WEST LOTHIAN TABLE TENNIS CLUB

West Lothian Secondary Schools Table Tennis Championships Season 2008/9

Roll Of Honour	Winner	Runner Up
Under 14	Kieran Boyle (St Kentigerns)	Darren Farquhar (St Kentigerns)
Under 16	Robbie Fairley (Whitburn)	Daniel MacKay (St Mararets)
Over 16	Luke Marris (St Margarets)	Jason Farquhar (St Kentigerns)

Every year the West Lothian Table Tennis Club liaises with the West Lothian Secondary Schools to run this event. There are separate competitions for both boys and girls in the under 14, under 16 and over 16 age groups. In this instance, the schools had set the date prior to discussion with WLTTC and for this reason it was disappointing that one school could not find transport for their pupils who wished to enter. Again, there was a general lack of interest from the girls, which flies in the face of the fact that the club has good representation from girls attending Primary School.

This competition not only finds local champions but provides players to represent West Lothian in the Scottish Secondary Schools Championships due to be held in Bells Sports Centre. With a maximum of four players in each section all the semi finalists are named in the West Lothian team.

In the semi finals of the under 14 competition all four players were club members. In the first semi Scotland ranked Kieran Boyle took on James Marris (St Margarets) but Kieran’s greater experience saw him march into the final with a 11-7,11-8 victory. In the second semi an ever improving Darren Farquhar had a surprisingly comfortable 11-6,11-4 win against Ryan Gray (Whitburn). This set up a final between two players whose hitting power defied their stature. In the end Kieran recorded a 11-8,11-7 thanks to his better all round skill.

In the under 16 event the first semi final brought together school chums Robbie Fairley and Ryan Whyte. Like Kieran Boyle, Robbie Fairley is a highly ranked Scotland player and perhaps Ryan can look back on the game and regret the fact that he got his tactics all wrong losing 11-8,11-4. In the second semi Daniel MacKay met a less experienced opponent in Broxburn Academy’s Douglas Gunn. That said Douglas dass=MsoBodyText>splayed a good natural ability which suggests that he could certainly improve with some coaching. Daniel, however, recorded a 11-4,11-6 win.

This brought the final we have all come to expect and anticipate – the third annual meeting of Robbie Fairley and Daniel MacKay. The previous two contests were close run wins for Robbie but this time he dominated from the outset to win 11-4,11-6. Bathgate Academy’s Imogen Beck also competed in this section and her play in the qualifying round led to her being nominated for the girl’s competition in Perth.

The final of the over 16 event provided us with the pick of the games in terms of sheer drama and excitement. Over the years Luke Marris (brother of James) has won the event in which he has competed with reasonable ease but on this occasion he met Jason Farquhar (brother of Darren) who has shown remarkable improvement in the short time he has been playing. Every thing seemed to be going to plan as Luke took the first two sets in a best of five final when Jason snatched the third set on deuce. With a growing confidence he then went on to even the match at two sets all. It was only at this point that Luke managed to re-focus his energy and concentration to take the fifth and deciding set. The final score was 11-7,11-7,12-14,7-11,11-7.

Club chairman, Drew McLaren, then awarded trophies and medals to the various winners and took the opportunity of expressing the club’s thanks to Glenn Marsters and Jamie Connelly, Schools Sports Coordinators. From this tournament the individuals qualifying for the National Championships due to be held on 28^th February were selected. Many of those competing in these Championships are among the very best in the United Kingdom. Indeed the under 14 Scotland squad is expected to take the British crown.

In his event Robbie Fairley led the way by fighting through the qualifying rounds to reach the last eight where he found Scotland ranked Number 6 junior Steven Fowler in no mood to let a younger Robbie through to the next round. As Fowler went on to reach the final, Robbie did West Lothian proud.

Kieran Boyle found himself in a very tough qualifying group and failed to qualify for the main event. This, however, took him into a consolation event, which he took by storm by winning his match in the final 11-3,11-6,11-4 to emphasise just how unlucky his initial draw was. Subsequent to this competition Kieran found himself Scotland ranked at Number 9 and invited to join the Scotland elite squad.

The less experienced Luke Marris, James Marris, Imogen Beck and Jason Farquhar found the going tough and failed to progress beyond the qualifying rounds. Like Kieran they each moved to consolation events. Luke did well here by reaching the semi final, beating Imogen on the way. With another year’s practice and coaching they should all fair much better next year.