Article by Donald Pirie
The new Table Tennis season got underway at the end of September, with the first two events taking place in quick succession in Edinburgh & in Aberdeen. The usual excellent representation from the ASV Academy was evident with 13 players travelling to the Edinburgh Assessment event and over 20 Academy entrants in the North Open.
The Edinburgh banded tournament had only 4 events on offer, U18 & U13 for both boys and girls. The players play in groups throughout the day depending on results, and at the end of the event all players finish with a ranking placement, from No.1 through to as high as No.32 depending on the entries.
The TT Academy players gave an excellent showing across the events which bodes well for the upcoming season. In the boys U13 event Daniel Tibbetts (Arduthie Primary) finished as Champion and No.1 ranked player, with Allan He (Mackie Academy) finishing at No.3, Nathan Pan (Kingswells Primary) at No.5 and Robbie Martin (Kingswells Primary) at No.6. Not only that, Victor Chen (Middleton Park Primary) and Matthew Szarzynski (Seaton Primary) who are only 8 and 9 years old respectively and in their first U13 tournament outside of Aberdeen finished at the No.8 and No.9 spots, a remarkable achievement for these players at such a young age. This meant a total of 6 ASV Academy players finishing in the top 9 places, a fantastic start to the season.
Not to be outdone, Maja Wojcicka (Turriff Primary) took first place and ranking No.1 in the U13 girls, and again was Maja's first tournament outside of Aberdeen, another remarkable achievement!
Our older players also stepped up to the mark, with Hania Petryk (Bridge of Don Academy) & Willow Shek (Oldmacher Academy) taking the No.3 & No.5 spots respectively in the U18 girls, with both still U15 players, this was great results in the older age category.
Finally our U18 boys also did Aberdeen proud, with Rafal Wilowski (Banchory Academy) taking the U18 title and No.1 spot. Josef Bokedal & Alasdair Crofton (both Aberdeen Grammar), also finishing in the top 10 for the event.
A huge amount of ASV TT Academy entrants in the North Open event, taking place at Aberdeen Sports Village, led to another excellent day of results across nearly all categories. With nearly too many successes to mention a role of honour would be most appropriate.
Dylan Curry (Banchory Academy) Senior Men's Champion
Ilona Obst-Wojcicka (Academy coach) Senior Woman's Silver
Isla Stott (RGU) Senior Woman's Bronze
Dylan Curry & Andrew McRae (Westhill), Open Doubles Silver
Rafal Wilowski (Banchory Academy) Open Band 1 Singles Silver
Richard Ferro (Academy Coach) Veteran's Men's Champion
Tessa Yau (Albyn School) U18 Girls Champion
Harry Blackhall (Kemnay Academy) U15 Boys Champion
Louis Loi (Turriff Academy) U15 Boys Silver
Hania Petryk (Bridge of Don Academy) U15 Girls Silver
Daniel Tibbetts (Arduthie Primary) U13 Boys Champion
Allan He (Arduthie Primary) U13 Boys Silver
Maja Wojcicka (Turriff Primary) U11 Champion & U13 Girls Silver
Matthew Szarzynski (Seaton Primary) U11 Silver
While the list doesn't quite do the ASV Academy players achievements justice, it is worth noting our players contested 3 finals against each other, and took either the Gold or Silver in 11 of the 12 events Academy players or coaches contested! See this link for more information and pictures:
https://www.tabletennis365.com/aberdeen/News/2019/October/north-open-2019-20-results/25009
The next event on the calendar is the Perth Grand Prix this month, and ASV TT Academy players will be well represented once more at that event.
