February has been another busy month for the ASV Academy Table Tennis players, with both the East of Scotland Junior Grand Prix and the Scottish Senior Schools Championships taking place.
As usual Aberdeen had a large contingent at both events, and our players continue to perform well and make an impact at national tournaments.
At the East of Scotland Junior Grand Prix on 8th February we had the following successes:
Dylan Curry (Banchory Academy) – u13 boys Runner-up & u15 boys Runner-up
Tessa Yau (Albyn School) – u13 girls semi-finalist
Joe Cranna (Harlaw Academy) – u15 boys semi-finalist & u18 boys quarter-finalist
Ethan Chapman (Westhill Academy) – u18 boys semi-finalist & u15 boys quarter-finalist
At the Scottish Senior Schools Championships, held at Bathgate Academy, West Lothian, on Saturday 21st February we had a 13-strong player entry from Aberdeen, and had a very successful event overall.
This event requires play-offs to find the top 10 players in Scottish Schools at each age group, with slightly higher age categories of u14 & u16, as well as the usual u18 category.
Of the 13 Aberdeen players, 11 of those finished in the top 10 of their respective age groups, quite an achievement. Our highlight successes are below:
Tessa Yau (Albyn School) – u14 girls Scottish Schools Champion
Dylan Curry (Banchory Academy) – u14 boys Scottish Schools Runner-up
Gavin Elliot (Aberdeen Grammar) – u18 boys Scottish Schools 3rd place
The above 3 players will now be selected to represent Scotland in the upcoming UK Senior Schools Home International, played at the end of June.
The rest of the top 10 Aberdeen players finished in the following positions:
U14 boys – Yifei Fang (Sunnybank Primary) 5th place, Rafal Wilowski (Banchory Primary) 8th place & Elias Bokedal (Aberdeen Grammar) 9th place
U14 girls – Venus Cheung (Robert Gordon’s College) 5th place & Isla Stott (St. Margaret’s School) 7th place
U16 boys - Ethan Chapman (Westhill Academy) 6th place, Joe Cranna (Harlaw Academy) 7th place & Murray Paterson (Peterhead Academy) 10th place.
Well done to all who took part!
Next month we will have a contingent of players at the Scottish National Championships taking place in Perth over the weekend of 7/8 March, as well as at the Scottish Inter-league Championships in Largs over the weekend of 28/29 March where they will be representing our own Aberdeen and District Table Tennis Association. We wish all of them the best of luck.
Donald Pirie
