Flaws remains upbeat following singles loss

LYNDA Flaws was knocked out of the women’s table tennis singles at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Wednesday afternoon.

The 21 year old lost out in straight sets, 3-11, 5-11, 7-11, 5-11 to Nigerian Cecilia Akpan. But she was far from downhearted, saying the game was “always going to be a big ask” given her opponent is some 300 places higher than her in the rankings.

Flaws said she had achieved her aim of qualifying from the preliminary round, thanks to two victories yesterday, into the singles competition’s main draw.

She is back on court as part of Scotland’s women’s doubles team at Scotstoun at 10.30am on Thursday, where they will be up against Papua New Guinea.

Flaws, who was back in Shetland to carry the Commonwealth baton earlier this month, said the whole week had been an enormously positive experience.

“The atmosphere at the table tennis has been amazing,” she said, “definitely helped me through the closer matches. [There’s a] good spirit in the team as a whole – people from other sports always asking how things are going.

“Being all together in the village is good for that. Organisation and set-up of venue etc. has been great too – everything running smoothly and we have everything we need.”