England’s PG Mutual National Championships
Liam PITCHFORD and Tin-Tin HO are the top seeds and the defending champions at England’s PG Mutual National Championships this weekend.
PITCHFORD who has broken into the world’s top 20 recently is aiming to win the fifth men’s singles title of his career and if the seedings are accurate he will face Paul Drinkhall in the final – Drinkhall has won the event six times.
Sam Walker is also in the picture and is aiming to win the title for the first time. David McBeath and Tom Jarvis who were part of the England squad which won the Team World Cup bronze medal last year are also possible contenders.
Ho’s closest rival is Maria Tsaptsinos and they are seeded to meet in the women’s singles final. Ho has won the event in the last three years so is aiming to win her fourth career title.
Pitchford & Drinkhall are strong favourites to win the men’s doubles title yet again – the Commonwealth Games gold medallists are the top seeds with Walker & McBeath ranked at No 2.
Ho & Tsaptsinos are the No 1 pair in the women’s doubles while Jarvis & Ho are the top combination in the mixed doubles.
The event in Nottingham also features Under-21 events with Jarvis and Ho the top seeds in the men’s and women’s events respectively.
And on Saturday the para event features world champion and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Ross Wilson and Paralympic champion Will Bayley as well as Paralympic medallist Aaron McKibbin.
The tournament begins at 9am on Friday and you can watch live coverage on the Table Tennis England Facebook and YouTube pages. From 2.30pm on Saturday the event will be shown live on the BBC Sport website.
