Table Tennis News and Reviews

Nineteen-year-old Liam Pitchford is aiming to secure his maiden Men’s Singles title at the 54^th English Senior National Table Tennis Championships in Sheffield this weekend. 

The youngster from Derbyshire has already been a beaten finalist twice to fellow London 2012 Olympic Games team-mates Paul Drinkhall, 23 from Loftus, and Andrew Baggaley, 30 from Milton Keynes. 

Five members of Team GB’s Table Tennis Squad will return to Sheffield to battle it out for the title of National Champion.

The three top seeds in the Men’s Singles, Paul Drinkhall, Liam Pitchford and Andrew Baggaley all ply their trade in the top European League in the German Bundesliga with both Drinkhall and Pitchford’s teams playing Champions League table tennis.

(Above - Ping! ‘takes-off at Heathrow Airport’)

Sport England funded table tennis project, Ping!, has been shortlisted for Sports Participation Event of the Year in the Sport Industry Awards 2013.

Following the “Women in Table Tennis 1988” Seminar organised by Jose Ransome and held in August 1988, the Women’s British League (WBL) was born, and the first weekend was held in April 1989 at Burton-on-Trent.

The WBL was the first-ever, and still the only, all female ETTA table tennis competition.

Newly engaged English number 1s Paul Drinkhall and Joanna Parker will hope to be crowned as respective National Champions at the upcoming English Senior National Table Tennis Championships, Ponds Forge, Sheffield 1^st-3^rd March 2013.

The pair, who were engaged over the Christmas period, will hope to justify their number one rankings by completing a unique double in Sheffield.

The announcement by UK Sport that the appeal by the British Table Tennis Federation for funding over the next Olympic Cycle was turned down is very disappointing.