Kacper Piwowar, Alyssa Nguyen and Sienna Jetha took the titles on day two of the Mark Bates Ltd U10-U13 National Championships to become double national champions, and there was a gold as well for Teagan Khazal.
Piwowar added the Under-12 gold to the Under-11s he won yesterday, while Nguyen triumphed in the Under-10s, having also won the U11 crown yesterday.
Jetha was champion in the Under-12 Girls category, having topped the podium in the Under-13s on Saturday. Khazal won the Under-10 Boys’ gold.
There was another medal in the Nguyen family as Alyssa’s brother Hugo took silver behind Piwowar. Hugo’s twin brother Leo was one match away from making it all three siblings on the podium.
Click here to read the day one report
Click here to check all the results from the event
Photos by Michael Loveder – visit our Flickr page to see more from today’s play at the University of Warwick.
Under-12 Boys
Kacper Piwowar was all smiles after claiming his second title of the weekend with a four-game victory over fourth seed Hugo Nguyen.
He staved off a potential comeback from his opponent to prevail 3-1 (11-6, 12-10, 7-11, 11-9) and his exuberant celebration earned him a forgivable yellow card for throwing his bat.
Hear from Kacper Piwowar, double champion!
Kacper won a nail biting final against Hugo Nguyen to be crowned U12 Boys Mark Bates National Champion!
3rd place: Max Radivan & Abraham Sellado #markbates #NationalChampionships #tabletennis pic.twitter.com/QCh0ttU6R4
— Table Tennis England (@TableTennisENG) July 4, 2021
Nguyen took his place in the final thanks to a pulsating win over top seed Abraham Sellado, earning a see-saw 3-2 (11-3, 9-11, 11-9, 2-11, 11-4) victory.
Piwowar had a more straightforward route through the semis, defeating second seed Max Radiven 3-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-8).
In the quarter-finals, Radiven recovered from losing the opening set to defeat Adam Alibhai 3-1 (9-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-7), while Sellado beat Teagan Khazal in three (8, 8, 3).
The other two quarters featured the Nguyen twins. Hugo made it safely through in three against Janak Shah (4, 8, 5), but third seed Leo had a tougher task against U11 champion Kacper Piwowar.
He led 2-1 and 9-7 but Piwowar turned it around and won 3-2 (9-11, 8-11, 11-7, 13-11, 11-4) to move into the semis.
None of the round of 16 ties went beyond four games, but back in the preliminary round, Ryan Stubbs had come through his tie with Jack Hodgson thanks to a 14-12 scoreline in the deciding fifth game of a close match. The final score was 3-2 (9-11, 11-9, 12-14, 11-7, 14-12) in Stubbs’ favour.
Group stage
The biggest shake-up in the group stage was in Group 8, where the No 1 player Sam Davies missed out as No 2 Teagan Khazal topped the standings and No 3 Aden Van Hoorebeek joined him in qualifying for the knockouts.
Van Hoorebeek’s victory over Davies in the group’s first match set the tone as he fought his way back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 (8-11, 13-15, 11-6, 13-11, 11-7). Khazal also defeated Davies, in four.
A clutch of withdrawals left three groups with only two players, both of whom would qualify for the knockouts. The closest of those matches saw top-ranked Janak Shah pushed by the No 2 Jake Davidson in Group 7, before prevailing 3-2 (8-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 11-4).
Euan Hacking won a ‘winner-take-all’ tie in the final match of Group 6, the No 3 overcoming No 2 Jamie Myska-Buddell 3-2 (11-8, 6-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9) to climb above his higher-ranked opponent and join Adam Alibhai in the knockout draw.
Earlier, Myska-Buddell had staged a superb comeback to defeat Arjun Sawant 3-2 (11-13, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-4).
In Group 5, third-ranked Charlie Helmer’s 3-1 (9-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-3) victory over No 2 Kai Tian Yiu saw him go into the knockout stage behind group winner Kacper Piwowar.
The third player also went through from Group 2, as Ryan Stubbs won two matches to finish behind the top-ranked Max Radiven. No 4 Finley Howes missed out despite a fine win 3-2 (11-6, 5-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6) win over No 2 George Hunt.
Sultan Adeleke was another No 3 to advance, getting above Charles Donald into second place in Group 3 thanks to a 3-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-8) victory in the group’s final match. Top player Leo Nguyen won the group.
Under-12 Girls
It was the top two seeds in the final and it went with ranking as Sienna Jetha saw off Brooke Morris.
It was never straightforward, especially when Morris took the first game – the only set Jetha dropped all event.
But she recovered to post a 3-1 (7-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-7) victory which earned her second gold of the weekend.
Congratulations to Sienna Jetha for winning the U12s National Championships! 🎉
2nd place: Brooke Morris
3rd place: Eva Eccles & Millie Noble #markbates #NationalChampionship #tabletennis pic.twitter.com/w5HY3TD2U0— Table Tennis England (@TableTennisENG) July 4, 2021
Jetha arrived in the final having not dropped a game – her semi-final opponent Eva Eccles was beaten 3, 6, 4.
