Nationals qualifiers: Knockout stage line-ups complete

After a fantastic day’s play, 32 women and 32 men have made it through to the knockout stage of the Mark Bates Ltd National Championships Qualifying Tournament.

With more than 170 players in action, and over 500 matches on the day, there were plenty of talking points at the David Ross Sports Village.

Check out some of the day’s highlights below.

We will be live-streaming selected matches on TTE.TV on Sunday – click below to choose one of two streams on Sunday morning and keep an eye on our social media channels for details of the upcoming matches.

Watch stream 1
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Click on the links below to see the results from the group stage.

Click here to see the draw for the women’s knockout stage
Click here to see the draw for the men’s knockout stage
The links are the same to follow results on Sunday.

Women’s Groups

Group 1

Sally Hughes topped the group with a perfect record of five wins out of five to finish ahead of top-ranked Mya Sultan.

The Table Tennis England Director defeated Sultan 3-1 (11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8) and only dropped one other game, to Anna Piercey.

Sultan was defeated 3-1 (7-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-7) by Francesca Currie but Currie’s defeat to Hughes and a further loss to Piercey meant she missed out as Piercey finished in third place, with Olivia Fletcher the final qualifier in fourth by virtue of a 3-1 (11-7, 11-6, 10-12, 11-4) win over Currie.

Group 2

Erin Green won every match to take her expected top spot – all without dropping a game.

Also qualifying were Xiaoman Ji, Brooke Morris, Mia Lakhani and Lisa Rinnhofer, with Ji staging a big turnaround against Rinnhofer to win 3-2 (6-11, 13-15, 11-9, 11-6, 11-3). Morris was defeated in five by Clare Styles.

Group 3

Anaya Patel won the group with a perfect record of 5/5, dropping only one game, to Stefania Popa.

Sophie Ackred was second with four wins , though she was pushed to 3-2 (11-8, 6-11, 7-11, 11-9, 12-10) by Popa, who also lost 12-10 in the fifth to Kate Watkinson – the full score in that one was 3-2 (7-11, 11-9, 11-8, 5-11, 12-10).

Watkinson was the third-placed finisher and the final player to join the top three in qualifying for tomorrow was Anisha Rasan, who inflicted yet another five-game defeat on the unfortunate Popa, this time the score was 11-6, 6-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-7.

Group 4

Top-ranked Tiana Dennison was overtaken for first place by Bethany Ellis, who recorded a 3-1 (9-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-8) victory when the two met.

It was not an only defeat for Dennison, who went down 3-1 to Parrmis Ahsani, while Ellis could not complete a perfect record as she lost in four to Samadhi Udamulla.

There was a three-way countback between Dennison, Ahsani and the youngest group member, Violet-Lily Marquis, with the three of them finishing in that order.

Another countback was needed to decide the fifth and final qualifier and it went the way of Zoe Podmore thanks to her 3-2 (11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-8 victory over Udamulla, who missed out.

Group 5

Mabel Shute upset the higher-ranked Rebecca Savage to top the group, breezing through their meeting 3-0 (7, 6, 3).

It was part of an almost perfect record for Shute, who won every match, although she did drop games to Luna Archard and Julia Tokova.

Archard – who beat Tokova and Lisa Lewis in five – secured second place with a 3-1 (12-10, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5) win over Savage, who was third, while Eva Eccles was fourth.

The final place went to countback between Millie Noble and Tokova and it was Noble who get through thanks to her 3-0 victory when the two met.

Group 6

Sienna Jetha had a virtually flawless day, winning all six matches for the loss of only two games – one each to Debs Barrow and Millie Rogove.

Rogove ended in second place as she won all her other matches, though she found Barrow a tough opponent, Rogove eventually running out a 3-2 (11-7, 7-11, 11-3, 12-14, 12-10) victor.

Third-placed Evie Pace also found Debs Barrow hard to shake off before coming through 3-2 (12-10, 11-9, 8-11, 12-14, 11-8) – Pace finished ahead of para wheelchair player Megan Shackleton, who qualified in fourth and herself beat Barrow in five (8-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-4, 11-6).

Barrow did manage to seal the final qualifying spot thanks to defeating Abbie Hurley in yet another five-setter – that one was 3-2 (6-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 12-10) to a delighted Barrow.

