Table tennis: New format is a hit

Jul 2 2009 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

DESPITE the failure to bring the table tennis season to an end on its allotted date owing to organisational difficulties, the season proved one of the most successful ever for West Lothian.

The season started with a trial run of a new competition whereby the system changed from a team comprising three players to two players, with efforts made to equalise team strengths.

Simultaneously, this created two divisions instead of one.

Given the new match format whereby each player meets both opponents, it meant that the doubles encounters often decided the result and this was evident when looking at the performance of both league winners.

Division One was won by the undefeated Linlithgow duo of Lewis Hills and Graham Chambers. This win capped a fine season for Hills who also took the club singles title earlier in the season.

Right behind them with only one loss was the Polbeth team of Barry Hills (father of Lewis) and Zbigniew Stryzewski

Hills senior capped off his season with a call-up by Scotland for the forthcoming Six Nations Championships on the Isle of Man. In third spot was Bathgate, for whom regulars Drew McLaren and George Anderson had almost identical personal averages.

Like Hills, McLaren will also represent Scotland on the Isle of Man.

Only one point behind were Andy MacDougall and John Muir representing Deer Park.

Right behind them was Tarbrax for whom George Flanagan lost only one singles match all season – this, inevitably, to Lewis Hills.

Notwithstanding, Flanagan also had an excellent season and proved to be the best player in Division One of the Edinburgh League. Partnering him was an enthusiastic Jim Stewart who was also playing at this level for the first time.

Next came the respected Dedridge duo of Keith MacKay and Jeff Yates.

Finishing with the same points tallies were West Calder and Eliburn. For West Calder both Benny Flockhart and Martin Rumsey each won exactly half of their singles encounters but a poor record in doubles meant that results more often than not went against them.

In the case of Eliburn, Kevin Milne continues to improve but the competition proved too tough for Brian Rooney.

Second bottom came Uphall who had two very experienced performers in Frank Kane and Davie Dall.

The wooden spoon was taken by Murieston — surprising in that Ian Mowbray did so well last year and young Daniel MacKay was last year’s junior champion.

In the new Second Division it was appropriate that the eventual winners were a new team comprising two new players.

Longridge took the title by winning all their matches save two, with one draw and one loss. At the start it was probably thought that the junior Darren Farquhar would head the team but by the end Jim Knox had the better personal performance.

Right behind them were Pumpherston, who had another top junior in Duncan Ewing and John Swift. In third place came Westfield for whom Peter Hagenbuch had a marginally better record than Ross Beck.

Next came three clubs with identical points and separated only by games difference. Leading these three was the Faucheldean team of two teenagers. As expected, the more experienced Luke Marris led the way but Jason Farquhar won one of every two games played in his first season.

For Torphichen, Allan Ewing combined with Paul Keddie to finish mid table.

Last in this group of three was Bridgend who used a youthful pool in Whyte, Greig and Gray. .

This leaves a bottom four of Armadale, Ecclesmachan, Whitburn and Bellsquarry where each team had a more experienced player matched with players new to the sport.

In some respects it seems unfair to compare each team but of the more experienced the club junior champion Kieran Boyle ended undefeated while his dad Kevin, Colin Neilson and Stephen Gray each had creditable averages.