Its a busy few couple of months for tournaments coming up, make sure you don't miss out! Click on the pictures below for more information.

Lindsay

After several years of absence the Edinburgh and Lothians Junior League is back, with 16 teams signing up for the event from clubs and schools from Edinburgh, Haddington and Penicuik. The event is hosted by Haddington Table Tennis Club.

Matches got underway at 10am prompt with all 32 players  all warmed up and ready to compete. Division 1 saw favourites St George's School for Girls get off to a flying start winning 5-0 against Stewart's Melville College and staying unbeaten for the rest of the day. Penicuik Table Tennis Club also were unbeaten in Division 1 and could be a contender for the title.

In Division 2, both Murrayfield B and Haddington B  were also unbeaten with Murrayfield keeping a clean sheet of wins and topping the table.

Results
Division  1 League table
Division 2 League table

Thanks to Martin and Pete from Haddington TTC for organising venue and refreshments.

Entries are open for the Edinburgh Championships on 3rd Nov, all Junior League players can enter.

Enter Here

 What  a day at the Edinburgh Championships - the biggest yet! Thanks to all that came to support the event.

Event Winners and full results here

Photos on Facebook

Report by Charlie Ellis

Murrayfield's Calum Morrison (15) claimed the top prize-the Michael McLaren Quaich - at the 2015 Edinburgh Table Tennis Championships. (Sunday 6th). In an entertaining and well-attended event 68 players took part in 15 categories at The Royal High School. Given the recent dreadful weather it was a good day to be playing sport indoors.

In the final Band 1 group Morrison saw off Murrayfield I teammates John Hannah (17) & Charlie Ellis with some ease.
Morrison also took the under 18- trophy,  with a victory (3-1) over John Hannah.

In the Women's event, Hannah Robb (Fife) beat Abby Wighton (Penicuik) 3-2 in an exciting match. Hannah received the Helen Elliot Quaich (named after Scotland's only TT world Champion) for her victory.

Richard Tallaron continued his good season by taking the Band 2 event & Jake Somerville (Murrayfield) Band 3. The Band 3 final was a particularly tense affair, with James Wighton (Penicuik) the unlucky runner up. Jake proved himself the comeback expert-twice coming from 0-2 down, as well as coming from 0-2 0-7 down to win vs Ken Ben!
Jake was also runner-up in the Under-15 event, beaten by clubmate James Forrest in a match laden with fluent strokeplay.
Forrest had a good day-beating both Matthew Robertson & Charlie Ellis in the Band 1 group stages.
There was a strong Iberian flavour to Bands 4 & 5 where Samuel Gasper (Murrayfield) Raul Campos Folgado (North Merchiston) came out on top. Both have only taken up the sport recently but look to be fast learners. Perhaps one day the resemblance between Sam & Craig Howieson won't just be physical..!
In total, players from 7 different clubs shared the individual trophies. In one of the closest fought sections, Penicuik's Louis Myatt narrowly won the Under 13 singles over Amelia Norbury (North Merchiston) & Luke Hennessey (Penicuik).
Charlie McGowan (Murrayfield) cleaned-up in the two youngest categories: the enthusiastic youngster taking both the under 11 & under 10 medals.
Ian Johnston completed a fine weekend (he won the Scottish Ping Pong title the day before) by taking the 18-40 category; beating Charlie Ellis in an entertaining final
(Charlie somewhat unwisely accepted Ian's challenge to play the match with hardbats..)
Ian had earlier caused some consternation when his bat was seen traveling through the air and landing 3 courts away - given that he let go of the bat whilst playing the 'best backhand of his life' and match ending shot,
we believe his excuse about a slippy handle...
On a a good day for the Edinburgh Uni contingent, Mohammad Ahmed (Edinburgh University) was the 18-40 (Band 2) winner via a 3-1 win over Graham Muir (Murrayfield).
Dariusz Szymczak (West Lothian) claimed the over -40 (Band 1) crown, overcoming two tough opponents/ characters- 'Big' Greig McDonell & (former Edinburgh TT champion) Stan Stoodley - in the final group.
In the last event to finish (with the rest of the hall cleared!) Hong Shan Wang was the Over 40 (Band 2) winner -and celebrated with a puff on his pipe!
A special thanks to all those who made the effort to travel from Fife, to Ken Cadogan & team Muir for their efforts on the top table (and in the weeks beforehand), and to those who stayed to help
with the clearing up operation (especially Richard Tallaron, Alan Easton & Samuel Gaspar).

All set for the Edinburgh Championships 2015 @ RHS? We have a record breaking 72 players playing so should be a great buzz about the hall.  Doors will open at 9am, and we ask players to check into top table 15 minutes before their first event start time.

Please see schedule and draw below.

If there are any last minute changes please let myself (07739337169) or Lindsay (07739912812) know.

There will be teas, coffees, water and biscuits available on the day. Any other questions just let me know.

