Fort four fly high in Highland table tennis League
Fort William have just played their final round in this season’s Highland Table Tennis League - and what a nailbiter it was.
The League, now in its second season, comprised teams from Inverness, Tain, Dingwall, Moray, Nairn and the North Coast.
In round one, Fort William were represented by Monte Bleasdale, John Grant and Alin Popa and their opening match saw them go down to a narrow defeat against Inverness B by four games to three, despite an excellent performance by John, who won both his games.
The Fort’s second match against Inverness C was an easier affair resulting in a 7-0 victory for the Lochaber men.
The final match of the day also resulted in a victory for the Fort by 4 games to 3 placing the Lochaber outfit fourth in the league at the end of the day.
Unfortunately for round two Fort William were unable to field their strongest team due to an injury to John Grant who was replaced by Dusan Cehelsky with Monte and Alin making up the team.
The opening match of round two saw Fort William pitted against last season’s winners, Inverness A who proved altogether too strong resulting in a 6-1 defeat with only Alin able to record a victory.
However the Fort’s fortunes then improved in the next two matches which saw them defeat North Coast 6-1 and Nairn A 7-0 enabling FW to hold on to fourth spot and at the same time close the gap on the third place team.
The final third round took place recently with John Grant returning from injury and able to partner Monte and Alin.
The Fort’s first two matches resulted in a 7-0 victory over Nairn B and a somewhat surprising 6-1 win over Dingwall.
The final match against Tain was a very close affair, and prior to the final doubles match, the scores were level at 3-3.
It was therefore left to Monte and John in the doubles to try and claim a victory which would have resulted in a second place finish.
Unfortunately with the scores in the doubles match level at two games all, Monte and John could not quite claim the decisive fifth game which they narrowly lost resulting in a 4-3 defeat.
Nonethless, FW still managed to claim third place and finished the tournament just a single point behind second placed Inverness B.
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