Group 7

Naomi Coker beat Saskia Key 3-1 (11-8, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9) to claim top spot over her higher-ranked opponent, who was also beaten 3-2 (11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6) by Rachael Iles.

Key ended in second place, ahead of Iles and Isabelle Lacorte on countback – Lacorte came close to beating Coker but went down 3-2 (11-7, 11-9, 6-11, 4-11, 11-7), but she did stage a fine comeback to overcome Tulay Dundar 3-2 (8-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-5). The final qualifier was Ella Barnard.

Men’s Groups

Group 1

Maxim Stevens and Adam Dennison finished level at the top, and it was Dennison who got the verdict and first place thanks to his 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 win over Stevens.

It was Stevens’ only defeat, but Dennison could not claim an unbeaten record as he was defeated by Grantham College colleague Gabriel Schogger 3-1 (4-11, 16-14, 11-7, 11-5).

Tightest match in the group saw Troy Whitham overcome Daniel Nzekwe 3-2 (11-9, 10-12, 13-11, 9-11, 15-13).

Group 2

Shaquille Webb-Dixon was the top-ranked player and duly took top spot, winning all his seven matches.

Para star Ashley Facey was second, winning six matches and losing only to Webb-Dixon, by a scoreline of 9, 6, 8.

Group 3

Ralph Pattison won as expected, claiming victory in all seven matches and dropping only one game, to Alex Attew.

Attew finished in third position, missing out on qualifying to Ronan Kelly, who beat him (10-12, 11-7, 11-7, 12-14, 11-7). Attew did win two other five-setters, against Ethan Braden and para player Max Flint, the latter finishing in fourth position.

Group 4

Bryan Kwan took the top spot, as expected, with a maximum sven from sven, with Joe Marlor giving him his toughest test before Kwan won 3-1 (11-7, 11-9, 10-12, 12-10)

The key match saw Krish Chotai win a marathon against Marlor, from 2-0 down. Marlor, who won the first 11-4, took the second by the old-school margin of 21-19 – but Chotai won the next three, all for the loss of eight points.

That proved pivotal as it put Chotai into second spot and took him through to the last 32 ahead of third-placed Marlor.

Jamal Dennison finished fourth, putting in a terrific comeback to avoid an upset against Frederic Wilke, eventually winning 3-2 (8-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8).

Group 5

Larry Trumpauskas won all his matche to take the predicted first place.

Victor Guang Shi, who took a game off Trumpauskas, had to shake off an obdurate Bertie Kelly before winning 3-2 (9-11, 11-3, 12-10, 9-11, 11-5) – a key result on his way to taking the second qualifying place.

Kelly got even closer against Fred Jones before succumbing 3-2 (10-12, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 14-12) – and he also lost in a fifth to Abdullah Ubaidullah.

Group 6

Joseph Langham-Ferreira had to come from behind to beat Dominic Sussex 3-2 (6-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-8, 11-5) and was also extended by Matthew Evans in four close games, winning 3-1 (11-8, 13-11, 10-12, 12-10).

Those were the only real troublesome matches for the top-ranked Langham-Ferreira as he topped the group, and he was followed into the last 32 by Sussex, who won all his other matches.

Evans pushed Sussex close and would have taken the second spot if he had managed to win their clash – but Sussex took it 3-2 (12-10, 8-11, 7-11, 11-8, 12-10).

Group 7

Graeme Barella upset top-ranked Umair Mauthoor, but both of them made it through to Sunday.

Barella won the meeting 3-2 (11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 11-13, 11-8).

There was a good match between Jack Green and Adedapo Onakomaya, won 3-2 (11-9, 6-11, 12-14, 11-8, 12-10) by Green.

Group 8

Artur Veeck Caltabiano got above the top-ranked player, Nahom Asgedom, with a 3-0 (11-5, 12-10, 11-8) victory.

Caltabiano was unbeaten, though he squeaked through against Daniel Allen in the first match, winning it 3-2 (11-5, 9-11, 11-8, 10-12, 12-10).

Asgedom recovered to take second place, winning all his other matches without great alarm, though Max Gonpot took the first game 16-14 before Asgedom won in four.

There was a high-quality match between Zayd Mauthood and Wajid Wafiq, the younger player coming through as Wafiq won 3-2 (11-7, 15-13, 7-11, 5-11, 11-9).

