It’s accolades galore for West Lothian club
Team celebrate championship success
West Lothian Table Tennis Club signed off on another fantastic year with their club championships.
The team celebrated two league successes in the Edinburgh and Lothians Table Tennis League this term and the talent was on show during a fantastic championships.
In the Bellway Home Trophy for the Open Singles, it was victory for Dariusz Szymczak after he defeated Lewis Hills in the final to grab the title for a record fifth time.
The Ladies’ Singles final was a repeat of last season’s showdown, only with a different outcome this time as Holly Stephen defeated Ros Beck in fourth sets (11-5, 119, 10-12, 12-10).
Szymczak grabbed a second title as he teamed up with Lukas Kaska to retain the Open Doubles championship.
The Drew Mc L a ren Memorial Trophy was awarded to the top junior and it provided a real shock as top seed Holly Stephen was edged out in the final by Jamie Toner.
It would be triple success for Jamie as he clinched the Primary age title, too before grabbing the Single Point trophy.
In the round robin tournament, he would come out at the top of the pile with Michael Fanning, who fell to Jamie in the semi- finals of the Drew McLaren Memorial Trophy, being edged into second spot.
There was a family affair in the semi- finals of the Consolation event as David McRae faced his grandfather Barrie Hills, with a number of family members watching for the bleachers not quite sure who to cheer.
As it happened, experience beat youth as Barrie eased through to the final.
The other semi saw Holly Stephen win a five-set thriller against Martin Rumsay but she would fall to Hills in the final.
Lewis Hills, who had lost in the singles final, teamed up with Stuart Gibson to lift the Ballot Doubles title at the expense of Andy Honeyman and James Toner.
Rumsay, who lost in the final of the Single Point tournament would also lose in the Handicap event, which was won by Josef Tur.
Last up was the Ping Pong competition and of all the trophies on offer, this one tends to be the most difficult to predict with no player having taken the title on more than one occasion.
This year proved no different as it produced yet another first time champ as John McLeod took the title, having only just returned from a long injury break.
He proved to be no match for the experienced Barrie Hills, who probably entered the final as slight favourite only to be outplayed.
Three individual awards were announced at the club’s AGM, held four days after the championships.
Michael Fanning was named Most Improved Junior, while Walter Kerr took home the Most Improved Player trophy.
Graham Honeyman received the Players’ Player of the Year for a tremendous season.