8x National League Champions

North Ayrshire A have yet again claimed the Scottish National League title, setting a record in the process. They did so with a convincing 5-1 victory over their closest rivals, Murrayfield A. It means they have now won the current version (constituted in 2010) of the National League a highly impressive 8 times. Greaves Sports/ Central A won the previous version of the league (1981-1998) on 7 occasions.  North Ayrshire founder Billy Main was justifiably proud of the achievement: “we were really focussed on winning it this season, aiming to break the record”. A superb achievement given that the club was only founded in 2003. North Ayrshire have, this season, successfully combined winning the SNL with competing well in the Senior British League, where they recently achieved a fine win versus BATTS 1.

Anticipation

As Richard Yule welcomed the players, there was a great sense of anticipation in the hall, with lots of promotion and relegation issues to be decided- and titles to be won. With almost 150 players in the hall, plus coaches and spectators, there was a real buzz about the place, with the event providing a great advert for the sport in Scotland. The steady growth of the league has been a real source of optimism for Scottish table tennis. Being able to play the matches in one central venue (in the centre of the country) has added to the event. There is very little scope now for further growth, unless we can find a way to squeeze in a few more tables to the main arena at Bell’s or find an alternative venue.

In their morning matches, Division 1 title contenders Murrayfield A and North Ayrshire A swept their opponents aside. Murrayfield A seemed to be in good form with a surprisingly smooth 6-0 victory over North Ayrshire B. In similar fashion, North Ayrshire A had a comfortable 6-0 win over their neighbours, South Ayrshire A. Though Rebecca Plaistow caused a bit of consternation as she took the first set against Colin Dalgleish, the North Ayrshire number one soon found his attacking rhythm and eased to a 3-1 win. South Ayrshire’s Harvey McDonald was barely able to play – on crutches when he was not at the table. Harvey’s broken toe symbolising South Ayrshire’s plight- they ended the day at the foot of the table. Dumfries

Dundee A will join them in Division 2, losing a very tight match to Murrayfield B (for whom Borui Chen was in good form) and then losing to North Ayrshire B. The Scottish Vets were much strengthened by Stuart Crawford’s appearance. They clambered out of the relegation zone with a draw against Dumfries A and a win against South Ayrshire A. Gerry Campbell’s 3-2 win over Kieran Walker was one of the day’s most entertaining matches to watch, with some free flowing play from both combatants.  As a testament to the club’s strength in depth, North Ayrshire B finished just ahead of Dumfries A to claim a highly creditable third position. Jamie Johnson impressed with a series of fine performances. For Dumfries, Danny Bajwa had a superb season, winning all of his matches including versus Colin Dalgleish earlier in the season. Danny’s teammate Kieran Walker also performed really well in his debut season in the top division.

The Decider

North Ayrshire went into the final match knowing that a draw would be enough to clinch the title. This was a repeat of the situation at the climax of the 2019-2020 season. After Colin Dalgleish overcame Krzysztof Borkowicz  in 4 sets , it was essential that Murrayfield took the next. They did, but a fired-up John Hannah (“I only play well when I’m like that”) only edged past Chris Main 14-12 in the 4th. Hannah seemed to be on course at 2-1 and 8-4 up before Chris battled back and John became impatient with a badly slapped forehand at 8-6. The match then reached a real creshedo with some high quality rallies, much appreciated by North Ayrshire’s big bench and everyone else watching. Hannah eventually got over the line 14-12; his loud celebrations reverberating around the hall. 

This would be as good as it got for Murrayfield A. Christopher Wong was unable to reproduce his form from the Scottish Students’ Championships the day before, failing to make much of an impression against a very solid Sean Doherty. Though John Hannah took the opener against Colin Dalgleish (and led the 2nd 7-4), the Scottish No. 2 turned things around impressively. Another composed performance from Sean Doherty gave him a win over Krzysztof Borkowicz to put the match beyond doubt. Sean was particularly consistent, not offering up cheap points. This left North Ayrshire A’s skipper Chris Main to deliver the coup de grâce, as he swept aside Christopher Wong in straight sets.

For Murrayfield A it was a slightly disappointing end to another good season. John Hannah was happy with his own form and tactics, though regretted his inability to take the chances he had to go 2-0 up on Colin Dalgleish. He was happy that his side had maintained “good team spirit and kept fighting even after we’d ‘lost’”.

