Martin Johnson crowned National Champion

Great weekend of results for our players at this years National Championships. Richard Main and Chris Main both reached the quarter finals losing to the no1 and no2 seeds, Gavin Rumgay and Craig Howieson respectively. Chris had a great win over Scottish no3 Niall Cameron 3-2 and lost an entertaining match against Gavin Rumgay 3-1 in the quarter finals. RIchard and Jill Taylor did brilliantly to get to the semi finals of the mixed doubles losing out to Terry McLernon & Lucy Elliott.

On the Sunday Jill Taylor, Jamie Johnson, Martin Johnson & Andy Macpherson competed in the junior events with all players posting good results. Andy Macpherson reached the last 16 of the junior boys singles and was unlucky not to progress further losing to Jamie Arnott 3-1. Jamie Johnson reached the last 12 of the u13 boys which has seen him rise to no10 in the Scottish rankings. Jill Taylor beat Scottish no3 Rachel Crawford, Faye Leggett and Alisha Khalid all 3-1, to make her way into the semi finals, where she eventually lost to Rebecca Plaistow. This has seen Jill move up to an impressive no4 in the Scottish rankings.

Martin Johnson who was seeded no2 in the under 13 category, performed remarkably winnning the u13 national title in emphatic style. Martin beat an inspired Yifie Yang (Aberdeen) 11-9 in the fifth set in the final to win his first National title. This is a great achievement for 10 year old Martin who has got 2 years remaining in this age group.

Chris Main v Gavin Rumgay – http://goo.gl/kdmgzb
Murrayfield TTC SNC Pictures – http://goo.gl/2iQXd7
Full TTS Results – http://goo.gl/eFQOkk

British University Championships

British University Championships were held at Nottingham this year and Jordan McGinlay and Richard Main headed down with Team UWS to represent the University of West of Scotland. I n the men’s doubles event, they worked their way through the first 3 rounds winning 3-0, 3-0 3-2 to reach the last 32, where they met no3 seeds Paul McCreery (Irish National Champion) and his partner from Nottingham Trent Uni. Jordan and Richard lost 3-0, however, had set points in a number of sets.

In the Mens Singles, Jordan finished runners up in his group winning 2 matches out of 3. Richard who was seeded 9th for the event, won his group convincingly which seen both boys make their way into the last 128. Jordan lost 3-1 to a strong London based Chinese player, Richard won 3-0 and over the course of the afternoon made his way to the last 16 to where he set up a match against his National League team mate, Colin Dalgleish. Colin proved too consistent and overcame Richard 3-0. Both Jordan and Richard have put in an enquiry to UWS to compete at the European University Championships which is held in Amsterdam in July.

Scottish Schools Final

Jill Taylor and Andy Macpherson were both on fine form at this years Scottish School Final where both players qualified to represent Scotland at the British School Championships. Jill finished runners up in the u18 girls category with wins over Renee Ho (Dumfries) 3-1 and Kirsten Aitkenson (Edinburgh) 3-2. Andy won his initial group and had wins over Connor Gordon (Falkirk) 3-1 in the last 16 and Stephen Grimes (Glasgow) 3-2 in the quarter finals to secure his place in the Scottish Schools team for Cardiff. Other notable performances came from Ryan Henry – last 16 of u14 boys, Martin Johnson – QF of u14 boys, Nathan Devlin – last 16 of u16 boys, Chris Barclay – QF of u18 boys.

Winners at The Scottish Sports Awards

We are delighted to announce that we won Local Club of Year at this years Sunday Mail & SportScotland Scottish Sports Awards. This event was held on Thursday 5th December at the Thistle Hotel, Glasgow. North Ayrshire TTC were first of all shortlisted as 1 of 3 finalists alongside Astro Gymnastics Club (Livingston) and Claymore Boxing Club (Fort William). Winning this award is a great achievement for everyone at the club and congratulates the players, coaches and volunteers for all their hard work they have put in over the years. To view pictures from the awards night – http://goo.gl/eqmbKC and to view club video and Billy Mains interview from Sunday Mail website – bit.ly/18gy2qX .

North of Scotland Open Results

West of Scotland Junior League

Impressive day of results for our 6 North Ayrshire teams at the 3rd and 4th rounds of matches of the WoS Junior League. Our Division 1 teams are currently sitting in 3rd and 4th place behind East Kilbride A and South Ayrshire. Division 2 team, North Ayrshire C, won both of their matches against Boys Brigade A and East Kilbride C 3-2 and are currently sitting in 5th place. Division 4 team of Holly McNamara, Eva Herrington & Cameron Mills are in 3rd place after a 5-4 win and 8-1 win against East Kilbride & Joe Wilson respectively. For full results and player averages visit www.wosttl.org.uk

Three Towns TT Festival

Three Towns TT Festival was held at St Matthews Academy on Friday November 28th where over 25 pupils from local schools competed against each other in 3 different categories. The experienced category was a group of 8 players who have been attending the club sessions for over a year was won by Jamie Johnson (Glencairn). Runners up was Patric Hollywood (Caledonia) and 3rd place was Chad Duncan (St Anthony’s). Grade 1 event was won by Harvey Newall (Ardeer) with Declan McCoy (Hayocks) beaten finalist.

Grade 2 event was won by Zak Leith of St Anthonys with Michael Donnelly (St Anthonys) finishing in runners up. This was a great event which was the finale of our 8 week block of classes which we ran in St Anthonys, Hayocks, Ardeer and Glecairn. Hopefully we see some of these players attending the club sessions in the future and special thanks to Bruce McMaster of Active Schools for helping with the planning and organising of this event. For more pictures please visit our facebook page – http://goo.gl/nND6ds.

National Senior League Update

Our 3 National Senior League teams were competing at St Matthews Academy, Saltcoats and Royal High School, Edinburgh in divisions 1, 2 and 3. Our division 1 team who are going for the title for the 4th year in a row won 6-0 v Murrayfield and 6-0 v Fair City TTC. Division 2 team of Will Kennedy, Andy Macpherson & Chris Barclay had 2 tough matches which finished with a 3-3 draw v Knightswood ‘B’ and a 5-1 loss v Dumfries ‘A’ who had Scottish no 7 Callum Main playing for them. Andy Bogle, Martin Johnson & Jill Taylor won 4-2 v Scottish Vets and lost 6-0 to Dumfries ‘B’ in which 4 matches went to full 5 sets. Full results and tables are available at www.tabletennisscotland.co.uk