England’s Sam Walker is preparing to take on the best young players in the world after his inclusion in the 2013 World Junior Championships, Rabat, Morocco (December 1-8th).
The 18-year-old from Worksop has experienced a breakthrough year in his career after fine domestic and international performances and he hopes to end a successful 2013 in style with another positive appearance in Northern Africa.
Walker, who is the reigning English National Under-21 Champion, broke into the senior squad in dramatic fashion after reaching the semi-finals of the National Championships Men’s Singles and winning his first ITTF Tour title in Malta earlier this season.
Those results saw him selected for both the European Championships and European Youth Top Ten events, which proved to be an invaluable learning curve for the youngster.
He said: “It was great to play in them, both were fantastic experiences and had amazing atmospheres - especially the Europeans. In the team event at the Europeans we lost to Romania and didn’t get the promotion we wanted, which was disappointing but everyone is now more determined for the next time. I was satisfied with my own performance, especially in the singles.
“The Youth Top Ten was a tough tournament and if I could have won a couple of the tight matches I lost I could have been on the podium. But it is really nice to be recognised as one of the top junior players in Europe.”
Walker is one of several English players currently playing professionally in Germany where he has managed to develop his game with current club TTC Selingenstadt.
Playing in the Regionalliga, the German third division, he has established himself as a key component in the team and benefitted from being able to train with some of the world’s elite players.
Walker explained: “I’ve felt really confident in my German matches this year. I’m playing in the as the number one in my team and so far I’ve won 11 and only lost one and the team are fourth in the league.
“I’m training with the Bundesliga club TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau and its perfect for me. I’m playing with players like Andrej Gacina and Kaii Yoshida most days. They’re not only great to practice with but they’re always there giving tips and helping us all out. Gacina especially is a great role model for me and its fantastic to have someone like him in the hall for me to look up to.”
The World Junior Championships will give Walker the chance to end his junior career on a high and progress to taking on the senior world players on a regular basis. The 18-year-old has already improved his world ranking from 680th to 338th and he doesn’t think the step will be too far to reach the top players in the world.
Walker said: “I don’t think there’s a massive difference between my highest level and the top players level.
“I believe I can beat anyone on my day, I think the difference is the top players are more consistent in their level. I’ve just got to keep trying to play at that level all the time. I can see it in training and I’m training with top players day in day out, so I believe that I can be at that level too.
“It will be my last tournament as a junior player and obviously it would be really great to win medals. I will give 100% on trying to get as far as I can.”
You can follow Walker’s progress in Morocco via the English Table Tennis Association’s website and twitter feed @ETTAtabletennis or on the ITTF’s World Junior Championships tournament page.
