Tianer Yu & Mari Baldwin are the Women’s Doubles champions and Paul Drinkhall & Sam Walker retained their Men’s Doubles title after not dropping a game all weekend at the Mark Bates Ltd National Championships.

Yu & Baldwin got off to a strong start in their Women’s Doubles final, taking the first game 11-6 and it looked like it was going to be a walkover for the pairing as, in the second, they took a 6-1 lead. However, Earley & Eccles clawed the deficit back and settled themselves into what would become a closely fought final between the two pairs.

Yu & Baldwin held on to sneak the game 13-11, before conceding the third 10-12 and it became difficult to predict how the match would play out with the score line at 8-8 in the fourth. But Yu and Baldwin were too good for their opponents in the key points, taking the final game 11-9 and securing themselves their first Senior national titles.

Meanwhile in the men’s final, Drinkhall & Walker retained their title after not dropping a game the whole weekend, and in doing so, securing Paul a record-equalling 15th national Men’s Doubles title, joining the great Des Douglas on that figure.

Drinkhall & Walker took the first game 12-10, looking the slightly sharper of the two pairs, but with little to separate the men. The second end remained tight, but Paul and Sam pinched it 11-9 before finishing their England teammates off with some ruthless shots in the final game to win 11-6, completing their impeccable championships.

Photos by Michael Loveder, Table Tennis England’s Official Photographer.