Coveted spots up for grabs at championship in city event

The 2019 Scottish Ping Pong Championships will be held in Dundee at Ward Road Gym on Saturday.

The event brings together the top players from a series of events in Aberdeen, Dundee, St Andrews, Penicuik and Murrayfield, along with entrants from all over Scotland and further afield.

Dundee will be well represented, with players including John Hannah and Jacob Munro aiming to pick up the Ronnie Turnbull Quaich.

Ping pong – or sandpaper table tennis – is a fun variation on the game that returns to old fashioned equipment, using sandpaper instead of the modern sponge and rubber on bats.

While intended to be in part a fun event, there is a serious side to the tournament.

This year the top two players will win coveted spots at the World Championships of Ping Pong (WCPP), held at Alexandra Palace in London later next month and covered live by Sky Sports.

John Hannah – recently awarded his first international cap by Table Tennis Scotland – is among the favourites for the two WCPP qualifying places, along with Scotland’s No 1 table tennis player Gavin Rumgay and Ian Johnston, both former Dundee TT players.

Rumgay and Johnston have both previously represented Scotland at the WCPP.

As a junior Johnston took coaching sessions in Dundee, and was a member of several local clubs.

He played table tennis in the league from 2004, became hooked on ping pong around 2015 and is hoping for a fifth appearance at the WCPP.

Rumgay is in the top 10 in the world at ping pong, having reached the WCPP quarterfinals several times during six appearances and is a highly successful professional TT player and coach.

Spectators are welcome to Ward Road Gym on Saturday from 10am to see the ping pong stars in action.

Gavin Rumgay will be in Dundee in bid to land ping pong title.