WEST LOTHIAN CLOSED TABLE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

SEASON 2008/9

“Too Many Hills to Climb”

Roll of Honour	Winner(s)	Runner(s) Up
Open Singles	Lewis Hills	Barry Hills
Open Doubles	J McCulloch/G Flanagan	L Hills/L Hills
Junior Singles	Kieran Boyle	Duncan Ewing
Ballot Doubles	M Rumsey/G Anderson	D McLaren/G Chambers
Consolation Singles	Duncan Ewing	Colin Neilson

The first round of the open singles event was run in eight groups, with one seed in each group and two from each group qualifying for the next round. The group suggesting the greatest likelihood of an upset included the seeded Kevin Milne, Zbigniew Strzyzewski and the junior Duncan Ewing. Although Milne topped the group and Strzyzewski qualified for the next round in second place they did it with some difficulty. In the last sixteen all eight top seeds eased their way into the quarters.

At this point the competition really started to heat up. First, Lewis Hills, seeded number two, lost the first two sets against newcomer Andy Wyles before edging the third set and winning the next two sets in some comfort. Andy only joined the club at the start of the season, having previously competed in the Premier division of the Edinburgh League, and should be a great asset to the club in future years. Last year’s champion John McCulloch then found himself playing against Keith MacKay. Keith is one of the club’s unsung heroes who gives most of the top players a torrid time without administering the final coup de grace and this occasion was no different. John edged the first end and the found himself 7-9 down in the second, only to win 11-7. If that was a great escape the next set could be described as a “Houdini” performance as John fought back from 2-8 to win in three straight sets. Meanwhile, last year’s runner up, Andy MacDougall, lost in straight sets to Barry Hills while the number one seed George Flanagan also disposed of Kevin Milne in three sets.

In the first semi George Flanagan took on Barry Hills in what proved to be a battle between George’s anti loop rubber and Barry’s long pimpled rubber. Surprisingly, Flanagan succumbed quite easily to his opponent in three sets. The second semi was a battle between two topspin hitters with the younger, more powerful Hills winning in some style, also in straight sets to deny McCulloch the opportunity of defending his title in the final. It can be said that McCulloch and Flanagan found “too many Hills to climb”.

Father and son, Barry and Lewis Hills then fought out the final. Although Lewis lost the first set to his father, one suspected that he would always pull through and so it proved as the younger player exhibited more flair and hitting power to overcome his father. The winning score was 9-11,11-5,11-9,11-9 and there can be no doubt that Lewis Hills was a very worthy champion on the day.

Again, the first round of the Open Doubles was played in groups but by the time the semi final stages had been reached all four top seeds had justified the Tournament Referee’s ratings. In the first of these John McCulloch and George Flanagan met the new partnership of Andy Wyles and Zbigniew Strsyzewski and moved on to the final with reasonable ease. The second was more closely fought but Andy MacDougall and Kevin Milne lost in four sets to Barry and Lewis Hills. The final was therefore contested by the four singles semi finalists and pitted the losers against the winners.

Both partnerships had played together regularly over the years. The father/son bond had been nurtured steadily over the years but the McCulloch/Flanagan partnership had won a previous West Lothian title over twenty years previously. In this instance McCulloch and Flanagan repeated their previous success by taking the title in three straight sets, albeit with a little luck on the way. That said they also won the doubles competition without losing a set. In the final the winning score was a very close 11-9,14-12,11-8 to exact revenge for their earlier defeats.

The Junior Championship suffered a little from the non-attendance of last year’s winner, Daniel MacKay, and Robbie Fairley through injury but, nevertheless, an exciting competition ensued. As usual, the first round was played in groups to maximise the experience gained by the unseeded players. Making their way through the qualifiers and to the final were the top seeded Duncan Ewing and Kieran Boyle. In this instance, Duncan may have thought himself favourite having beaten his opponent so recently but the younger Kieran is improving all the time. Indeed, Kieran is currently Scotland ranked number nine at Minor level (under 13) while Duncan recently attended a training camp in Germany to improve his basic skills.

This final was probably the pick of the day in the entertainment factor as both players displayed good fighting qualities as they matched each other shot for shot in a series of long rallies. Duncan kept good control of the table by forcing the younger Kieran back with his topspin shots but Kieran was often able to pick off good winners to take the point. Eventually, Kieran was able to atone for last year’s final defeat by winning 11-6,11-9,11-7.

All first round losers in the singles find themselves fighting it out for a Consolations trophy. Here, the standard of play might not reach the levels of the main event but it is probably fair to say that it was just as fiercely contested, probably more so. In the final Duncan Ewing met Colin Neilson and between them gave us the closest final of all. Duncan may well have won in three straight sets but one look at the final score underlines just how close this game was. Duncan’s winning score was 12-10,12-10,13-11 – all three sets won on deuce!

The last competition of the day was meant to be a fun event and so it proved. Doubles partners are chosen by chance, at least mostly, and Referees are given a little licence to ensure that partnerships are reasonably equal. This encourages more fraternising between natural groupings and allows the less experienced to gain from the expertise of a more proficient partner.

In this instance, two reasonably well matched partnerships contested the final. Drew McLaren and Graham Chambers may very well have lost in straight sets to Martin Rumsey and George Anderson but the final score suggests that if the game had been played best of seven ends rather than best of five ends, the conclusion might have been different. Martin and George won 11-1,11-7,19-17 in a nail biting conclusion.

A long, successful day ended with the presentation of trophies to a large number of players by Club Chairman, Drew McLaren, but this report cannot conclude without mentioning the sterling efforts of the Tournament Referee (and authorised photographer) Andy MacDougall. He not only was spot on in his player rankings but he surpassed himself in completing the entire Championships to schedule – not an easy feat.

The club can now boast Scotland ranked players within its ranks, an increasing membership year on year and external recognition for its efforts. None of this could have been achieved without a capable, committed and ambitious committee and the club has one.