The inaugural Scottish Parkinson’s Open Table Tennis Championships were held on Saturday and Sunday 5th & 6th August at the National Sports Training Centre at Inverclyde. The event was organised by Table Tennis Scotland and the Scottish Parkinson’s Table Tennis Association and was sponsored by Teessport.   The competition was well attended with 46 players, all of whom have Parkinson’s participating in the event. In addition to a large contingent of UK players there were also players from Portugal, Sweden, Austria, Spain, Germany and Chile. Many of the players were playing their first competitive event some having only recently taken up the sport.   Parkinson’s Table Tennis competitions use a classification system developed by the ITTF to “grade” the players into groups of similar ability. This system considers the impact of an individual`s Parkinson’s symptoms and their table tennis ability and experience. There are normally three classifications used with class 1 being the highest standard of playing ability.   Note: for all knockout competitions both defeated semi-finalists received a bronze medal although 3rd place play off matches were held. Play commenced at 09:30 on Saturday with the Men’s and Ladies singles competitions. The Ladies singles were split into two classifications with each classification played in round robin format.   Class 1 Ladies Singles Class 1 was dominated by Digna Baynes from Chile who won all her matches. The bronze medal position was very close with Joy Paul (SCO) just edging ahead of Cecilia Hiort (SWE) by 2 points on a points countback.   Gold medal: Digna Baynes (CHI) Silver: Sandra Muller (GER) Bronze: Joy Paul (SCO)   Class 2 Ladies Singles Similarly, class 2 was dominated by Diane Kennedy (SCO) who also won all her matches, with Lynn Arnott (SCO) well ahead of the rest of the group in second … Continue reading Scottish Parkinson’s Open Table Tennis Championships