Hungry contenders head for top table

Published on Sunday 21 July 2002 01:00

Scotland’s five-strong table tennis squad heads towards the new Table Tennis Centre at Sport City in Manchester without the weight of expectation heaped upon arch-rivals England but national coach Kevin Satchell is quietly confident that his team of four men and one woman can fill the role of dark horses and return north with some medals.

The Englishman, who coaches the Scottish squad on a part-time basis, believes that his players can match anyone in the first table tennis competition at the Commonwealth Games.

"We may be a small squad, but we are capable of springing a few surprises at Manchester," says Satchell, who won a bronze medal for England in the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships in Cardiff in 1989 before going on to coach the English women’s team to silver at the Commonwealth championships in Glasgow in 1997.

"Player for player we have a very good squad with our top player, Euan Walker, the reigning British champion, now recovered from injury, while Gavin Rumgay, at only 17, is already European No.1 junior and is a real prospect," says the 39-year-old. "Individually, all our players have taken some big scalps."

Indeed they have. Last year, the 30-year-old Walker defeated British No.1 Gareth Herbert in the Home Countries Championship singles and has defeated English star and likely Commonwealth Games top seed Matthew Syed.

"I think our prospects are probably better than many outsiders might think," said Walker. "And with my injury problems hopefully behind me, I’m looking forward immensely to the Games and hopefully do a bit of damage to a few reputations."

Rumgay, from Perth, has also defeated Herbert and as a 15-year-old, in his debut in the European Senior Championship, he beat the well-fancied Bosnian No.1, making the transition from the junior to senior ranks with great promise. He is currently ranked No.2 in Scotland behind Walker, 13 years his senior.

The third-ranked Scot is Falkirk-based Stewart Crawford, who, at 25, already has 50 caps to his name and is part of the Scottish men’s and mixed doubles champion pairings. Completing the Scots men’s quartet for Manchester is 22-year-old Niall Cameron, who won the under-21 international Youth Cup in 2000 and the prestigious British Universities Doubles Championships the year before.

All four will play singles, men’s doubles and the men’s team event at Manchester, whilst the experienced Walker, now restored after a six-month lay-off with knee and ankle trouble will partner Scotland’s sole woman’s representative, Claire Bentley, who took a clean sweep of honours, singles, doubles, mixed doubles and team championships at last year’s Scottish Championships.

Currently No.2 in the Scottish women’s rankings, the 25-year-old Dumfries player, who has already racked-up a half century of Scottish caps, had expected to be joined in Manchester by her sister Nicola, the current Scottish No.1, but her entry was turned down by the organisers as she did not meet the playing criteria.

Although the odds are stacked against the Scots, who have a mere fraction of the resources of their English rivals and top teams like Malaysia and Singapore, Satchell demonstrates a refreshing realism not always evident in national coaches in other sports leading their underdog teams into major events. "Realistically, we are a minor nation," he says, "but, individually and collectively, we have the talent and the spirit to punch well above our weight. There are a few well-fancied countries and individuals who will not relish playing us, whilst we are capable of beating anyone."

It will be a difficult inaugural Commonwealth Games for Scots table tennis legend Richard Yule.

Capped over 300 times for Scotland in a 16-year career, a record in all sports, the Aberdonian is now, paradoxically, chief executive of the English Table Tennis Association.

Yule agrees with Satchell that the Scots can spring a few surprises in Manchester, saying: "It is a very talented Scottish team, and considering the lack of financial and playing resources, Scotland has a very talented and well-prepared squad for the Games, so I am hopeful that they can do well. It would help the game back home get a higher profile and, hopefully, more funding."

Coach Satchell refused to be drawn into medal predictions and performance forecasts, preferring to say: "We’ll go in fearing no-one, with bags of ability in the squad, and, in terms of Scottish table tennis, there is a lot riding on it."

Refreshingly, the Englishman leading the Scots against a Scot leading the English says: "England are a very good outfit, but are only one of a number of world-class countries in Manchester, but we will just let out table tennis do the talking."

Let’s hope so.

• Did you know?

Scotland has competed in every Commonwealth Games, winning a total of 270 medals. Sixty-five of the medals have been gold, 79 silver and 126 bronze. In the 1998 Games, Scotland won three gold, two silver and seven bronze medals. Through-out the Games’ history, Scotland have won more gold medals in boxing than in any other sport.