Group 9

Ben Piggott was untouchable as he won all seven matches without dropping a game, though his final set of the day was 12-10 over Mario Ioakim, while Munib Ahmad pushed him to 14-12 earlier in the day.

The other qualifying place went to Ollie Maric-Murray, who won every match apart from his meeting with Piggott, though he needed a fifth to get past Ahmad, the score in that one 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5.

Group 10

Israel Awolaja was the victor in a close group which saw top-ranked Rhys Davies eliminated as Nathaniel Saunders took second place.

Awolaja beat under-11 Dimitar Dimitrov 3-2 (11-7, 5-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-4) and also needed five against Saunders – 11-8, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8 the score.

Saunders was otherwise unbeaten, though he needed five against Jamie Davies (11-5, 11-13, 8-11, 11-4, 11-6) and Daniel Broner (6-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-7).

Dimitrov had a close one against Commonwealth Games gold medallist Jack Hunter-Soivey, the wheelchair athlete winning 3-2 (14-12, 5-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8).

Group 11

Rohan Dani claimed top place with a maximum seven victories, the closest of them a 3-2 (8-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-5, 11-9) win over Abraham Sellado.

Top-ranked Alim Hirji fell to a surprise 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-7) defeat to Cain Fagan, ranked 499 places below him in the senior list. He then came out on the wrong side of another 3-0 scoreline against Dani, who won 11-8, 11-8, 13-11.

That gave Hirji potentially a big problem, but he won all his other matches to finish alongside Sellado on 12 points – Hirji’s 3-0 (12-10, 11-4, 11-4) win over Sellado in the group’s final match saw him get the countback verdict and go through to Sunday’s play.

Group 12

Joe Sawyer was the winner, getting ahead of the top-ranked Joseph Dennison. It was a pretty one-sided match when the two met, Sawyer taking it 5, 3, 5.

Dennison did enough to take second place, though he was grateful to get past Scott Ching 3-2 (11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-3).

Group 13

Prize for marathon of the day went to Luke Greenfield and Olly Cornish, who staged a classic before Greenfield eventually won 3-2 (13-11, 12-10, 16-18, 6-11, 20-18).

Max Radiven had to work hard to defeat Greenfield 3-2 (15-17, 11-7, 11-8, 3-11, 11-2).

Those two results proved to have an important bearing on the final outcome as Radiven and Cornish finished first and second respectively.

While Radiven was unbeaten, Cornish and Greenfield were two of three players to finish level, alongside Naphong Boonyaprapa.

With Boonyaprapa beating Greenfield 3-2 (12-10, 11-4, 6-11, 8-11, 11-4) and top-ranked Cornish beating Boonyaprapa 3-0 (13-11, 11-7, 11-4), that was enough to give Cornish second spot.

Group 14

Jakub Piwowar won every match to take the expected first qualifying spot, for the loss of only one game, to Gregory Fray.

Kieran Smith won twice in the fifth – 9-11, 11-6, 13-11, 7-11, 11-8 against Billy Shilton and 11-5, 6-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-8 over Barney Mindlin. They were crucial victories as Smith bagged the second spot and a place in the knockouts.

Group 15

Isaac Kingham duly took the first place, though he had two five-game victories. The first was against Aaron McKibbin, whom he beat 3-2 (11-3, 7-11, 12-14, 11-7, 11-3) and the second in the final match against Francesco Bonato – 11-9, 11-3, 9-11, 1-11, 11-8).

McKibbin got through in the second qualifying spot.

Group 16

Yet another perfect group winner was Adam Jepson, though he was pushed to 3-2 (9-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6) in his final match of the day by Sammy Kaye, and also had a tight match against Zoltan Hosszu before winning 3-1 (13-11, 9-11, 13-11, 12-10).

That was Hosszu’s only defeat as he took the second qualifying spot ahead of Kaye, David McKenzie and Connor Whitehead, who all lost three.

Whitehead and McKenzie are only one place apart in the rankings and played a correspondingly close match which saw No 116 McKenzie come from behind to beat No 115 Whitehead 3-2 (10-12, 11-13, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9). Whitehead did later come out on the right side of a five-setter, against Kaye, while Kaye beat McKenzie 3-2 (11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 10-12, 11-6). The three-way countback went down to points, with Kaye-McKenzie-Whitehead the finishing order.