Dumfries Table Tennis Club

World Table Tennis Day Report

Report on our World TableTennis Day celebration 23rd April by Linda Powell

Our top players, Dylan, Danny, Shannon and Reuben participated in a fast-moving exhibition. Norma Brown also demonstrated her expertise, partnering daughter Shannon. Dylan and Reuben featured too, with Reuben displaying some of his defensive skills. Senga Thomson played Danny and was Master of Ceremonies.

Before and after the exhibition visitors were encouraged to take part in the fun games on offer. Noughts and crosses was a firm favourite, as was the Bat Challenge: here entrants were required to use bats of five different sizes, ranging from the over-sized to one so tiny that it was almost too hard to hold. With the robot on slow-fire, only one shot with each bat was permitted. Few connected with the ball using the smallest bat.

Our afternoon visitors included many from the Club’s Over-50s Group, eager to try everything, including the promised excellent cakes. Two Moffat TT Club members supported our initiative.

Many thanks to the team who made the whole enterprise possible, among them, Anne Borrowdale and Norma Brown, who master-minded the World TT Day celebration,  and not forgetting all the Club players who not only competed, but manned the fun games and patiently helped new or struggling visitors to play.

 

Dylan De Silva and Shannon Brown discuss the 5 Bat Challenge

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Club Championships Report Part Two – Junior events

Report on Sunday 23rd April by Linda Powell

Junior Events: The juniors warmed up in two mixed Junior groups, from which the results of matches already played were extrapolated and carried forward to the relevant age-groups. Group A winner – Reuben De Silva (5 wins); second – Cory Dawson; Group B winner – Shannon Brown (6 wins); second – Scott McCombe.

Minor Singles: Group A winner – Cory Dawson (3 wins); second – Isaac Ishmael; Group B winner – Finley Boyd (4 wins); second – Boyd Telfer; Cory beat the diminutive Boyd in the first semi-final; Isaac defeated Finley. Cory took the title, 3/0.

Cadet Singles: Group A winner – Cory Dawson (4 wins); second Isaac Ishmael; Group B winner – Evan Robertson (4 wins); second Finley Boyd. Semi-finals: Cory beat Finley 3/0; Isaac beat Evan 3/1; Final – Cory beat Isaac 3/0.

Junior Singles: Semi-finals – Reuben beat Scott McCombe 3/0, and Shannon defeated Cory Dawson 3/0. Final – Reuben got away to a 2-0 advantage, winning the second set 11-9. Shannon clawed her way back into the match, and won the third, 11-9. Her chances looked bright when she took a slim lead in the fourth, but Reuben came back to edge the set 11-9. As both players varied spin, speed and direction, this was a fitting finale to the Championships.

Many thanks are due to Kenny Lee for his marathon stint organising the two days of the tournament, and maintaining the Match Schedule and Results Service.

Reuben
Junior Singles Champion Reuben De Silva

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Club Championships Report Part One

Report on Saturday 22nd April by Linda Powell

Open Singles: Players started in five groups. Top seed, Dylan De Silva, won Group A comfortably. Runner- up Paul Dowson survived a battle with Iain Macleod, which he won 11-6 in the fifth set. The convincing winner of Group B was Jason Fleming, a new member based in Carlisle.
Third seed, Reuben De Silva, fought to defeat Group C’s eventual runner up, Graham Gault, 11-8 in the fifth set. Another notable Group C tie was Craig Wilson’s fifth-set victory over Scott McCombe.
Group D was dominated by the Club’s two top girls, fourth seed Shannon Brown and Maria De Silva. Runner-up Maria lost 1-3 to Shannon in the final tie. Meanwhile, Paul Borrowdale won Group E.

Graham Gault and Maria won their play-off matches to reach the quarter-finals, but both were then defeated. Father and son Dylan and Reuben contested the first semi-final, with victory going to Dylan, 3/1. In the other half Jason defeated Shannon 3/1, before giving a good account of himself in a 1/3 loss to Dylan.

