East of Scotland youngsters posted a string of singles successes when the Scottish junior indoor championships were held at Scotstoun. These included a top prospect in boys’ under-18 winner, Chenming Dong.
Chenming, also known as David, attends the Merchiston Castle tennis academy and certainly had to succeed the hard way having overcome defending champion, Nikhil Bollarpragada, in the first round. In the final the lad, who started playing in Beijing, aged six, before moving to Edinburgh in 2020, defeated Tristan Mills.
Having previously caught the eye playing for the Thistle club Chenming is now representing Glasgow-based Whitecraigs in men’s tennis.
Someone else with a Thistle connection although more commonly associated with Craigmillar Park TC is girls under-14 champion Natalia Augustynska who defeated Ava Heslop to lift the trophy.
Waverley’s Ray Gallacher, who also attends the Merchiston Castle tennis academy was successful at under-16 boys level where he saw off Caelan McKechnie.
This tournament has been a stepping stone for several top players as noted by Chenming’s mum, Xia, who says: “The most meaningful part for Chenming was looking at the names engraved on the cup. It was fascinating to trace the history and see names like Tennis Scotland coach Toby Smith (1992), ATP player Jacob Fearnley (2018) and previous Merchiston tennis academy team-mate, Lance Nisbet (2022 and 23).”
Xia added: “2025 was a bit of a tough year for Chenming due to several injuries. However, he still managed some significant breakthroughs including inning the Grade 2 under-16 Scottish Championship and securing his first ITF doubles title at Bradfield.”
