By Bharat Sharma, IANS,
New Delhi : The members of the Wales women’ table tennis team will have the family support every time they walk out to compete in the ongoing Commonwealth Games.
The parents of three member of the four-member team are in New Delhi for the first time, primarily to support their daughters and explore India.
The Welsh team comprises of Naomi Owen, twin sisters Angharad and Megan Phillips and Charlotte Carey.
The parents of the Phillips sisters and Charlotte are here and exuded hope their presence will have a positive effect on the team.
“I hope our presence has a more positive than a negative impact on their performance,” Tagit Phillips, the father of the twins Angharad and Megan told IANS.
“We wanted to see this beautiful country and motivate the young girls at the same time. Table tennis as a sport is picking up in Wales in a big way and I hope the team goes back with a medal,” he said.
Charlotte, at 14, is the youngest member in the entire Wales contingent for the Oct 3-14 Games, and her father Daniel Carey said there was no way he could have missed the opportunity of seeing his daughter play in the biggest ever Comonwealth Games.
“She started playing at the age of five. There was no way we could have missed the chance of seeing her play in her first ever international tournament. I am sure she will create a few upsets here and there,” said Carey.
Naomi, the senior player in the team and the only one among the present lot to have played in previous Games, sounded confident of her team’s chances despite a tough draw.
“We have Australia and Malaysia in our group. So it will be tough to get to the quarters. But we have had several practice camps in Europe in the run-up to the event. Such practice camps put us in good shape,” said Naomi.
On the presence of the families of team members, the 22-year-old said it will motivate the girls to perform better. “They are from so far away. We need to give them a reason to smile.”
The Wales team came seventh in the Melbourne Games in 2006.
(Bharat Sharma can be contacted at [email protected])