Sam Walker has been selected to feature alongside Tin-Tin Ho for the Europe Youth Top 10 tournament taking place in Terni, Italy on September 20-22, 2013.
Sam has experienced unrivalled success this season, not only has the 18-year-old excelled domestically by becoming the National Junior Champion, Junior Masters Champion and National Under-21 Champion, but he has also performed on the international scene with two Commonwealth Championships medals in India and a first International Open win in Malta.
Sam has spent the last two years at the top of the youth rankings, but, not content with being the best junior in the country, he also wants to be the best senior player too and many witnessed his undoubted improvement when he took the English National Senior Championships by storm. He won the Under 21 Men’s Singles title in an outstanding thriller against Richard Andrews, and went on to reach the semi-finals of the Men’s Singles, beating Daniel Reed and Chris Doran.
His international performances have been impressive and he has kept an extremely high standard, winning a silver medal in the junior boys’ event at the ITTF Serbian Youth Open, and gaining numerous wins over top class European players. Recent months have seen the English Junior No. 1 go from strength to strength in a season which included a career-best win over India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta (WR 69) on his 18th birthday.
This competition will be chance for Walker to pitch his talent against the best Europe has to offer in this, one of the most prestigious table tennis competitions in Europe. Sam feels this will be a significant stepping stone in his career saying: “Its great to be invited to such a tournament and be recognised as one of the top junior players in Europe. I hope I can be successful in Terni, however this is just the start”
Editors Notes
English Table Tennis Association
The English Table Tennis Association (ETTA) is the governing body of table tennis in England, responsible for representing, coordinating, administering, regulating, promoting, marketing and developing the sport. Some 2.4 million people play table tennis within the UK (British Market Research Bureau).
European Youth Top 10 tournament
An ETTU tournament, established in 1985 in its original format as a Top 12 tournament. The format is a round-robin tournament which sees the top 10 ranked players in Europe for their age group compete in what is considered the most prestigious and hardest to win youth tournament in Europe. This year this tournament will take place in Terni, Italy. Last years tournament was held in Romania and was won by Audrey Zarif of France. This will be Sam Walker’s first time in this particular competition.
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