Aberdeen Sports Village Table Tennis Academy’s players have made their long-awaited return to competitive action following the coronavirus pandemic – with some scoring national success.
A large group of academy players travelled to Bell Sports Centre in Perth for both the Perth Grand Prix and then the postponed Scottish National Championships.
Having returned to training as soon as they could from the last Covid-19 lockdown, the ASV group were well-prepared for the tournaments – and it showed.
Academy director Donald Pirie said: “It’s great to see the national tournaments back on the calendar, and the TT Academy players off to a great start of what will hopefully be a successful return season.
“The next event on the calendar is the Scottish Primary Schools championships, taking place the last weekend in November.”
ASV’s players competed in the Perth Grand Prix in the build-up to the Scottish Championships.
Maja Wojcicka, a pupil at Turriff Academy, was the star of the show. winning both the under-13 and U15 girls’ events.
Jakub Krzyzostaniak (St. Machar Academy) took the silver in the boys’ U13 event after a close final against Glasgow’s Joe Mulhearn, going down 1-3 after taking the first set, while Daniel Tibbets, of Mackie Academy, won the boys’ U15 category.
Tessa Yau (University of Aberdeen) also had an excellent tournament, making it through to the final of the Women’s Open.
Donald said: “Maja was comfortable in the U13 event, not losing a game all day, but was pushed a bit harder in the final of the U15’s, taking a tight final against Glasgow player Nichole Lee.
“This was the first silverware of Jakub’s career, so an excellent start to his tournament play and plenty more to come in the future from Jakub.
“Daniel Tibbets picked up where he left off pre-pandemic, dominating the boys’ U15 event and comfortably dispatching all his opponents without losing a set all day to take the title.
“Tessa went down in the final to No.1 seed Lucy Elliot, but played very well to get to the final stage, defeating several players currently ranked above her in the Scottish Senior Women’s list.”
More success at the Scottish Championships
Following his win at the Perth Grand Prix, Tibbets moved down to the U13 event at the Scottish National Championships and claimed victory.
Meanwhile, a fortnight after her double success, Wojcicka pipped fellow ASV player Kiishi Adekola (St Joseph’s) to the national girls’ U13 title.
On Adekola, Pirie said: “Kiishi made it through to the final in only her second tournament experience, taking an excellent silver and putting in a great performance to make it to the final, and has high hopes for the Scottish Primary Schools championships taking place at the end of November in Bathgate.”
Wojcicka would then go on to finish second, behind Stirling’s Shannon Brown, in the U15 girls’ event.
Reflecting on Wojcicka and Tibbets’ efforts in the national competition, Pirie added: “No other players were able to come close to Daniel, and he dominated the event dropping only one individual set on his way to the Scottish title.
“The previous seasons age categories made the U15 girls’ event much stronger, but Maja’s form continued and she made it through to her second final of the day.
“Maja had to settle for a silver at this event, going down to Stirling’s Shannon Brown, but Maja is looking a very strong favourite to lift the Scottish title at the end of the current season in March 2022.”