Stewart Crawford describes himself, with a laugh, as the “Jimmy White of table tennis.” He has been perennial Scottish number two to Gavin Rumgay in recent years and, at 32, a national singles title still eludes him.

Had Rumgay not been around, he would doubtless have been Scottish champion and Crawford knows his chances are running out.

But he has plenty to keep him occupied. In his final year of a BSc in Sports Studies at Stirling University, he is also training four nights a week at Drumchapel for the Commonwealth Championships at Scotstoun from May 19-25.

Working under new Chinese national coach Le Chao, he believes he has added a new dimension to his game which he hopes will bear fruit at Scotstoun.

“He has really helped my game and I definitely notice a difference,” says Crawford, “He has worked on a few technical things and a lot of his training is multi-ball based.

“He has brought over a couple of Chinese practice partners in recent weeks which has also helped and I think, not only me, but a lot of young Scottish players have learned a lot.

“At my age, it’s probably taking a bit longer as I have to “unlearn” things but it can only all help my all-round game.

“It is the first time we’ve had a full-time national coach for about 15 years, so it is good to have him. He was Welsh national coach for a while and has worked in England so knows the style of game over here.

“Hopefully, we will see the difference at the Commonwealth event. It’s a big thing for Scottish players as, realistically, it’s very difficult for us to make an impact at the Olympics or the European Championships as the standard is so high.

“So the Commonwealths are really the only multi-nation event we have a chance of doing something and it just depends on how strong the opposition is.

“The best the men have finished is fifth but that wasn’t long ago and I think we were also fifth about ten years ago when I was a reserve for the team.

“Singapore will probably start as favourites as they have two players in the top 25 in the world. England didn’t send their strongest team to the last Commonwealth event but that was in India and they may decide that, because Scotland is just up the road, they can send a full team.”

Rumgay reached the quarter-finals of the individual event in India and Scotland have medalled before with Richard Yule winning a bronze medal at Meadowbank in the early 1980s and, ten years later, the Scotland women’s team won a team bronze in Cardiff.

The Scotland team is likely to play some sparring matches before the championships but Crawford points out: “You have to be careful as you don’t want to show your hand to anyone before the event starts.”

So does he hold any grudges against Rumgay given that he could have racked up a few titles had his international team-mate not been on the scene.

“Not at all,” he laughs, “Gavin has worked so hard for everything he has got from the game. Without him, the Scotland team would not be as strong going into the Commonwealths.

“I think I’ve been in five national senior singles finals and lost every one but it’s not always been Gavin that’s beaten me - a couple of times it was Euan Walker. But I’ve won plenty of doubles titles and titles at junior and cadet level.

“I still have a few years left, hopefully, although I know that the older you get, the more you have to justify yourself.

“Ideally, I’d love to still be playing at this level until the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and that’s my aim. That would be a great event for me to finish on.”