U11-14's National Championships
25th Mayby Matthew Porter
The listing was posted by English Table Tennis Association
This weekend is the national U11-14’s played in its new format at the Doncaster Dome.
Play starts at 9 each day, providing plenty of opportunities to come along and see the next generation in action and who knows maybe a star in the making and potential 2020 medallist?
In the U11’s boys the top seed is Hugo Pang from Dorset, the resent double primary schools gold medallist will be a tough opponent, but Matthew Leete from Lincolnshire is seeded at 2 and will be looking to make his mark and retain the title he won last year. Fellow Lincolnshire player Tom Jarvis will be looking to make it all the way from the 3rd seed slot The south east duo of Luke Savill from Kent and Josh Bennett from Sussex will be looking to score the big win and there chance at gold.
The U11’s girls are headed by Abigail Griffiths from Lancashire, another primary school international, but 2nd seed Jane Li will have high hopes of achieving the gold. Imogen Barbery and Stephanie Cross should also not be overlooked for the title.
Hugo Pang is also seeded at number 1 in the U12’s boys, but for him to walk away with a potential double he will have to defeat Marcus Giles who will be determind to regain his number 1 ranking position. Both players will have to overcome one of Vincent Stacey and Daniel McTiernan in the semis should the seeds not fall and Billy Forster will be looking to do this from the 6th seed position. And 5th seed Alex Kwaskovski will be looking for another good performance.
The name Tin-Tin Ho will be familiar to most of you, as it seems she has been winning titles in this event forever. Well she is still under 12 and is the top seed and defending champion.
Tin-Tin will not have things her own way with a chasing pack headed my Emily Bolton in the second seed position and Letitia McMullan and Eda Aydin in 3rd and 4th places respectfully. Abigail Griffiths will be looking to make waves in her higher age group from the 5th seed spot.
The U13’s boys front runner is Helshan Weerasinghe from Sussex ,closely followed by Sam Mabey from Northamptonshire, who had recent success at the Wolverhampton Grand Prix.
Tyrone Wells from Middlesex will be out to stop them going all the way and so will 4th seed Miles Chan, also from Northamptonshire. With the right draw and some good wins could it be an all Northamptonshire final?
Two other names not to forget are another south east duo of Daniel Lawrence from Kent who had a fantastic county closed championships recently and pocket rocket jack Bennett from Sussex. With two Northamptonshire players and 3 south east players there could be some fireworks in the later stages if drawn against each other.
That girl Tin-Tin Ho is again favourite to take the under 13’s girl’s title home with her and defend her title which she won last year.
Chrissie Slot is seeded 2 and will be looking to cause Tin-Tin problems and win the title herself.
Maria Tsaptsinos and Ella Patel will be hoping to achieve a step or 2 further than their quarter-finals last year.
The under 14’s boys is headed by last year’s under 13’s boys champion Igor Morais,.
Jared Patel and Sam Mabey make up the top 4 but they will have nothing but eyes on the prize and will be gunning for the top two.
The under 14’s girls again is lead by Tin-Tin Ho who will have her eyes on this title as she lost in the final to Emily Bates who is now too old for this age group.
Isobel Ashley is seeded 2nd and is not to be ruled out after a strong showing at the cadet and junior nationals in December.
Emma Torkington and Megan Knowles are seeded 3rd and 4th respective and should not be under estimated.
Good luck to all players and we hope to see you there.