Gordon

32 Edinburgh players (young and old) attended the regional training day taken by national coach Li Chao on Saturday at Royal High School..
After a tough warm up, all players trained hard doing drills all morning. In the afternoon  Li Chao gave an impressive demonstration of multi-ball with Chris Wheeler and Calum Morrison. Afterwards,  everyone else put their multi-ball skills to the test. To finish, it was top table and a final killer physical.
All players left tired but enjoyed the day. It was a great event and one we hope to repeat​​.

Rule changes have now been changed on rules page with change made at AGM in bold.

One for all team captains-
To reduce deadline for putting results online from 7 days to 96 hours and set fine for late submissions at a standard £5 per offence.

The E&LTTL AGM took place on Monday 4th May 2015 at Edinburgh Sports Club

 
There were 46 attendees and every club was represented, except the one-team clubs Haddington, LBPTT and Meadowbank whose representatives were unable to attend.


President’s Report – Ken Benjamin announced that he would be standing down after an eventful six years. During this time the league had seen the introduction of the excellent online system developed, installed and administered by its creator, Dr Robert Inder, and adoption of Rating Central (to assess relative strength across all divisions) courtesy of its pre-eminent proponent, Gordon Muir. His own involvement with beginners’ table tennis had contributed to the creation of a new Division 4 to accommodate those new players. It also allowed new clubs Fife and Haddington an opportunity to play in the league. Fife also participated in Divisions 1 & 3 with its handicap cup team finishing as runners-up. Ken Ben mentioned that the low point during his time was the sudden and unexpected death on 1/11/11 of the vastly experience Match Secretary John Glen. Ending on a more upbeat note Ken Ben then recalled the best two rallies and best two shots he had witnessed after paying tribute to the then unbeaten runs of younger players like Craig Howieson, Christopher Wheeler and Calum Morrison who had 100% records in Edinburgh’s top flight and the more mature Willie Mabon who was undefeated against top Scottish opposition at Largs 2010. A major success was raising about £900 from his film nights over last four years.

Match Secretary’s Report – Russell Frith echoed the President’s sentiments about the league expanding to five divisions with the introduction of Division 4. He also welcomed the innovative idea of allowing the Penicuik Division 4 team to play all their matches as best of three ends to ensure early nights for youngsters. He went on to congratulate the winning teams in each division, play-off winners and Calum Morrison for achieving 100% in the Premier. Last year’s AGM agreed that the four week rule should be applied more strictly therefore there had been noticeably fewer postponed matches this season. Not surprisingly it was the same clubs who did plead for extensions to be granted. However, even with both clubs agreeing about need for original postponement, some disputes arose later on about whose fault it was initially. The league tables and leading averages for all divisions formed part of the report and will be reproduced on the website.

Handicap Cup Report – Ken Ben reminded everyone that handicap cup matches should take priority over postponed league matches during H/C Cup weeks. There had been some concessions in the earlier rounds but this had resulted from some clubs not realising postponements allowed beyond designated week. Some matches were closer than others but most were either 5-4 or 5-3 so the handicaps allocated via Ratings Central rankings were supported by the results. Murrayfield 1 beat Fife 3 by 5-3 in an exciting final at Murrayfield on Thu 9/4/15.

Treasurer’s Report - Moira Atkinson was pleased to report a healthy £3786.44 balance to pass on to her successor. Key points were that funds increased by £1258.53 in 2014-15, including a £100 increase in membership fees. This meant that ELTTL fees need not be increased next year, but TTS fees would be set at the TTS AGM on Saturday 4/7/15. Moira then thanked Ken Ben for all his hard work in raising £224.70 by hosting his film nights.

Coaching Report – Lindsay Muir drew attention to the many events that had taken place during the season. These included taster sessions at Meadowbank last July in the lead up to the Commonwealth Games, a Paralympic Multi-sport Event at Forresters involving assistance from Pete Lugton, George Oliver and Graham Muir. Volunteers now being sought by Drew McLaren to help out at another such event to take place on Wednesday 20/5/15 at Bathgate Academy. At the Scottish Primary Schools Event last November Edinburgh players once again had excellent results with Faye Leggett retaining the title with Holly Stephen and Amelia Norbury also making the Scottish team. They all went on to represent Scotland at the British Primary Schools in England, winning a team Silver medal. Faye went on to win the individual, the first Scottish girl ever to do so! Holly also did well to win the consolation event. Well done also to Calum Morrison, who won the Boys 6 Nations Singles Event in Cardiff, his first international title. Other things over the year included demonstrations at Cramond Primary School and Clermiston PS plus an Edinburgh P6 Racquets Tournament (14 boys and 14 girls). Photographs are included on ELTTL website.

The number of league teams and handicap cup teams likely to be entered by clubs looks likely to be similar to those for 2014-15 season.

