Discontent in table tennis

Daraine Luton, Freelance Writer

THE TEARS did not flow from Ludlow Bailey's eyes but his voice cracked as he spoke of his omission from the national table tennis team due to tour Guatemala for the Caribbean Championships between August 15 and 21.

When Bailey and his common-law wife turned up at The Gleaner, his body language told the story of a beaten man and the words that came from his lips created the impression that he was robbed of one of his most precious possessions.

The Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA) on Tuesday released a list of four males and four females who will represent Jamaica at the Championships. Former national champion Christopher Marsh, JTTA president Joseph Dibbs, Darryl Strachan and Nigel Webb were the players named.

Bailey, the defending national champion, was excluded.

What could have accounted for the 36-year-old's non-selection?

FAILED TO ATTEND TRAINING

Justin Allen, general secretary of the JTTA, said Bailey failed to attend training but the player insisted there was more to it.

"It has nothing to do with Ludlow Bailey not training," he told The Gleaner. "It is something personal. The president Joseph Dibbs has something against me and used his power to get on the team and got me off," he said.

Bailey said he and Dibbs have been at odds for more than 10 years and the recently elected JTTA president has had few words with him since.

"He doesn't talk to me," Bailey explained. "Mr. Dibbs even gave me a walkover at the trials, saying he didn't want to be on the same table with me. That's how bad it is."

"I performed at the trials. I played well enough for second place so it can't be about table tennis."

Bailey finished behind Marsh at the two-day trial last week with Moo-Young, Dibbs and Strachan rounding off the top five.

Dibbs said Bailey's omission has nothing to do with anything outside of tennis although he refused to say whether or not a beef exists between himself and the player.

"It is not your business whether or not there is anything personal between me and him and even so, I have already stated why he has not been selected," Dibbs told The Gleaner.

"He has not attended training and that is it. I have nothing to do with the selection of the team. The coaches did not see it fit to select him and that is it," Dibbs added.

Meanwhile, another player, former JTTA president, Peter Moo Young, who was also left out of the team, has joined Bailey in questioning the selection.

In a letter to general secretary Justin Allen, Moo Young noted that the order of finish at the national trials was "Chris Marsh first, Ludlow Bailey second, Peter Moo Young third, Joseph Dibbs fourth".

In his letter, Moo Young pointed out that "the two top ranked players in Jamaica, Ludlow Bailey and myself finished second and third respectively in the trials and were both left off of a four man team which included the president, another lower ranked player and one who did not even play in the trials".

Bailey forwarded reasons for missing training since Chinese coaches Xue Enjie and Hu Chuangxin arrived in January.

He said he has no steady job and with a family, he is forced to do odd jobs to support them. As a result, Bailey said he never found it possible to attend Monday to Saturday training at the National Arena in the evenings.

"As a family man, I should take care of my family. Nobody is giving me any help and I have to be the breadwinner but I find time to train on my own," said the father of one.

This, however, has not softened Dibbs' heart.

"All of us have challenges and yet we all make it to training," he said.

Even though Bailey was not training, the JTTA found it necessary to invite the three-time champion to the national trials.

HE WAS ORDINARY

Asked why Bailey was invited to the national trials if he was not in training, Dibbs said: "If he had played spectacularly he would have impressed the coaches and they would have selected him. He was ordinary".

The JTTA president also distanced himself from the selection of the team, saying even though he was president, that had nothing to do with him and that it was a committee headed by Patrick Blake, which selected the country's representatives.

The other members of the committee, Dibbs said, were the two Chinese coaches, Fernando Roberts, Donald Samond and Peter Moo-Young.

Dibbs added that even though Bailey is the national champion, it does not mean he is playing good table tennis.

"Last year he was playing better tennis and he didn't even do well at the Caribbean Championships," Dibbs said.

Meanwhile, Bailey has insisted that he wants justice.

"This is my game," he said. "I have the performance to show it. I am the best. I should be on the team. I might have done some bad things in the past but I want a chance. I work hard at this game and I want to represent my country."