The Edinburgh & Lothians table tennis team had a superb weekend at the recent Inter-League competition in Perth.
The tournament, run by Table Tennis Scotland, pits representative teams from the local leagues across Scotland. It took place at the cavernous main arena at Bell’s Sports Centre with action across 22 tables. Teams competed in 14 different age-group categories, hoping to win the overall Stewart McGowan Trophy.
It was the first time that Edinburgh & Lothians had won the event since 2016. Having not taken place since 2019, it was encouraging to see such a well-attended event, with well-contested matches throughout the weekend. There were several excellent performances from the Edinburgh & Lothians representatives, including victories in four categories and runner-up spots in a further five events. There were 37 players in the Edinburgh & Lothians squad, from ten different clubs. The results they achieved illustrated the strength in depth, with all players contributing to the overall victory. This was over a number of strong sides including West of Scotland (who dominated the event between 2008 and 2018), Dundee and Aberdeen, the defending champions.
These Edinburgh & Lothians victories included impressive wins for the Men’s and Women’s A teams.
In the final of the men’s event, Team A (Chongzhi Wang, Danilo Celli, Gordon Muir) had to overcome a strong West of Scotland side featuring the talented French player Malo Le Gall. Chongzhi Wang led the way with two good victories, and was especially impressive against Le Gall. Wang was 1-0 down in quick succession with the Frenchman hitting some blistering counter topspins. Wang responded well and came out fighting in the second set and eventually overpowered Le Gall in a 3-1 victory. Despite Le Gall’s equally impressive victory over Danilo Celli, the Italian clinched the match in the deciding rubber, defeating North Ayrshire’s Ryan Henry 3-1. This final match sealed the overall trophy for Edinburgh & Lothians.
Edinburgh University pair Mae Ng and recently crowned Scottish women’s champion Faye Leggett led the way in the women’s event, though were pushed all the way by the strong Edinburgh & Lothians B team of Emma Qu and Lydia Fu. A hard-earned 3-2 victory for Faye Leggett over Emma Qu was vital to the overall result. Their singles match attracted a big crowd as it reached a thrilling finish with some ferocious and fast rallies.
The Edinburgh & Lothians squad also dominated the Veterans’ event with their A team (Charlie Ellis, Colin Green, Peter Aird) winning all their matches, including in a testing final match versus their B team (Keith Dingwall, Geoff Hunter, Greig McDonnell). The Cadet Girls team (Nichole Lee, Peony Cheng) also finished top in their category, continuing a run of excellent results this season for Lee.
Other notable performances included that of the Junior (under 18) Boys A side (Charlie McGowan, Jamie Toner, Haydn Jackson), who finished runners up to a strong West of Scotland side led by national junior boys champion Jamie Johnson. The Junior Girls (Hannah McDonnell, Hannah Smith) achieved a creditable 3rd place finish.
The Minor Boys A team (Fergus Randall, Blair Randall, Rory Thomson) were runners-up in their event with impressive play from each member of the team,
Key to the success were also the non-playing captains (Dave Fairholm, Shital Zaveri, Jeff Clark and Lindsay Muir), plus Gordon Muir who led with the organisation of the squads.
The final big Scottish table tennis event of the season is the Topspin Sports Edinburgh Open 2022, which takes place on 7 and 8 May in Bathgate.
