Article by Donald Pirie

The Scottish Primary Schools Championships took place in Bathgate on Saturday 3 February.

There was plenty expectation going into the tournament with Dean Robertson (Aberdeen Grammar School), Kiishi Adekola (Robert Gordon's College) and Nikki Mo (Kittybrewster Primary) all with expectations of taking medals by the end of the day. The ASV Academy players did not disappoint, with the entire Aberdeen team doing well.

Kiishi & Nikki dominated the girls half of the event, with both girls making it to the Final for the second year in a row. It was Kiishi who once again came out on top to take the title of Girls Scottish Primary Schools Champion, and Nikki settling for the Silver Medal.

_{Kiishi & Nikki, Girls Singles winner & r-up}

Not satisfied there however, the girls then teamed up to take the title in the Girls Scottish Primary Schools Doubles for a clean sweep of all girls events. Even more impressive is the fact the girls have now won the Girls Doubles event 3-years in a row. Given the limited time the girls are eligible at Primary School level this is a remarkable achievement, fantastic stuff!

_{Nikki & Kiishi, Girls Doubles winners 3-years in a row}

It was going to be a much more difficult task for the boys to replicate this, but Dean did start the event as No.1 Seed, with Aaron McKay (Westhill School) also seeded at No.8.

Things did go according to seeding, with Dean making the final group of 4, and Aaron making the 5-8 place group. After good initial group performances, Parker Allerton (Newburgh Mathers School) also made the 5-8 group. 

The top 4 seedings were remarkably accurate, and it was Dean in the final against No.2 seed Alexander Stepney from Inverness. It was a closely fought final, with two of the 3 games ending with just 2-points between the players, however Dean proved just a bit too strong in the end, taking the final 3-0 and claiming the title of Boys Scottish Primary Schools Champion. Aaron gave an excellent display in the 5-8 place group, outstripping his No.8 seeding and claiming a 6^th place finish. Parker also finished in the top 8 to make over a third of the top 8 boys from Aberdeen.

_{Dean, Boys Scottish Primary Schools Champion}

Dean & Aaron then teamed up in the Boys Doubles, and after 3 knock-out stages made it through to the final against Alexander Stepney who had teamed up with ASV Academy Player Yuanxi Cui (Albyn School). All 4 boys gave a fantastic display with lots of fast, attacking table tennis, with Yuanxi making no concessions for his Academy team mates! However, it was Dean & Aaron who came out on top to become the Boys Scottish Primary Schools Doubles Champions, with an excellent silver medal for Yuanxi.

_{Dean & Aaron, Boys Scottish Primary Schools Doubles Champions, with Stuart Mcgowan tournament referee}

This meant that the ASV Academy players took all 4 available titles in the Scottish Primary schools championships, leaving as boys and girls Singles and Doubles Champions, and adding two further Silvers those titles!

Sophie Tait (Inverallochy School) went through to the girls’ top 12 placings group, and Inniyan Jayaraj (Forehill Primary) into the consolation Plate event with Yuanxi, after not making it through the initial group stages. In her first national tournament, Sophie really stepped up to the mark to give an excellent display, and finish in the No.9 spot for the Girls event.

Inniyan also went onto to give an outstanding account of himself, taking Silver in the Plate event and effectively ending the day with a boys Top 10 finish.

The Scottish Primary Schools Championship doubles as a qualifier for the Scotland teams to play in the 7 Nations (inc. Guernsey, Jersey & Isle of Man) UK Primary Schools Championships over Easter, and the following ASV TT Academy players have been selected and will be taking Scotland caps at that event: Kiishi Adekola, Nikki Mo and Dean Robertson.

The Scottish Senior Schools event takes place at the end of March, with ASV Academy players in the mix for taking further titles at that event.

_{Scottish Primary Schools Doubles winners: Aaron, Dean, Nikki, Kiishi}