Table Tennis: Medal success at Meadowhill Sports Centre

Dec 24 2009 West Lothian Courier

A handful of West Lothian table tennis stars made the short journey to Meadowhill Sports Centre recently and were rewarded with a sackful of medals and prizes to bring Christmas cheer to the county club.

Every year the Edinburgh and Lothians Table Tennis League make a pilgrimage to a tournament in which every affiliated player competes at an individual level.

The competition is run so that players from each division compete for their own title and there are also separate age-related competitions for juniors and veterans.

Unfortunately, only one player from the Premier Division and Division One squads was able to attend. Steve McKay competed in the Division One competition and on the day played above himself to finish in a highly creditable third place.

With the West Lothian B team riding high in Division Two, their players were expected to do particularly well and so it proved.

It was won by Kevin Milne in probably the gutsiest performance of the day in a thrilling five-setter against Brian Fulton of the Murrayfield club. Having lost only one game in the league so far this season to date Milne may have been a slight favourite but he was made to fight all the way by a stuffy opponent.

Milne had no sooner lost the first set than he found himself 6-10 in the second, only to win the set. At one set all he lost the third set to deuce and found himself staring defeat in the face.

Gritting his teeth he took the final two sets to win a titanic struggle by 6-11, 12-10, 11-13, 11-3, 11-9.

What made this win more remarkable was that he beat team-mate Keith MacKay in the semi-finals after losing the first two sets, mirroring his performance in quarter finals.

Zbigniew Stryzewski reached the quarter finals highlighting West Lothian’s dominance of this division.

In the Third Division competition West Lothian had two competitors and one of them added to the West Lothian tally by taking the title.

In a series of David vs Goliath encounters 13-year-old Kieran Boyle exhibited his natural exuberance, athleticism and precocious skill to beat a series of much more experienced players.

In the final he outhit and outfought Jack Zhung, from the Edinburgh International club, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9.

West Lothian’s other representative here was Graham Chambers who had only played in one league match to this point.

Given that, it was understandable that he was a bit nervy and lost in the first round groups in games that he looked as though he might win.

In order to encourage players of different standards and from different clubs to integrate as much as possible, there is a Ballot Doubles event.

As one would expect, names are put in the hat and partnerships drawn. Playing with Eddie Scott of North Merchiston, Chambers then excelled himself in winning a series of games to reach the final where he only lost out in the fifth and deciding set.

Having only recently returned to competition after a long lay off, Robbie Fairley looked to be back to almost his best form in reaching the final of the under-17 tournament.

There he met one of Scotland’s top-ranked juniors in Colin Dalgleish and although he lost he can be pleased to have played his part in an open, exciting match blessed with an abundance of good rallies.

In the under-15 competition Kieran Boyle reached the semi-final where he lost to the eventual winner, Ying Jin, in four sets.

West Lothian’s roll of honour did not end there as MacKay and Stryzewski fought out one of the veterans finals.

In an entertaining and close game Mackay won in four sets by forcing Stryzewski back from the table and picking out winners.

Although the tournament was intended to showcase individuals, West Lothian left the venue with more medals than any other club to highlight the improvement in general standards at the club.

In the League, itself, results were not as good as usual. The A team lost 7-3 to middle of the table Edinburgh International with Lewis Hills, George Flanagan and Brian Hunter winning one game each.

The B team suffered a similar defeat at the hands of Edinburgh International's second string with Barry Hills registering two singles games with Steve McKay and Andy Wyles taking the doubles.

This is only their second defeat of the current campaign but a series of draws now sees them sitting mid table.

In the West Lothian League, the top two teams Bathgate and Murieston fought out a 4-4 draw which sees Bathgate remain top, having lost only one point in five games.

The Bathgate team comprised Scottish veteran international Drew McLaren, Kieran Boyle and Ros Beck while Murieston fielded John McCulloch, Brian Toal and Aaron Cameron.

The game between McLaren and McCulloch provided the drama as the former fought back from a two set deficit only to lose the deciding set, but it was the game between McCulloch and Boyle which provided the entertainment.

Boyle had his older opponent scrambling about the court to retrieve some powerful hitting and was unlucky to lose 13-15, 17-19, 6-11 but his undoubted potential was there for every one to see.

For Murieston, McCulloch and Toal took the doubles and Toal defeated Beck. Rookie Cameron acquitted himself well but found the opposition a bit stiff on this occasion.

McLaren defeated Toal, Boyle beat Toal and Beck with Beck registering Bathgate's other win against Cameron.

In the final analysis a draw was the fairest result.