The other semi-final saw a real turnaround as Morris overcame Millie Noble. That hadn’t looked likely when Morris took only four points across games two and three, but she recovered to prevail 3-2 (12-10, 3-11, 1-11, 11-3, 11-8).
All the quarter-finals were decided in three, though there were some close games as Isabella Turner-Samuels and Evie Knaapen lost their third games 15-13 to Millie Noble and Eva Eccles respectively, while Melissa Withers was never far away from Sienna Jetha.
Group stage
Isabella Turner-Samuels upset Zara Brooks in Group 1, which was won as expected by Sienna Jetha. Turner-Samuels’ 3-1 (11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 11-3) victory over Brooks took her through in second.
There was a straight fight over the two qualifying spaces in Group 4, which ended up as a group of 2. Eva Eccles took top spot as expected, in three games against Lucy Jones.
The other two groups went as expected, though Melissa Withers had to fight for second place in Group 3 as she overcame the No 4 and double champion from earlier in the event, Alyssa Nguyen. The score was 3-2 (9-11, 11-3, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7) in Withers’ favour.
Under-10 Boys
The top two seeds battled it out for the gold and it was the top seed who won as Teagan Khazal from Greenhouse Sports defeated Charles Donald from BATTS.
Donald was aiming to emulate his club-mate Ralph Pattison, who won the Under-13 crown yesterday, but Khazal was in confident form and once he had won a close second game he eased to a 3-0 (11-4, 12-10, 11-6) victory.
Congratulations to Teagan Khazal on winning the U10 Boys National Championships! 💪
2nd: Charles Donald
3rd: Sultan Adeleke & Theo Kniep#markbates #nationalchampionships #tabletennis pic.twitter.com/VU35tCWLzg— Table Tennis England (@TableTennisENG) July 4, 2021
The bronze medallists were Theo Kniep and Sultan Adeleke. The latter had a superb battle with Donald, who finally prevailed in five.
Adeleke saved several game points in losing the second but was creating some momentum and came back to level the match at 2-2. But Donald had just enough to get over the line 3-2 (11-8, 14-12, 7-11, 8-11, 11-9).
Khazal’s last-four tie was a bit more straightforward, though Kniep did threaten to get back into it before succumbing 3-0 (11-3, 11-3, 12-10).
The top three seeds all came through their quarter-finals – though Donald dropped a game to Lewis Wu – but fourth seed Aden Van Hoorebeek was knocked out in three straight (9, 5, 4) by Kniep.
Group stage
Lewis Wu was the star of the group stage as he powered into the knockout stage from No 4 in the group. He beat No 2 player Jiaming Ye in a close match, edging home 3-2 (12-14, 11-9, 11-2, 9-11, 12-10), and then sunk No 3 Zaid Aldilimi 3-0 (7, 3, 7) to go through with the group’s top player, Aden Van Hoorebeek.
Theo Kniep was No 3 in Group 3, but he went through in second behind top-ranked Sultan Adeleke. That was because of a 3-0 (5, 7, 8) win over the No 2, Finley Howes.
The top two safely came through in the other two groups.
Under-10 Girls
Alyssa Nguyen made it a double gold medal after also topping the podium in yesterday’s under-11 event.
She defeated Amber Lemmon in four games (11-4, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7), in a match in which both players showed great skill and competitiveness.
In the semi-finals, Lemmon overcame her Peterborough Archway club-mate 3-1 (11-7, 11-5, 5-11, 11-6), while Nguyen went through against Maahi Malde by a 3-0 (11-2, 11-5, 11-8) margin.
Congratulations to Alyssa Nguyen for winning her second gold this weekend, taking 1st place in the Girls U10s today 🔥🏓
2nd place: Amber Lemmon
3rd place: Maahi Malde & Hannah Saunders #NationalChampionships #MarkBates #TableTennis pic.twitter.com/pjflwash0M— Table Tennis England (@TableTennisENG) July 4, 2021
Group stage
The two group winners came from outside the top two in the group rankings, and top seed Jemima Choudhury was knocked out as eight players tussled to get into the knockout rounds.
Choudhury, one of the U11 bronze medallists, was defeated in her opening match by Alyssa Nguyen, yesterday’s Under-11 champion, who won in four.
That victory set Nguyen on the way to winning the group from No 3, as she also defeated No 2 Amber Lemmon, this time in three games.
Lemmon’s four-set defeat of Choudhury in the final match (3-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7) meant she joined Nguyen in the semi-finals.
In Group 2, it was No 4 Hannah Saunders who took top spot, the silver medallist from the Under-11s yesterday winning all three matches without dropping a game.
The top-ranked player in the group, Maahi Malde, made it through despite that defeat to Saunders, taking a key victory over U11 bronze medallist Laura North by a 3-1 (8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 13-11) scoreline.