Scottish Schools Table Tennis Championships 

Five Stirlingshire league players qualified for the Scottish Schools team at The Scottish Schools Championships which were played at the Bells Centre, Perth on Sunday.

Eight year old phenomenon Christopher Wheeler (Wallacestone Primary)incredibly made it to the semi finals of the boys under 14 event after great victories over seeds Colin Dalgliesh and Adam Gafney on the way.

Christopher lost out to number 2 seed Scott Barton in the semi 3-1 .

In the game against Dalgliesh, Chris called for a toilet break at 7-7 in the final set but his shots certainly were not p*sh when returned and bundled out the number 3 seed.

He will now become one of the youngest players ever to play in the Scottish Schools under 14 team.

It was a good day for Wallacestone Primary as Grange Clubmate Blair Fowler who is getting on a bit at a 11 also reached the semi final.

In his quarter final Blair produced a tremendous fight back to comeback from 2-0 down to defeat Edinburgh's Robbie Fairley. Blair lost out in the semi 0-3 to Scottish number 1 and eventual winner Liam O'Shaunnessy.

Another member of the Fowler household Steven (Braes High) also reached the semi final in his category under 16 boys with some fine displays. This included a quarter final win over buddy Calum Rankine (Graeme High) who had a great victory over Neil McDonald in an earlier round.

Calum is clearly reaping the benefits of his extra Thursday night practice sessions and dad Billy's motivational speeches. Steven lost to eventual winner Sean Docherty (Glasgow) 0-3 in the semi.

In the Under 16 Girls event the erratic Emma Notarangelo(Falkirk High) was bouncing as she reached the Final from an unseeded position knocking out number 2 seed Rhian Williams on the way.

In the Final Emma came up against newly crowned Scottish Ladies champion Natasha Milliken and lost out in straight sets.

In the under 18 girls event Roxanna Milne continued her recovery from her lay off to finish third.

Blair,Christopher,Steven, Emma and Roxanna will now play for the Scottish Schools Team at the British Schools International Event which this year takes place in Cardiff in June.

Of our other participants on the day the dynamic duo of Lara Stirling and Jennifer Hart lost out at the quarter Final stage of the under 14 girls .Kirsty Jones won a game in her schools debut (Obviously not using dad Jims bat)in the same category well done.

In the under 16 Boys event Ryan Campbell had an unfortunate draw coming up against Sean Docherty at the last 16 stage. and Mark Ross (or was it Alistair) fell at the same stage.

In the girls under 16 event Bethany Ross just missed out losing to Rhian Williams at the quarter final stage and Rachel Goodacre had the consolation of winning the consolation event after losing out at the group stage.

Last but not least in the boys under 18 event Ross Dryden a late replacement for holiday boy Conor O,Byrne reached the quarter final stage, only to lose out to top seed Craig Hardie and Matt Dignan fought gallantly but lost out a group stage .

For the second year in succession Michael Bamforths group opponents failed to turn up leaving him with a bye to the quarter Final stage.

Michaels is either bribing his opponents or they've found out he's had pizza on the Saturday night.

In the quarter final however Michael produced a gutsy display to push Calum Morgan hard before losing out.

Well done again  to all our participants.

And also to coach of the day Stewart Fowler.