Article by Donald Pirie
After a long wait, National Table Tennis Competition returned in October, with both the Perth Grand Prix and the Scottish National Championships (postponed from March for season 2020/2021) taking place at the Bells Sports Centre in Perth.
The TT Academy returned to training as soon as was possible after lockdown, and took a large contingent of players to both events. The Perth Grand Prix was first, with a full range of age group events taking place as well as senior events.
Maja Wojcicka (Turriff Academy) had a fantastic day, winning both the U13 & U15 girls events. Maja was comfortable in the U13 event, not losing a game all day, but was pushed a bit harder in the final of the U15's taking a tight final against Murrayfield TTC player Nicole Lee.
Jakub Krzyzostaniak (St. Machar Academy) took the Silver in the boys U13 event after a close final against Glasgow's Joe Mulhearn, going down 1-3 after taking the first set, This was the first silverware of Jackb's career, so an excellent start to his tournament play and plenty more to come in the future from Jakub.
Daniel Tibbets (Mackie Academy) picked up where he left off pre-pandemic, dominating the boys U15 event and comfortably dispatching all his opponents without losing a set all day to take the title.
Tessa Yau (University of Aberdeen), also had an excellent tournament, making it through to the final of the Women's Open. Tessa went down in the final to No.1 seed Lucy Elliot, but played very well to get to the final stage, defeating several players currently ranked above her in the Scottish Senior Women's list.
The Scottish Championships followed on the last weekend of October, and again ASV TT Academy players were at the forefront.
Daniel Tibbets (Mackie Academy) continued his fine form from the previous Grand Prix, dominating the boys U13 event (age categories were based on last season's stats) and taking the title of the Scottish Boys U13 Champion. Again no other players were able to come close to Daniel, and he dominated the event dropping only one individual set on his way to the Scottish title.
Daniel Tibbets with TTS President Stewart McGowan
Picking up from where she left off a fortnight earlier, Maja Wojcicka (Turriff Academy) took the girls U13 title, this time defeating clubmate Kiishi Adekola (St. Josephs Primary) in the final. Kiishi made it through to the final in only her second tournament experience, taking excellent Silver and putting in a great performance to make it to the final, and has high hopes for the Scottish Primary Schools championships taking place at the end of November in Bathgate.
Maja Wojcicka and Kiishi Adekola with TTS President Stewart McGowan
The previous seasons age categories made the U15 girls event much stronger, but Maja's form continued and she made it through to her second final of the day. Maja had to settle for Silver at this event, going down to Stirling's Shannon Brown, but Maja is looking a very strong favourite to lift the Scottish title at the end of the current season in March 2022.
Maja Wojcicka with TTS President Stewart McGowan
It's great to see the National tournaments back on the calendar, and the TT Academy players off to a great start of what will hopefully be a successful return season. The next event on the calendar is the Scottish Primary Schools championships, taking place the last weekend in November.
