There were lots of matches this week for St Andrews teams in the Dundee and District Table Tennis League, with all four teams with league fixtures being successful.
Prefects started the week with a difficult match against Rockets in Division One. However, Michael Hahn and Justin Yang excelled, winning all of their singles games against Pete Yearworth, Peter Dixon, and Gary Lowson, for the loss of only one set each to give Prefects the overall win. Pete and Peter were able to get some revenge as they defeated Michael and Justin in the doubles in five sets, crucially winning the second set 12-10 having been 6-10 down. Bonifac Legrady found the match tough, but was able to win a set against both Peter and Gary. Prefects have now finished the first half of their season of league matches and are comfortable, sitting fifth in the table, and the averages going well with Michael at 93%, Justin at 57% and Clyde Johnson at 56%.
All three of the Division Two teams had success in their league fixtures. Swots were 2-0 and 3-1 down against Lundin Lasers, with Arthur Duncan beating Dave Beveridge 3-0 and Nat Forno defeating Collin Bleak 3-1, before Sandy Pearson beat Jamie Douglas 3-1 to get Swots on the scoreboard, but Collin was then beaten again 3-2 by Arthur. However, from then on everything went Swots’ way. Dave beat Jamie 3-0 before Sandy won a close four-set game against Nat. Dave and Collin won a tight doubles game against Nat and Arthur before Swots closed out the game with a trio of singles wins, including Sandy’s excellent 3-2 win against Nat to give him a hat-trick of singles wins, which was particularly impressive given that he was playing up a division.
New Kids had a tight 6-4 win against Rollercoasters. Howard Lee was particularly impressive as he defeated the trio of Marion Davidson, Tony Cook, and Paul Jackson, beating the latter two in five sets. Ian also did well to beat Marion and Paul 3-0 and 3-1, respectively, losing 3-1 to Tony. Howard and Ian combined to beat Tony and Paul 3-2. Kong Wan was unfortunate not to add to the scoreboard, losing 3-1 to Paul, 3-2 to Marion having led 2-0, and 13-11 in the fifth set to Tony.
Truants had an important 6-4 win over league-leaders Viscounts, with only four points now dividing the top four teams. Sascha was impervious, winning all three singles 3-0, despite some close scores against Filip Jovanovic. Graham Wood also played well, winning 3-1 against Filip and he and Sascha won the doubles 3-0 against Filip and Andrew Nimmo. Leading 5-4 going into the final game, Graham had a tough start against Andy Hughes, losing the first set, but battled back to win the game 3-1 and secure the victory for Truants.

Junior players Murray Paterson, Michael Snodgrass, Keir Paterson, and Edward Coles, who all competed well at the Dundee qualifiers of the Scottish Senior Schools Championships.
On Thursday, junior players Murray Paterson, Michael Snodgrass, Keir Paterson, and Edward Coles (pictured) all competed well at the Dundee qualifiers of the Scottish Senior Schools Championships, held at Ward Road Gym in Dundee. Murray came fourth in the under-14 boys’ event and Michael came fourth in the under-16 boys’ event, and both have been selected to represent the district in the National Finals in February.
On Saturday, Ward Road Gym hosted the semi-finals and finals of three cup competitions, the Chairman’s Challenge, the Secondary Shield, and the Consolation Cup, with two St Andrews teams competing.
Prefects faced reigning league champions Knights in a tough contest in the Chairman’s Challenge. Things looked bleak as Clyde Johnson led 1-0 against Adeola Fabola, but lost 3-2, and Bonifac Legrady lost 3-0 to Stuart Halliday. However, Michael Hahn led a fightback for Prefects. He first beat Callum Riddoch fairly comfortably 3-1 before he and Clyde won an excellent 3-2 doubles game against Callum and Adeola — including a youtube-worthy dive and around-the-net shot by Clyde to win a point — to level the score at 2-2. Stuart and Adeola then beat Clyde and Bonifac comfortably 3-0 to take the lead again, however Michael levelled the score when he beat Stuart Halliday in four sets. In the deciding game, Callum won a very comfortable first set against Bonifac, but Bonifac bounced back to win the second set however, despite two close sets, couldn’t maintain this and Callum won 3-1 to close the match out 4-3 for Knights. In the other semi-final, Aces defeated Up4It, also 4-3, with the final game being 12-10 in the 5th set. In the final, Aces defeated Knights 4-2.
New Kids also faced a tough challenge against Brechin in the Secondary Shield. Howard Lee started well as he beat Aaron Robertson 3-1, and things looked promising as Kong Wan won the first set against John Anderson, but John responded to win the next three sets and level the score-line at 1-1. Derek Mitchell then beat Ian Smith 3-0 and John beat Howard 3-0 to put Brechin firmly in-front. Ian had a good 3-0 win against Aaron before strong 3-0 wins for Derek over Kong and John over Ian sealed Brechin’s place in the final, which they duly won 5-1 against Viscounts.