Six players from England and two from Scotland are representing Great Britain in the 2025 World Traditional Table Tennis World Cup in Macau, starting today.

The four-day competition features players from 17 countries competing in three disciplines and ends with the top eight players from the Rest of the World playing sandpaper table tennis against a Chinese team for a top prize of $25,000.

The British Team covers a wide range both in terms of age and experience and includes Dave Tiplady, who won the 2024 ICTTF Senior Hardbat World Championships.

Each of the first three days sees the players using a different form of traditional table tennis bat. On Day 1, the players use wood-only bats (no carbon fibre) with no covering; Day 2 moves on to hardbat, this time the bats must have a rubber covering but no sponge; Day 3 is sandpaper bats.

Each of the bat types present a different challenge in terms of speed and control. The traditional materials make the sport more about each player’s individual skills, and less about modern high-tech equipment.

The wood and hardbat events will involve participants from all 17 represented nations. The sandpaper event, however, will not include any Chinese players, leaving the players from the rest of the world fighting for a place in the top eight and an invitation to compete in the showcase sandpaper event on Saturday 25 January. This will be the fifth Macau World Cup invitational tournament, featuring the top sandpaper players in the world playing in two teams – China and Rest of the World – competing for prize money of up to US$25,000.

The team flew out to Macau last weekend for the tournament in the Tap Seac MultiSport pavilion – an impressive venue that hosts World Table Tennis tour events. 

The team has a wide range in terms of experience.  Dave Tiplady holds the ICTTF Senior hardbat title which he won in Mexico in January 2024. Ian Johnston is an experienced sandpaper player who is the six-times Scottish sandpaper champion and competed at the World Championships of Ping Pong at Alexandra Palace from 2016 to 2020, and in Mexico City at the ICTTF World Cup in 2024. 

Nick Branch is a traditional table tennis enthusiast who has the experience of having played in several countries. Harry Chivers qualified in his first sandpaper tournament held in BATTS, Harlow in June. Luke Davies-Stokes qualified as a “rising star” at BATTS before finishing a close second to Ian in the English Open hardbat tournament in Wisbech; his brother James also likes playing traditional table tennis styles.

Lachlann Henderson, from Dundee, first picked up a traditional bat at the Scottish Wood TT tournament in Dundee in September. Felix Reeve turned up on the day in the UK & Ireland Open tournament at BATTS and now finds himself representing his country.

All five of the younger players, while fairly new to the different style required to compete in the traditional form of table tennis, have rapidly adjusted and are looking forward to the experience of playing on the international stage.