Open Doubles: The most notable preliminary play-off was that between Graham Gault/Brian Kirkpatrick and Andrew Dawson/Richard Ishmael, which the veteran league players won 11-9 in the fifth after trailing 0-2. The only quarter-final to go to a fourth set was Cory Dawson’s and Finley Boyd’s win against Callum Hutchison and Evan Robertson. The boys then lost 0/3 to Jason Fleming and Gordon Duff. In the other half Reuben and Shannon faced Danny Bajwa and Maria. The latter pair won 3/1 and went on to beat Jason and Gordon 3/1 in the final.

Veteran Singles: Dylan won Group A, and Iain MacLeod was second. In Group B Graeme Boyd won the closest match against Bogdan Gofron, 11-7 in the fifth set. The group winner was Gordon Duff, who conceded just one set, to runner-up Brian Kirkpatrick. In Group C Graham Gault ousted third seed Paul Borrowdale 3/1 in the last tie. Dylan maintained his unbeaten status with a semi-final win over Paul. In the other semi-final Graham and Gordon battled over five sets, with Graham triumphant 13-11 in the fifth. The indomitable Dylan then collected his second title.

Handicap Singles: There was a mix of seniors and juniors in this event. The backmarker was Dylan with a handicap of -12, and Jacob McCallie had the highest one, +17. Unfortunately Jacob (+17 start) played the experienced Paul Borrowdale (-1), and was pipped at the post, -19, -18.
In the first semi-final Shannon and Gordon each had a -2 handicap, hence normal rules applied, with no “Sudden Death” rule in force. Shannon won, 19, 17. Dylan started at -5 behind Reuben, and came through to the final, where he beat Shannon (+6 start) 19, 10.

Handicap Doubles: In this fun event there are no handicaps. Top players are paired with the less experienced, so it is often the middle-range pairs who win. Dylan and Craig Wilson moved from the play-off zone to the final, losing only one set, to Maria and Finley Boyd. Shannon Brown and Graeme Boyd also started in the play-offs. They played one of the best matches in the event, but lost to Jason Fleming and Andrew Dawson, who recovered from 1-2 down to win the semi-final 3/2. Dylan and Craig never lost their grip in the final, netting Dylan his fourth title.

Jason Fleming (in red) takes on Dylan De Silva in the Open Singles final

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Club Championships 2023 Results

Here are the full results of our Club Championships at the weekend 22/23 April. Full report to follow.

Open Singles Winner: Dylan De Silva  Runner-up: Jason Fleming

Open Doubles  Winners: Danny Bajwa/Maria De Silva  Runners-up:  Jason Fleming/Gordon Duff

Veterans Singles Winner: Dylan De Silva  Runner-up: Graham Gault

Handicap Singles Winner: Dylan De Silva  Runner-up: Shannon Brown

Handicap Doubles Winners: Dylan De Silva/Craig Wilson  Runners-up:  Jason Fleming/Andrew Dawson

Minors (U13)  Winner: Cory Dawson  Runner-up: Isaac Ishmael

Cadets (U15) Winner: Cory Dawson  Runner-up:  Evan Robertson

Juniors (U18)  Winner: Reuben De Silva  Runner-up: Shannon Brown

Jason vs Dylan in the Open Singles final

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Excitement builds for our free Festival of Table Tennis

We’re busy finalising arrangements for the Dumfries Festival of Table Tennis at the club this weekend 22-23 April, as we join countries around the world to celebrate #WorldTableTennisDay.
Following the Club Championships on Saturday and Sunday morning, we’ve got table tennis for all ages and abilities from 2.30 – 5 pm on Sunday afternoon, including:
  • Pick up a bat and have a go – everyone’s welcome, from complete beginners to regular players. Equipment provided, and a playing partner if you’re on your own
  • Take our 5-bat challenge: can you return a shot as the bats get smaller and smaller?
  • Discover how to play Noughts and Crosses on a table tennis table
  • Have a go against our table tennis robot
  • Play a game with our old-style sandpaper bats
  • Chat to our club volunteers about playing table tennis at our coaching, junior, over-50s and open sessions

Watch top-quality table tennis Between 3.30 – 4 pm, our very own Scotland No. 4 (and No. 2 Under-21) table tennis star Danny Bajwa is doing an exhibition with our other top Scotland-ranked players, so there’ll be plenty of amazing table tennis to admire.