Divisions 2-6

Joining the top division next year will be Division 2 winners Glasgow South A and also Drumchapel A, led by Yaser Razouk. Yaser was made to work by Murrayfield C’s Keith Dingwall but was otherwise untroubled. Drumchapel A finished just ahead of Krzysztof Opila’s JK Carnbo side to secure promotion. JK Carnbo finished strongly with 2 wins, despite Krzysztof Opila’s loss to Geoff Hunter of the relegated North Merchiston. Fast-improving youngster Harry Blackhall performed well for Aberdeen A on the final day with three good wins from his four matches.

Glasgow South A’s Charlie Morton had an excellent season, with 14 wins from 14 matches. However, he had to battle through three 5-setters on the final day, including versus the Drumchapel pair of Lucy Elliott and Zaid Khalid. No doubt Drumchapel and  Glasgow South will be strong forces in next year’s Division 1.

Scottish Vets B completed a dominant season, winning the Third Division ahead of Edinburgh University A. Even without Colin Green, they maintained their 100 % record. A fiery performance from Lei Zhu helped him beat Emma Qu as his side defeated Murrayfield D 5-1 in a match “full of gunpowder”, as Junji Hua put it.  Murrayfield’s only win came via a good win for Emma Qu over Faye Leggett.

Drumchapel B claimed the Division 4 title, with South Ayrshire B also promoted as runners-up. Aaron Richardson had a fine day for Drum, winning his 4 matches, including a battling 12-10 in the 5th win versus South Ayrshire’s Roy Claxton. This helped Drumchapel to a 5-1 win over their nearest rivals.  Dundee just missed with a draw against Murrayfield E costing them. “That’s us blown it!” was Ryan Docherty’s frustrated reaction. The draw was secured for Murrayfield E via an epic 18-16 in the 5th win for Jamie Toner over Euan Steel.

Edinburgh University B took Division 5, two points ahead of Penicuik. A battling 4-2 win over Edinburgh International B helped the Midlothian side secure a promotion slot. Haonan Ji was the Uni’s leading player, losing just one match all season.

Stirling B were the winners in Division 6, with Scottish Vets C (helped by last minute super sub Richard Lo, who won 3 of his 4 matches) also promoted. Promising youngster Ben Hart led the way for Stirling B with 14 wins out of 14. Though the bottom division, there was a lot of good play on show; illustrating the strength in depth the SNL now has.

Thanks

Thanks to all of those who competed and assisted on the day and during the season. Particular thanks to Richard Yule for his key role in securing Bell’s for the league and liaising with the management there. Also to Graham Muir for inputting most of the results in such rapid fashion and to TTS Chairman Terry McLernon who presented the trophies. Ken Benjamin assisted the top table in various ways.  Paul Walker took the presentation photos, edited by Gordon Muir. Thanks to Gordon Muir & Yubo Rasmussen for their comments on an earlier draft of this report. Of course, the main man again was Lindsay Muir with all his efforts in organising such a successful event.

See you all later in the Autumn for the start of the next SNL. Look out for Lindsay Muir’s email regarding teams for next season.

Report from TTS website

Sunday TT – Kids Class

Sunday afternoon table tennis at St Matthews. Kids class 12-1.30pm and club session 1.30-3.30pm.

Qualified coaches on hand running the session with a variety of fitness, fun games and match practice.

DM or email us to sign up or to find out more information

Facebook – North Ayrshire Table Tennis
Twitter – @NorthAyrshireTT
Instagram – North Ayrshire TT Club

Scottish Schools Finals

Scottish School Finals today at Bells SC Perth, aan exciting day of table tennis as always with the top 4 of each age group qualifying to represent their country at the British School Championships.

Holly McNamara – U18 Girls Champion

Jamie Johnson – U18 Boys Champion

Jess Hogg – U18 Girls R-Up

Nathan Hogg – 4th place in U16 Boys

Great achievement for our top juniors in the club to represent Scotland at yet another British School Championships. This will be held in June at the National Sports Centre, Inverclyde Largs. Well done to Eilidh, Padma, Tamara & Euan for playing in their first senior schools final event too.

British Prem: 4-3 win v BATTS

A great battle v BATTS resulted in a 4-3 win for our North Ayrshire team in the British Premier League. A team effort in a game with five 5 set matches. From 3-0 up to just scraping the win 4-3 with top quality performance from our No1 Colin Dalgleish winning his 3 matches.

This was Sean Doherty’s first match for North Ayrshire in a few years, which seen him win 1 of his 2 singles matches and teamed up brilliantly with Colin to win the doubles.

