GILLIAN’S JOY AT FLYING THE FLAG
Perth star honoured to pull on jersey for Scots
Perth’s Gillian Edwards was back in action for Scotland this week - and she admits pulling on the national jersey is always an honour.
The table tennis star was competing for the national women’s team at the European Championships qualifiers in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
And while the Scottish squad of Edwards, Lynda Flaws and Rebecca Plaistow ended up third in their group, plenty of positives were taken away from the event.
The Scots defeated Ireland but, despite battling well, lost out to hosts Bosnia and Israel.
However, Edwards was upbeat and said: “This was a really good competition for us.
“We were really pleased to get the win over Ireland and although the other two teams were a higher standard it was good to get matches The Perth table tennis star hopes to move into coaching
at that level. This was a slightly different team from the one that played at the Commonwealth Games with our third player being a young 17-year-old. We all played well as a team and hopefully can do so again at the European Championships next year.
“There are elements of our games that we have to work on but we now know the level that we have to get to if we have a chance of being promoted to the next division.”
On a personal note, she added: “I have not represented Scotland since May 2015 so it was really good to get the chance to represent my country again.
“It is always an honour and a really enjoyable experience to compete at these competitions.”
Edwards, coupled with playing, also took on a coaching role at the tournament.
Passing on her knowledge of the game is something the 33-year-old enjoys and she hopes to continue.
“This was also my first experience of coaching the team as well as playing, which I really enjoyed,” Edwards told the Perthshire Advertiser. “I’ve always had an eye Gillian Edwards (left) with team-mates in Bosnia on coaching table tennis but it is quite difficult for me to fit in when I am still training myself.
“But hopefully in the future I will be able to coach more.
“It has been a tough season so far as the standard of competition I have been playing in has been very high.
“There are no more competitions this year so I will be having a short break and then start training again in the new year.”