THE Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA) has slapped a two-year ban on top player Ludlow Bailey, bringing to an end a long-running feud between the organisation and the player,
In December of last year, it was reported that the 31-year-old Bailey abandoned the national team during assignments in Colombia and returned to Jamaica.
As a result of that action, the former national champion was suspended for two years from international competition and one year from local competition. However, Bailey is eligible to resume playing local competition on December 4 as the incident occurred during December of last year; while his international suspension ends on December 4, 2001.
A release from the JTTA said the decision followed a meeting on August 23 of the disciplinary committee and Bailey, and the then manager of the team in Colombia, Michael Strachan.
The release further said "the president of his (Bailey) club Godfrey Lothian has been appointed his mentor during his period of suspension and Bailey has been advised that further incidents of misconduct on his part will result in stronger disciplinary action".
Bailey and Michael Hyatt were in Colombia on two assignments. In the first, the pair failed to qualify for this month's Sydney Olympics.
Justin Allen, who took over the presidency from Strachan after the Colombia incident, said Bailey was a member of the team down to participate in the Caribbean Championships but after he had competed at the beginning, he abandoned the team. "Nobody knew where he was until they received a call to say he was back in Jamaica," Allen said.
However, Bailey who last month challenged the JTTA to set a date for his hearing, said "the handling of the matter is a plot to keep me out of the game. They just want to throw me out. I'm being treated as if I am a door mat where people wipe their feet on".
Bailey, a bronze medallist at the 1993 CAC Games, dismissed claims he abandoned the team in Colombia. He said a groin injury had kept him out of the tournament and he said the touring party had knowledge of his return to Jamaica before the Caribbean Championships.
Bailey's suspension is the latest in a series of run ins with the JTTA. Five months before the Colombia incident, the JTTA, led by Strachan, had axed Bailey from the national team for the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada due to his poor disciplinary record. That decision by the JTTA did not go down well with Bailey as he lashed out at the selection policy and said the team was chosen solely by the president, an outburst which was labelled as "nonsense" by Strachan.
In 1998, the JTTA lifted a ban on Bailey after he was suspended for bringing the game into disrepute during play in the National Championships at the National Arena in November of 1997.
