West Lothian Table Tennis Club raises their game

Oct 13 2011 by Kieran Westbrook, West Lothian Courier

WEST Lothian Table Tennis Club made their presence felt in the Edinburgh and Lothians League with results improving after a slow start.

In the Premier Division the A Team fought out a hard earned 5-5 draw away to North Merchiston to earn them their first point of the season.

In the singles encounters Brian Hunter won two while Lewis Hills and George Flanagan accounted for one apiece. Hunter and Hills then made the difference by winning the doubles. Next week Hills is unavailable and Dariusz Szymczak, who has yet to play this season, will deputise against a Murrayfield team.

The B Team competing in Division One took the honours in a close 6-4 victory with an unchanged team of John McCulloch, Barrie Hills and Kieran Boyle against Edinburgh International. This was a thrilling encounter but, surprisingly, only two of the 10 games went the distance and both involved McCulloch. The first of these was in game one and this was followed by a series of other wins to give West Lothian an early 4-1 lead after five games.

By game nine this lead was reduced to 5-3 at which point McCulloch was due to play his third singles game against a fellow veteran and former North East England champion. In a high-quality game McCulloch took an early two-set lead only to see it pegged back in a five-set thriller which could have gone either way with a score of 11-6,11-9,10-12,8-11,13-15.

Now with only a 5-4 lead, Boyle having not won a game so far, came good to win in straight sets with some spectacular attacking shots to take both points. McCulloch and Hills won two each and also combined to take the doubles.

Also in the same division, the C Team was able to field its regular trio of Andy MacDougall, Kevin Milne and Keith MacKay and they returned to winning ways following a heavy defeat with a pedestrian 8-2 victory against Penicuik. Their only losses were suffered by MacDougall and MacKay.

Even this early in the season the B Team is one of only five teams with a 100 per cent record but next week they meet a Penicuik team which is one of the other four. Currently in a mid table position, the C Team is hopeful of another points haul when they host Corstorphine with Andy Wyles in contention for a place.

Last season the D Team finished in fourth position in Division Two which gave the team some optimism for the current season but so far they have flattered to deceive. In their most recent away fixture against North Merchiston they lost 4-6 to youthful opposition. On this occasion Drew McLaren played a captain's part by winning two with Ian Wodecki and George Anderson registering one apiece.

They have not yet found a winning combination in the doubles but, in fairness, their opponents to date have been among the title favourites. After two matches they remain pointless and, unfortunately, their next match is at home to Meadowbank and yet another tough match is anticipated.

West Lothian E Team travelled to Edinburgh International where young Aaron Cameron was in sparkling form in finishing unbeaten in an 8-2 runaway victory. Joining him were John Swift and Martin Rumsay. Swift joined Cameron in winning his three singles but was unsuccessful in the doubles when joined by Rumsay.

There is no doubting that the final placings of these two teams will be much closer this season than last and that both teams will look forward with some optimism to the matches against each other.

West Lothian F Team's match was away to Murrayfield when they had what is probably their best trio of Flockhart, Gray and Chambers all available and won 8-2. However, it was Chambers as very much the recognised number three who came good after a poor start to his season because of lack of practice.

Without a solitary win to his name so far he won all of his three singles games to provide a much needed boost to his confidence. Afterwards, he admitted to an element of luck but as we all recognise you make your own luck in any sporting arena. Flockhart and Gray both dropped a singles game but combined to win the doubles.

The West Lothian League kicks off this week allowing all competitive players to join the fray. There are several exciting new players due to take part and among them are Linlithgow couple Iain and Liz Henry. As Linlithgow already has a full quota of players Iain will compete for Bathgate while Liz forms part of the Broxburn team. The fixture between these two teams should prove interesting!

Playing for Linlithgow will be team captain Dariusz Szymczak who will be joined by two fellow Poles, Szymon Pawlik and Mariusz Wolf. There was some talk of renaming the team with a Polish name but they are all settled in the Linlithgow area and felt that a change would not be in order. All three are very popular within the local table tennis community and make excellent additions to the league and the player pool.

Returning to competitive play is former top junior Daniel MacKay and he makes his welcome return with his father Keith and veteran Davie Dall in the Dedridge team. In the case of Dall, he is now well into his 70s and does not keep the best of health but despite his advancing years is sure to take a few scalps.