Webb

Jamaica's national table tennis champion, Nigel Webb, will start trading shots with some of the region's best today while participating in the fifth International City of Quito Tournament in Ecuador, that runs through to Saturday, December 1.

The tournament features both team and individual events and will give Webb an opportunity to play at hig as Quito is 2400 metres above sea level. He is one of several international players invited to the tournament by Ecuadorian table tennis officials.

Earlier this year Webb defeated several of the region's best players in the Venezuela Super League. He registered notable wins against Cuba's 2007 Pan American Games men's singles quarter-finalist, Demeys Gongara, Chile's Pan American qualifier, Bruno Levis, and Venezuela's number one, Henry Mujica. Mujica placed second in the men's singles at the 2007 Caribbean Championships.

Soon after his return from Venezuela and fresh from those successes, Webb won his first national singles title at G.C. Foster College.

He says the Quito tournament will boost his preparation for a challenging 2008 campaign.

Webb said: "2008 is a very important season for Jamaica's table tennis, and I'm doing everything I can to be at my very best."

The new season includes the regional Olympic trials and the Caribbean Championships that will be hosted here in Jamaica.