Back to back wins for our team with our next match v Archway Peterborough on the 19th February at St Matthews Academy. For all results and future fixtures please check the website – British League | TT Leagues

Ryan Henry wins Gold in Costa Rica

Ryan Henry from Ardrossan wins his first international gold medal in Costa Rica. Ryan representing the British Para Squad won gold with Ecuador’s Polo Astudillo in the SM8 team event. Ryan also won bronze medal in the Class 8 singles event eventually losing out in a tight semi final match.

Ryan who plays for North Ayrshire’s British League, Scottish League & WoS league teams has got a number of trips planned for competing abroad in 2022, Norway, Mexico and Poland to name a few.

Padma & Eilidh Qualify for Scottish Team

Three of our promising young players travelled to Dundee to compete in the recent Scottish Primary School Championships. Tamara Martin, Padma Unnam & Eilidh Tait competed in the girls event which was a competitive round robin event.

Final places after the round robin and their 8 single matches;

3rd place – Eilidh
4th place – Padma
6th place – Tamara

Big well done to the trio of girls and congratulations to Eilidh and Padma who qualfied to represent Scotland at the British Primary School Championships* in Guernsey in April 2022.

British Primary School Championships is an annual competition which brings together Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, Guernsey, Jersey & Isle of Man. The top four players both boys and girls represent their country which is a great tournament and opportunity for all players.

Leagues Start Date

With the up and coming season about to kick off this month, we are looking forward to the leagues starting back up both regionally and nationally.

3 teams in West of Scotland League
4 teams in National Scottish League
3 teams in British Senior League

West of Scotland Senior League
First round of matches will be on the WC 27th September. We have entered 3 teams into this seasons WoS league which sees matches home and away on a weekly basis.  ‘A’ team in Division 1, ‘B’ team in Division 2 and ‘C’ team in Division 3. Our home matches will be held at St Matthews Academy and will be on a Monday night with a start time of 7.15pm.

Scottish National League
This seasons SNL will take place at Bells Sport Centre with NATTC entering 4 teams. We will have two teams in Division 1, one team in Division 3 and one team in Division 5. In Division 1 our ‘A’ team will be going for an eighth title alongside the B teams most recent promotion from Division 2.  Our C team and D team will be pushing for wins and titles in their respective divisions so we are hoping for another successful season in SNL.

Day 1 : 9th Oct
Day 2 : 27th Nov
Day 3: 6th Feb

British League
British Premier League starts for our A team on 18th September at home at St Matthews Academy with our B and C team starting their campaign the following weekend (25th/26th) at Halton TTC, Widnes.

British League is the premier club competition in the UK with teams from all the home countries competing, so we are always proud to take part in it and is always a great challenge for our players. British League website which you can view fixtures, club ranking list and dates – https://british.ttleagues.com/

St Matthews & West Kilbride – Reopening

Monday Night TT is Back !!
Our first Monday night club session at St Matthews was Monday of last week which was the first since March 2020. We have the familiar set up of 8 tables and can take up to 16 players per night. This is our main club night and is open to all members and anyone wanting to pop in and play regardless of level and ability. Covid procedures are in place.

Every Monday 7.15-9pm in the main hall at St Matthews Academy, Saltcoats

West Kilbride TT Club Opens its Doors
It was a busy first night back for WKTT which seen 3 tables downstairs and 4 tables upstairs being set up and played on the full night. WKTT is a community club which has an open door policy and welcomes families, kids and adults to come along and play. Qualifed coaches on hand to help out.

Every Friday 7-9pm at West Kilbride Community Centre

Competitions & Calendar

See below competition and league calendar from now until the end of the year. Individual competitions, team competitions, VETTS plus club activities. Links to TT Scotland website for tournament entry forms and full Scottish calendar at bottom of page.

September
1st – St Matthews reopening
3rd – West Kilbride TT reopening
3-5th – Inverclyde National Training
12th – VETS Comp at Bells
18th – British Premier v Fusion
25/26th – British Senior League
27th – WoS Senior League starts

October 
2nd – British Premier v Ormesby
9th – Scottish National League
10th – Perth GP
23/24th – National Championships
24th – Scottish VETTS Bathgate
30th – British Premier v Ormeau

November
7th – Club Competition at St Peters
13/14th – Home Nations
19-21st – Inverclyde National Training
27th – Scottish National League
28th – Scottish Primary Schools

December
4th – British Premier League
4-5th – Inverclyde National Training
11th – British League
18th – Club Christmas night out
20th – Club Christmas Night

TT Scotland Calendar – https://tabletennisscotland.co.uk/calendar-update/
Tournament entry forms – https://tabletennisscotland.co.uk/competition-is-back/