Six English officials, including three aged under 25, are ready to take the next steps on their journeys after passing their International Umpire exams. 

Table Tennis England Head Office hosted the exams, one of several held around the world this month, and six candidates passed. 

They are: Richard Horsfield (Northants), Chloe Ireland (Berks – main picture), Tom Konarski (Lincs – pictured below), Paul Nichols (Northants), Matt Pryke (Cambs) and Dr Sunil Sapre (Lancs). 

The group of Level 2 (National) Umpires went into the exam following several years of mentoring and training by the Technical Officials Committee (TOC) team both at domestic events and at several international competitions. 

They all started their journeys in their own different ways around the country by passing the Level 1 qualification and were fast-tracked towards this exam as part of the priority project to qualify more umpires, which started ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Matt, Chloe and Tom, who are all aged under 25, umpired at that event. 

The exam itself is held over 60 minutes and candidates have to tackle 50 questions. They also undertook a three-hour training session with the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) a few weeks ago. 

The six successful candidates are now qualified International Umpires and will be eligible for more international events, and potentially the 2026 World Team Championships in London. 

Chloe said: “I’m chuffed to have qualified as an IU, especially since I’ve never found the exams easy! 

“I’ve always been well supported and encouraged by other officials, especially Brian Jackson, Sheila Walshe and Dan Bullen, and feel like my experience at the Commonwealth Games and other big events has helped me gain confidence. 

“I’m really excited by the possibility of travel but would also love to umpire at the World Team Championships when it’s in London in 2026.” 

Tom also thanked Brian, Dan and Sheila for mentoring him, alongside Area Manager and Technical Officials Committee member Chris Newton. 

He added: “I was very pleased to find out that I passed! I’m hoping to umpire at an international event next year and go on to umpire at an Olympics and other big events.” 

Table Tennis England Head of Table Tennis Development, Andrew Wilesmith, said: “I’m delighted to see that six of our esteemed umpires have qualified as International Umpires.  

“The standing of our officials in world table tennis has always been high and we have provided officials across many major international events. This has been demonstrated recently with Nico Caltabiano’s selection for the Men’s Singles gold medal match at the Olympics and Tom Purcell’s selection for the Paralympics. 

“To have another crop of IUs – and three of them under 25 years old – beginning their international adventure and representing England at the highest level is testament to their hard work and the work of our Technical Officials Committee in supporting them through their journey.  

“Having high-quality officials in this country is a key objective for Table Tennis England and I’m very happy in the progression being made in this space.” 

The next step for aspiring National Umpires who wish to take this exam is to take part in an ETTU training session on 18-19 January 2025, based around the Women’s British Clubs League weekend. Following this seminar, umpires who attend will be put forward to the next round of IU exams in 2025. Umpires from other Home Nations will be attending also.