Twenty-four year old Gavin Rumgay is the man on whom local hopes heavily rest at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, which commence at the Scotstoun Leisure Centre in Glasgow on Tuesday 19th May.

The biennial event for countries which form the Commonwealth, in the majority nations which were once part of the British Empire, commences with the team events and concludes on Monday 25th May 2009 with the finals of the individual competitions.

Every continent is represented.

Competotors come from Canada in North America to India in Asia, from the West Indies in Latin America to New Zealand in Oceania and from England in Europe to South Africa at the extremity of the African land mass.

Attacking Style
.It is yet another gathering of the table tennis family with for the host nation, Gavin Rumgay being the Scots clan leader.

An all action right handed shakehands grip attacking player Rumgay’s strength is very much his range of varied services followed by a fast attack; the key area of table tennis.

Major Prize
He is the latest in a line of Scottish players and he is seeking to make his mark; two of his predecessors having notable claims to fame.

Malcolm Sugden, at the time Scotland’s leading player, won the first ever tournament in Great Britain to sport a prize of £100.

In 1969 he won the Men’s Singles event at the Nissan invitation tournament in Crystal Palace, south London. It was a tournament with a difference, for the first time a major event was played on a table tennis table that was on wheels and folded for ease of transport.

Most Capped
The second in the hall of fame is Richard Yule, now the Chief Executive Officer, of the English Table Tennis Association.

He has won more international caps than any other Scottish sportsman; Andy Murray, currently ranked no.3 on the Tennis Men’s World Rankings, cannot compare with Yule, the table tennis superstar.

Climb Next Step
Meanwhile, for Rumgay, he is seeking to make the next step and he is showing that he has the talent to climb up the table tennis ladder.

On the ITTF Pro Tour in 2008, he negotiated the qualification stages safely on three occasions, in Slovenia, Korea and Austria he reached the main draw whilst at the recent H.I.S. World Championships in Yokohama he repeated the feat.

Yokohama
He overcame Brunei’s Haji Yusop, Guyana’s Paul David and Congo Democratic’s Suraju Saka before the talented Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth of Germany ended progress in five games in round one.

In Yokohama and on the ITTF Pro Tour, he is knocking on the door; on home soil, he is striving to open that door as the city of Glasgow lays a welcoming mat for the countries of the Commonwealth.