Jamaica's Kane Watson in action against a Trinidad and Tobago opponent. - Ricardo Makyn

GLASGOW, Scotland:

David Miller, manager of Jamaica' table tennis team at the Commonwealth Games, is excited about the experience and exposure being gained by his eight-member team and is convinced that the country is closing the gap on the world's best.

The Jamaica Table Tennis Association will be looking to bring an internationally certified coach to the island to help in improving the quality of the sport and Miller believes that the foundation is already strong and poised for strong advancement.

returning the favour

With the singles tournament set to start today, Jamaica's female and men teams both finished third in their respective pools in the just-concluded team match play.

The women's team, which consists of 13-year-old national champion Dadrian Lewis, eight-time national champion Yvonne Foster and Shenique Clare, lost 0-3 to world number six Canada before returning the favour to Papau New Guinea 3-0 and going down 0-3 to number two ranked Malaysia.

The men's team of Christopher Marsh, Simon Tomlinson, Kane Watson and Dale Parham lost 0-3 to England before going down 2-3 to Barbados and 1-3 to Trinidad and Tobago.

inexperience

Miller points to the inexperience in the team and is certain the tournament will serve their development positively.

"Of the seven players on the team it's the first Commonwealth Games for five of them, plus it's the first international exposure for three of them and the international exposure has been invaluable," Miller said.

"We have recognised already from these games that our level in terms of quality is not as far behind the world as we thought we were. We have had in the women so far, strong performances from the team of Yvonne Foster, Dadrian Lewis and Shanique Claire," Miller added.

"We have good raw material and it shows that our structure in table tennis in Jamaica is improving. We have several youngsters coming up in the line, training with those ahead of them and a programme is being developed to improve the talent even further over the next few years," Miller added.