Player Profile: Gary Little

Gary Little

The machine. 

Such was the soubriquet bestowed upon this player by the Copenhagen Beard in 2012.

And so it has proved. Little's game remains the benchmark. Composure, determination, skill and instinct make for a heavy-duty presence across the table, as many challengers have found.

It is said of Little that he left home at the age of twelve to study under the sensei Lu Pak, legendary Ping Pong Pa of Wu Dan Mountain. The champion himself is reticent about his tuition, saying only that, "my skills were honed in a place few would wish to go".

The man's record speaks for itself: West Of Amateur Scotland Champion at the age of 14, four consecutive gold medals in the Shettleston Shield ('92-'96), five first positions in the HMP Invitational and, of course, the controversial runner-up place in the Southside Open of 2006.  Of that latter, too much has already been written. Suffice to say that the events of that day led Little to a life of recluse.
" I didn't pick up a blade for years" he told GQ  in 2009. "The sight of a table tennis ball brought me out in a rash".

It may be that Little's pain was a factor in his very public fall-out with Bukachenko, (independent purist now linked with the new purists of the Paris Beard). Their angry exchange of letters in 2009 is something of which both parties have since apologised. Says Little, "I respect Andrei. If only the younger players of the TBL could afford the same to the older players, perhaps we could see the end of bitterness."

So. Something changed in the champion. Somewhere in 2011. Perhaps it was new love, perhaps it was a new perspective after months of walking up and down mountains; bagging Munros; thinking of the past; replaying in his mind shots won and lost, looking to the future: such reverie witnessed only by his faithful dog, Deuce.

Whatever the myth, whatever the legend, however the ravages of the years, Gary Little remains the man to beat. Remains "The Machine". Remains the height and the place where others must travel. The man whose talent was finessed at Wu Dan Mountain and revived in the cold, clean air of Ben Lomond. 

And  - let's not forget - the TBL would not exist were it not for the passion and determination of the current champion, Gary "Quick Wrists" Little. 

All hail the champ.