Twenty-five year old Adam Robertson was the only player to make a dent in the progress of the top four seeds in the Men’s Team event at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships which commenced in Glasgow on Tuesday 19th May 2009.

In four games he recovered from an opening game reverse to beat Andrew Rushton in the group contest against England and he did cause, Paul Drinkhall, problems.

In the duel that brought proceedings to a conclusion he extended the reigning English National champion to four games.

Oasis
However, the win of Robertson was like an oasis in a desert. In the contest against England, Ryan Jenkins suffered at the hands of Paul Drinkhall whilst younger brother, Steven was beaten by Danny Reed.

England succeeded by three matches to one to justify their third seeded place.

England Leads
At the conclusion of the opening day of play England leads Group C with Wales and Northern Ireland sharing second place; Guernsey, having lost to both Wales and Northern Ireland are in fourth place.

Success for the third seeds and also for the other highly seeded teams: Singapore, India and Canada.

Singapore
The Singapore trio of Gao Ning, Yang zi and Cai Xiao Li beat the Scottish trio of Gavin Rumgay, Stweart Crawford and Craig Howieson by three matches to nil to secure top spot in Group A with Scotland and Cyprus level in second place.

Cyprus concluded their opening day matches with victory over Malta who occupy fourth place.

India
Similarly, India took no prisoners; seeded two, they defeated Malaysia to secure first place in Group C with Sharath Kamal Achanta, Subhajit Saha and Sourav Chakrobarty too strong for the Muhd Shakrin Ibrahim, , chai Kiang Ben and Khao Ma Sheng.

Malaysia occupy fourth place alongside the Isle of Man with Mauritius third; South Africa, having beaten both Mauritius and the Isle of Man are in joint first place with India.

Canada
Meanwhile, in Group D, with only the morning series of matches required, occupy top place alongside Australia with New Zealand and Jersey in joint third spot.

Image by Ayoade Ademakinwa