Charlotte Takes a Hat trick of titles and Patrick a double in the West of Scotland
A party from Wales of 19 players travelled by bus to Glasgow for the tournament and had some great results throughout the weekend.
Ladies Band 1
This event provided some surprise results; Stephanie McCallum secured good wins against Maureen Moran and then against Scottish junior number 2 Lynda Flaws. Her run came to an end at the semi final stage losing to Charlotte Carey 3-1.
Ashley Givan was also making good progress in the bottom half of the draw beating Sadie Edwards (Greenhouse), then securing good wins against Josie Bruce and Rhian Williams.
In the final Charlotte held on to win 11-9 in the final set against Ashley Givan.
Men’s Singles
Seven of the top seeds made it through to the quarter finals in the Men’s singles event, with Gerry Campbell being the only casualty.
Quarter Finals
Ryan Jenkins (Wales) beat Craig Hardie (Glasgow) 3-0
Gavin Rumgay (Perth) beat Sean Doherty (Glasgow) 3-1
Stewart Crawford (Falkirk) beat Niall Cameron (London) 3-0
Lei Shu (China) beat Craig Howieson (Edinburgh) 3-0
Semi Finals
The semi finals were action packed and watched by a healthy crowd.
The first semi-final saw Ryan Jenkins up against Scotland number 1 Gavin Rumgay. Ryan raced to a lead in the first two sets only to see Gavin regain the lead and take each end. This was to be Gavin’s day and he was a worthy winner securing the match 3-1 to reach the final. With the title holder out we would have a new champion – but who would it be?
The second semi final brought Stewart Crawford up against Lei Shu. Stewart played some powerful shots, but Lei Shu was able to control them and then apply his own winning strategy, winning 3-0 to reach the final.
Final
So the scene was set for the 2009 Men’s singles final. Gavin started off well coping with Lei Shu’s topspins and they traded loop to loop rallies but Lei more often than not played that extra shot to win the point. In the last two ends Lei changed his serve to a very innocuous looking back hand serve – or what appeared innocuous! This gave Lei an advantage in his opening attack and with Gavin trying to cope with cramp Lei went on to secure a 4-1 win and the title.
Under 21 singles
Patrick Thomas produced some great play to get through to the later stages of this event.
Patrick secured wins over Calum Main (Eaglesfield) and Ashley Robinson (Ulster) to meet Tom Maynard (England) who had wins against Myles Collins (New Zealand) and Richard Main (Scotland). Patrick showed his class winning an entertaining match 3-1.
Junior Boys Singles
Patrick Thomas maintained his form to reach the final. He beat Colin Dalgleish (Edinburgh), Myles Collins (England) and Scott Barton (Glasgow).
The ever improving Scott Barton can be pleased at reaching the semi finals of this event, losing out to Patrick 3-1.
Sean Doherty (Glasgow) had wins over Liam O’Shaunessy (Dumfries), Ashley Robinson (Ulster) and in a tremendous semi final Callum Morgan (Dumfries).
In the final, Patrick raced to a two nil lead, but Sean recovered and won the next two sets to restore parity. Patrick however used all his experience to win the final set and the title.
Junior Girls
Natasha Milliken continued her good form from the previous day to reach the final of this event; she had a tough semi final match against Ashley Givan (Ulster) winning 3-2.
Charlotte Carey secured the other final slot with wins against Roisin O’ Reilly and Rebecca Irwin.
In a roller coaster match Charlotte went two nil up, but Natasha responded well and won the next two sets. In an extremely tight fifth set Charlotte kept her nerve winning 12-10.
Cadet Girls
Charlotte Carey secured a hat trick of titles by winning the cadet girls event, she beat Ciara Hayes, Emma Ludlow and then Ashley Givan.
Other players from Wales that provided excellent table tennis this weekend were Alex Prosser from Tonypandy and Stefan Jeczalik from Pontrhondda.