to join.
ITTF-Oceania would like to say thank you to Rob Dorovolomo who is one of the leading players in the Solomon Islands and also the General Secretary of the Solomon Islands Table Tennis Federation. Thank you SITTF for making an enormous difference in table tennis throughout Solomons Islands. We are excited about the upcoming events and look forward to seeing the continued growth of table tennis in your country.
Article adapted from the ITTF-Oceania website.