Scottish champion Gavin Rumgay will miss this weekend's West of Scotland Grand Prix in Glasgow after his top eight finish at last weekend's World Championship of Ping Pong in London.
Last year's runner-up has spent the past two months practising with the traditional sandpaper bats in the build-up to last weekend, where he finished with a cheque for $3,000.
"Not that it has messed my game up but, for the last six to eight weeks, I've just been playing with the sandpaper bat and I didn't want to come up there just playing at 80 per cent," the London-based player explained.
"I'd still probably have been one of the favourites to win it but I just thought that after last weekend, I'd concentrate on getting my table tennis back up to scratch as I look to win the Scottish title for a tenth time in March."
Edinburgh's Craig Howieson, the holder, is seeded only fifth this weekend with China's Xu Ruifeng the top seed and the likes of Welsh number one Ryan Jenkins and England international Darius Knight also in the line-up.
England's Chris Doran, who currently leads the grand prix rankings, is missing the event.
England's Karina Le Fevre is top seed in the women's singles.
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