Some up-and-coming players have been given a shot at the big stars in the draws for the Mark Bates Ltd National Championships.
Foremost among them are Connor Green & Felix Thomis, who have been given a tie against Commonwealth Games champions and world top-10 pairing Liam Pitchford & Paul Drinkhall in the Men’s Doubles.
At the opposite end of the draw, Joseph Hunter & Jakub Piwowar will take on England duo Tom Jarvis & David McBeath. Jarvis won the title alongside Sam Walker last year – Walker is competing with Darius Knight this time and they will face Olly Cornish & Adam Dennison.
Last year’s beaten finalists, Chris Doran & Joe Ferguson, play Toby Ellis & Nahom Asgedom.
The top three pairs have byes in the Women’s Doubles, meaning there are some big matches to earn the right to play them, not least at the top, where Sienna Jetha & Naomi Coker face Anaya Patel & Millie Rogove, with the winners to play Tin-Tin Ho & Emily Bolton.
In the Mixed, Thomis will again line up against Pitchford, alongside Mari Baldwin & Tin-Tin Ho respectively. Ho & Pitchford are twice Commonwealth Games silver medallists in this event.
The group stages for the para 6-10 category sees Ross Wilson and Aaron McKibbin seeded to meet in the final, although world doubles champion Billy Shilton may have something to say about that in McKibbin’s group, while Ash Facey is in Group 1 with Wilson.
In the Class 2-5 category, Jack Hunter-Spivey and Megan Shackleton are the top seeds. In both competitions, the top players in each group go straight into the finals.
The groups for the Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles and the under-21 competitions have also been drawn.
Click on the links below to view the draws.
Women’s Singles: Group stage
Men’s Singles: Group stage
Para Class 6-10: Group stage
Para Class 2-5: Group stage
Under-21 Women’s Singles: Group stage | Knockout stage
Under-21 Men’s Singles: Group stage | Knockout stage
Women’s Doubles
Men’s Doubles
Mixed Doubles
The knockout stages for the Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles will be drawn at 10.30am on Thursday March 23 and will be streamed live on our Facebook page.
The tournament gets under way with the under-21 events on Friday morning.
There are still a small number of tickets available – click below to buy.
Nationals draws see youngsters get plum ties Table Tennis England.
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