Perth’s Gavin Rumgay is hoping that his trademark Commonwealth Games celebration that brought him internet fame at Glasgow 2014 will get another high profile viewing in Australia in a couple of years.
But he believes the organisation responsible for determining the criteria for sports getting participants across to the Gold Coast has set the bar too high for table tennis.
Scotland’s most famous player, who is back in Tayside over Christmas to hold a masterclass at Ward Road in Dundee on December 28, said: “The Commonwealth Games Council has set an unrealistic target that Scotland has to be in the top six in the Commonwealth to qualify for the Games.
“I think they probably only want the big sports to go there.
“They want guys to travel who will be winning medals.
“We’re ranked seventh just now. So it’s a big incentive to move up the rankings.
“2018 will come round quickly.
“Singapore (who are mostly Chinese players), England and India are the top three nations. After that it’s pretty open between four to eight.
“A home Games a couple of years ago was a real buzz. From a personal point of view I got a lot of business after it as well.
“I would like to think I’d have a chance of a medal in the singles if we get there. The team event is more difficult.
“We didn’t go to Melbourne in 2006 because we were told we had to have ‘medal potential’.
“We were ranked five then. It was probably Scotland’s strongest ever team and we didn’t get to go. It’s politics.”
Rumgay’s return to Dundee will be a walk down memory lane for the London-based man.
“I’m not up in Scotland much these days,” he said.
“The clubs have asked if I would come up and put on a coaching clinic. All of the Dundee and district clubs are involved, I think.
“I used to play in the Dundee League so it will bring back nice memories.
“I was invited up by David Sim, who I won the league with 20 years ago.
“There will be two coaching sessions and an exhibition with sand-paper bats. People in their 50s, 60s and 70s will appreciate the different skills you need for that. I’m playing the Scottish number two, Ian Johnston from Dundee.”
Rumgay, who divides his time between competing on the pro tour and coaching in London, is a former junior tennis opponent of Andy Murray.
When he is showing Russian billionaires how to improve their top-spin back-hand he can regale them with stories of the days he got the better of the best tennis player on the planet.
“I played with Andy and Jamie up to the age of about 15,” Rumgay recalled.
“He was a couple of years younger but at 13 he was probably taller than me. I beat him a few times. I was number one, Jamie was two and Andy was three.
“When I watch him play now there aren’t any shots that he didn’t have in his locker all those years ago.
“I know where he’s going to play the ball next. The high ball to the back hand, his fast back-hand down the line. It was all ingrained by the time he was 13.
“He’s a little bit like me. He can find it a bit difficult to get going sometimes.
“All it takes is a niggle – from the crowd, the umpire or his opponent. Once that happens he plays his best stuff.
“At the Commonwealth Games in Delhi I chatted with Jamie a couple of times in the food hall and we reminisced about the good old days.
“He told me that Andy still remembers all those matches we played when we were young. Hopefully our paths will cross again.”
So why did Rumgay pursue table tennis rather than tennis?
“Tennis coaches cost a huge amount of money 20 years ago,” he explained.
“I went to a club table tennis night in Perth, I got a sponsor, there was free equipment and I got to play in tournaments for nothing.
“It was just a lot easier.”
* Members of the public can come to the Ward Road venue between 11am and 12 noon to see Gavin play a game against Jim Spence and then two leading local players.
