Eaglesfield native Calum Main, 22, has been chosen to take part in the Commonwealth Championships in Mumbai’s Surat.
However following SportScotland’s withdrawal of support for table tennis, Calum must now rely entirely on private funding to train and compete at an international level.
He said: “It was great to be selected. “I have had a really good start to the season winning big matches and I currently have a 100 per cent win record in the British Premier League playing for my club, the Drumchaphel Table Tennis Club, so I did feel leading up to selection I had a really good chance of making the squad but still to be picked was a great feeling.”
He added: “We lost SportScotland funding last October and it has been hard. Competing in Britain is not so bad, but as a squad we have to be playing European Championships and European events in order to keep our world rankings high enough and gain vital experience and opportunity to improve at the top level.”
The former Lockerbie Academy student, who lived in Sweden for two years working as a professional table tennis player for Swedish club Eslov, has started a crowdfunding page online to help him pay for competition fees.
He needs nearly £500 to cover costs and Visas for the India trip. He said: “It’s not just to help with this competition, but to make sure I can compete in necessary competitions leading up to the championships so I’m in good shape.”
Calum, who is currently studying animation at Edinburgh University, hopes to make it to the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
He said: “I missed out on Glasgow narrowly and it hurt and I’m determined to not let it happen again.
“At this moment the crowdfunding will be an ongoing thing to make sure I can compete at the necessary level, hopefully next year as a sport we can receive funding from SportScotland that will help us play more competitions.”
To donate to Calum’s fund visit: gogetfunding.com/calum-main-table-tennis/