Division 4 winners - North Merchiston IV

Division 3 winners – Fife II

Division 2 winners – Penicuik III

Division 1 winners – Murrayfield IV

Premier Division winners – Murrayfield I
 

Division 4 Individual Winner was Gordon Aien (Haddington) with 90.0%

Division 3 Individual Winner was John Osinski (Fife II) with 96.1%

Division 2 Winner was James Forrest (Murrayfield IX) with 92.6%

Division 1 Winner was Alan Nisbet (ESC II) with 90.0%

Premier Division Winner was Calum Morrison (Murrayfield I) with 100%


Handicap Cup/Edinburgh Evening News & Dispatch Rosebowl was won by Murrayfield 1

Dr Mike Allison Young Player of the Year – John Hannah (ESC I)

Most Improved Player of the Year – Callum Stephen (West Lothian IV)

The John Glen Players’ Player of the Year – Jeff Clark (Corstorphine IV)

Kirkwood Trophy for significant contribution to table tennis in the region – Charlie Ellis

Stewart McGowan trophy for best Inter-League Squad (Largs Mar’15) – Edinburgh Squad

Two TTS Honorary Lifetime Awards were made, viz. to:

Tommy Sutherland Sr (Corstorphine VII) and Jack Oughton (Edinburgh International V)

Pictures of winners here 
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.934535763263810.1073741829.193047584079302&


Some changes occurred during the election of office bearers. Composition now:

• President – Lindsay Muir
• Vice-President – Alan Easton
• Secretary – Lynn Somerville
• Treasurer – Russell Frith
• Match Secretary – David Stephen
• Chief Online Administrator – Robert Inder
  

The other committee members will be:

• Tom Wallace (Corstorphine)
• Ken Benjamin (EITTC)
• Ken Cadogan (EITTC)
• Simon Hughes (EU)
• Brian Bailey (Penicuik)
• Chris Shaw (ESC)
• Steve Dow (Fife)
• Mike Letchford (NMC)
• Graham Chambers (West Lothian)
  

A straightforward Corstorphine proposal to simplify postponements was passed unopposed, viz. All intra-club postponements must be played within 4 playing weeks whereas inter-club postponements can exceed 4 playing weeks provided a revised and fixed match date is agreed between the clubs and entered on ELTTL scoring site 7 days either side of original date.

After an in-depth debate two West Lothian proposals for constitutional change were unanimously rejected. Instead the AGM voted unanimously to form a sub-committee to bring the constitution up to date using clubs as members rather than players. West Lothian’s other proposal regarding starting times was amended at the AGM as follows: All matches should start at the time stated on the online system. The default time for matches to begin playing would be 7pm therefore players need to be there before then. Start times earlier than 6:30pm not permitted unless sanctioned by the league committee, e.g. because of finishing time constraints. In the event that a team turns up later than 30 minutes after the scheduled start time then any games curtailed by the finishing time will be forfeit by the late team. If no one is late then home team automatically lose any curtailed games.

Several other, less controversial changes were made to the rules to clarify:

How substitutes are used when two teams from same club play each other:

To reduce deadline for putting results online from 7 days to 96 hours and set fine for late submissions at a standard £5 per offence;

State that in the event of a play-off match ending in a 5-5 draw then the team with the better ends difference wins. If teams have same ends difference then the team that won the doubles will be the winner; and finally

Any player allowed by the league to play in a division lower than their playing strength will be prohibited from participating in the doubles unless/he is one of only two players.

There will be no increase in ELTTL fees this year.  A flat £5 fine will apply for late scoring.

All key office bearers to receive same honoraria as last year.

Introduction of new poly balls – The committee will check protocols with TTS and issue guidance to all clubs well before the start of next season.

Outgoing President Ken Ben said that it had mostly been a pleasure serving the league but he was now looking forward to more leisure time under President Lindsay Muir. 

Here are a list of the up and coming tournaments in and around Edinburgh over the next few months.

Edinburgh Schools Championships on Sunday 11th Jan 2015 at RHS, a great local tournament for school kids of all ages and abilities, plus fun doubles event for family members. Entries to be in ASAP.
Enter here

MacKenzie Trophy Tournament on Saturday 31 January 2015, -- New local tournament at the Penicuik Club for kids with events for boys and girls from Under 10s to Under 16s.
Entry Form here 

Edinburgh Grand Prix on Saturday 7th Feb 2015 at Bathgate Academy - Senior tournament with banded events.
Entry Form here

Wongs Youth Open on Sunday 8th Feb 2015 at Bathgate Academy - (formally Royal Dynasty/Kweilin)
Open tournament with age events from U11 to U21 plus Banded events where players will be placed in the appropriate banded event according to playing standard rather than age. This gives players a greater variety of opponents and closer games.
Early bird discount for entering 3 events by 12th January.
Enter Here

For more info or advice please contact us at [email protected]