A total of 166 players will compete as 2025 starts with one of the most prestigious and tense tournaments of the year – the Mark Bates Ltd Senior National Championships Qualifying Tournament.

They will be aiming to book a place alongside the elite at the Nationals ‘proper’ from 21-23 March, to which the top 16 athletes have already been invited.

The Qualifying Tournament features 16 men’s groups and five women’s groups, with 21 tables in action at the David Ross Sports Village at the University of Nottingham over the weekend of 4-5 January.

We will be streaming and reporting live from the event, so make sure you are following us on our social media channels to keep up to date. We will also be live on TTE.TV on both days, with key matches to enjoy as the drama unfolds!

Click here to see the draw and other information in the event programme.

There is a healthy contingent of para players, including Paris 2024 Paralympic medallists Fliss Pickard and Billy Shilton, and Tokyo 2020 medallists Jack Hunter-Spivey and Megan Shackleton.

Hunter-Spivey and Shackleton’s matches will be played under certain rules adaptations which are in place when a wheelchair player plays against an able-bodied opponent. Watch the video at the foot of this page to see which rules are adapted – and how clubs and leagues can easily implement these changes in their own competitions.

Top seed in the men’s events is Ben Piggott, who is followed by Toby Ellis, Maxim Stevens and Olly Cornish to complete the top four seeds.

Stevens has Hunter-Spivey in his group, while there will be some interesting clashes in Group 9, where top-ranked Lorestas Trumpauskas will face young England players Rohan Dani, Kacper Piwowar and Pablo Ramirez Rioja, who have all won medals at WTT youth events.

There are plenty of other rising stars in the competition, including Dimitar Dimitrov, Abraham Sellado and Max Radiven, who have all won medals on the WTT circuit this season.

In the women’s competition, Mabel Shute is the top seed, ahead of Rebecca Savage, Saskia Key – whose group includes Shackleton – and Bethany Ellis.

Tickets for the Mark Bates Ltd Senior Nationals, which will also feature para classes, will go on sale from 7 January, when the week-long priority window opens for Table Tennis England members.

What is the Qualifying Tournament format?

The event will begin with group stages on the Saturday, with a total of 32 players in each gender qualifying for the knockout stage on Sunday.

Progressive knockout matches on Sunday will be played to a final list, for example players losing in the last 16 will play out for places 9-16 and so on.

The top 14 finishers in both the men’s and women’s singles at the tournament will qualify for the Mark Bates Ltd Senior National Championships at the same venue from 21-23 March.