A dietician from Newcastle Hospitals is making her international debut at this year’s Commonwealth Games representing her home country Scotland in Table Tennis.
Rebecca Plaistow, 22, from Ayrshire is one of four Scottish table tennis athletes to be selected for the Games being held in Birmingham.
Rebecca – who works with the adult nutrition team at the Royal Victoria Infirmary – was first introduced to the game at 13 when she joined the South Ayrshire Table Tennis club for coaching sessions.
She was named Ladies Champion of Scotland at 16 years, and now already a huge name in the sport topping the Scottish rankings.
“I’m really, really happy”, says Rebecca of her selection. “It’s probably one of the biggest events I will play in my career, so I am really pleased to be selected.
“I’m really looking forward to the experience and the different types of players I will get to play.”
Rebecca begins her quest to reach the later stages of the tournament tomorrow morning when she meets fellow table tennis players Cynthia Kwabi from Ghana and then Karen Lyne from Malaysia.
Newcastle Hospitals’ Chief Executive Dame Jackie Daniel sent her own personal message of thanks to Rebecca saying:
I'd like to wish Rebecca the very best of luck at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games this week as she make her debut representing Scotland in table tennis. We are all so proud of you!
Dame Jackie Daniel
Other messages of support have been pouring including this from Head of Newcastle Nutrition James Callaghan: “On behalf of all Rebecca’s colleagues at Newcastle Nutrition, we would like to wish her the best of luck whilst representing Scotland at the Commonwealth Games 2022.
“Rebecca has devoted a great deal of time and effort into preparing for the games, so this is an opportunity to showcase her talent and continue to fulfil her potential on this massive sporting stage.”
Good luck Rebecca!