The GB Senior Schools Table Tennis Championships took place over the weekend of 26-28 June in Cardiff. There were Scotland teams across the 3 age groups of U14, U16 & U18, with a total of 4 players per age group for both boys and girls.
Of the 24 player strong Scotland team, Aberdeen Table Tennis Academy were well represented with a total of 9 players across all the age groups.
Of the 24 player strong Scotland team, ASV TT Academy were well represented with a total of 9 players across all the age groups, around 38% of the entire Scotland team coming from the ASV TT Academy. All players took part in a 2 player Team event across the Friday & Saturday, with all nations having A & B teams in each age group, with all players taking part age group Singles events across the Sunday.
It was a stunning double Gold for Kiishi Adekola (Robrt Gordons College) across the weekend. Firstly teaming up with Alexandra Hart (Stirling) in the U14 Girls team event, defeating England A 3-2 in the final after going down 2-0.
Kiishi then went onto take the U14 Girls GB Title in style, winning all her group matches, and her quarter-final and semi-final matches 3-0. In the final Kiishi was up against England’s Assil Sarri, but Kiishi proved her strength to take the Gold with a 3-1 win, and add the GB U14 Girls Individual Title to her team title from the day before.
Dean Robertson (Aberdeen Grammar) teamed with Cayden Fleury (Edinburgh) in the U14 Boys team event, making it through to the final to also face England A. It was a tight match with Scotland going down 2-3 in the end, so Dean ended with a Silver in the team event. Dean was looking strong going into the singles, and also made his way through the group stage and 2 knock out rounds before coming up against Rishaan Sawant (England) in the final. The boys know each other well and have come up against each other several times across UK and international events. On this occasion Dean was unlucky to be on the wrong end of a 2-3 scoreline, and picked up his second Silver Medal of the event.
Over in the U18 boys, Jakub Krzyzostaniak (St Machar Academy) teamed up with Ben Hart (Stirling) and also made it through to the Team final after an excellent defeat of England A in the semi-final. It was another incredibly close match against Wales A in the final. Another 2-3 scoreline meant Jakub & Ben took the U18 Boys Team Silver.
In the Singles event, Jakub went out on a countback in the Group stages, and while disappointed Jakub went onto take the Gold Medal in the U18 boys Plate event.
A full round up of the other ASV Academy players is below:
- Nikki Mo (St Machar Academy) – 4th in the U14 Girls Team event, quarter-finals in the singles event.
- Inniyan Jayaraj (Forehill School) – Silver in the U14 boys Plate event
- Mathew Pszonka (Bridge of Don Academy) – Silver in the U16 boys Plate event
- Victor Chen (Robert Gordons College) – Bronze in the U16 boys Plate event
- Maja Wojcicka (Turriff Academy) – 5th in the U18 Girls Team event, quarter-finals in the singles event.
- Robbie Martin (Bucksburn Academy) – Bronze in the U18 boys Plate event.
Congratulations also to ASV Academy coaches Natalie Gallan (U14 Girls) and Ilona Obst-Wojcicka (U16 Girls) also selected for Scottish Team. See attached pictures our winners.
Maja, Kiishi & Dean are now preparing to head to Gondomar in Portugal with the Scotland team for the European Youth Championships from 10-19 July.
Kiishi & Maja will also follow this up with a trip to India at the end of July, representing Scotland in the Senior Women’s team at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, taking place at the same time as the Games in Glasgow. An incredible achievement for both girls.
Aberdeen & District Table Tennis Association (ADTTA) work closely with both the ASV TT Academy and the University of Aberdeen, with Academy players also training at the dedicated Table Tennis facility at Balgownie Pavilion in the Bridge of Don, Aberdeen.