We have other table-tennis-related activities on offer for those who aren’t playing, focused on this year’s World Table Tennis Day theme of Sustainability:

  • Design a bat – we’ll provide a template and colours, you provide a design, with a prize for the best one
  • Suggest a good use for cracked and broken table tennis balls. The club gets through a lot of them, so we’ve got a prize for the best suggestion(s)!
  • Find out how to recycle table tennis bats with new rubber. Bring your own old bat for advice, or you can buy one of our good quality recycled ones

We’ll also have free light refreshments available in our upstairs viewing gallery.

Don’t miss it!  

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Dumfries Festival of Table Tennis

WTTD 2023

This year we're celebrating World Table Tennis Day with a Festival of Table Tennis 22nd -23rd April. We've got the return of our Club Championships on Sat 22nd and the morning of Sun 23rd, and friends, family and general spectators are most welcome to drop in and watch. Then on the Sunday afternoon we're inviting all-comers for free table tennis.

Saturday 22 April 9.30 am—3.30 pm Club Championships Open singles, Doubles & Handicap events

Sunday 23 April 9.30 am—2.00 pm Junior Club Championships

World Table Tennis Day celebrates the joy of playing table tennis for fun and bringing people together, with events taking place in over 60 countries around the world. This year’s theme is Sustainability, and we’ve planned several activities to reflect that.

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Club Championships Return

After a three year gap for Covid, we’re delighted to be running our Club Championships again, on the 22nd and 23rd April.
Saturday 22nd April sees the Open Singles, Open Doubles, Handicap Singles, Handicap Doubles, and Veterans singles (Over 40 years).
Sunday 23rd April has the Minor singles (U13), Cadet Singles(U15) and Junior Singles (U18). Juniors are encouraged to play in Saturday’s Open events as well.
To enter, just add your name to the sign-up sheets on the main noticeboard in the club before April 14th. The cost is £3 per event up to a maximum of £12 if entering multiple events, and fees will be collected on the day of the tournament.
Trophies for all the events will be presented at an awards ceremony later in the year.
We encourage friends and family to come and watch and enjoy the day with us. This year the Club championships coincide with World Table Tennis Day on the 23rd April, and we’ll have a range of other activities organized for players and visitors – more on this soon!

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Junior British League Success for Shannon

Shannon Brown competed in the Junior British League in Derby Arena over the 18th/19th February, despite ongoing injury issues. Alongside her team-mates in Drumchapel Glasgow’s Junior Girls team - Amelia Smolarek and Megan Mulhern - she took part in a second gruelling programme of five matches. The first batch of matches was played on October 8th and 9th, 2022, when the team won three of their Division 4 matches (all 5/1), drew one (3-3), and lost to the top team Lillington TTC 1-5.

Saturday 18th February The day began with a draw against Chelmsford, whom Drumchapel had beaten 5-1 in October. All three girls won one match and lost one. The next match, with Fusion, also ended in a draw, just as had happened in October. Shannon won one tie 3/0 and lost the other by the same score. Next up was Brighton TTC and the team pulled off another 5-1 victory. Shannon won both her ties and was awarded the Player of the Match accolade. She had been Player of the Match twice in October, the first time against Brighton TTC and the second time against Ellenborough Girls.

Sunday 19th February The Drumchapel girls faced Ellenborough Girls first thing on Sunday morning. This time they went one better, defeating them 6-0. Shannon won one tie 3/0 but had a bit of a struggle on her hands in the second, which she finally won 3/2.
The final match of the weekend was with Lillington TTC. Having lost the last encounter 1/5, the only win coming from Amelia, Drumchapel improved on that result when Megan also won a tie, to make the score 2-4.

The girls finished the weekend in second place, which hopefully will afford the team the chance of promotion to Division 3. Amelia and Shannon won 65% of their matches, with Megan scoring 60%. This was an excellent learning opportunity for all three as it widened their experience of playing new opponents. This is very important as Scotland currently has a small number of girls playing at national level.

 

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