No fewer than 24 senior national singles titles are represented among the players who will be automatically invited to the Mark Bates Ltd Senior National Championships.

The December ranking lists, which have been published here, were used to determine the top 16 senior men and senior women who will be invited to the flagship tournament at the David Ross Sports Village in Nottingham, from 21-23 March, 2025. Tickets for the event will go on sale in the new year.

Defending champions Tin-Tin Ho and Paul Drinkhall are among them and Ho will be aiming for a record-equalling seventh Women’s Singles title, having won her sixth last season. Table Tennis England President Jill Parker MBE is currently the record holder.

Ho is the only woman in the field to have won the blue riband singles title, whereas four invited athletes have 18 titles Men’s Singles between them.

Drinkhall won his seventh last season, moving him clear into second place behind Des Douglas (11) in the all-time list. Liam Pitchford has six titles, Andrew Baggaley three and Tom Jarvis two.

The lists in full are:

Many of those who are not in those top-16 brackets have the chance to join the elite at the Nationals via the Qualifying Tournament, which is at the same venue on the weekend of 4-5 January.

A total of 14 men and 14 women will qualify for the Nationals ‘proper’ – though more places may be available if any athletes in the top 16 decline their invitations. The Nationals field will be brought up to a full complement of 32 by the addition of two wildcards.

Seedings for the qualifying tournament will also be based on the rankings list just published. The draw will be confirmed in the week between Christmas and New Year.

What is the qualifying Tournament format?

The event will begin with group stages on the Saturday, comprising of groups of 6-8 players, subject to entries received, with 2 or 3 players from each group qualifying for the knockout stage on Sunday.

Progressive knockout matches on Sunday will be the last 32 players only and 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 Friday 21 March to Sunday 23 March.

Tickets for the Mark Bates Ltd Senior Nationals, which will also feature para classes, will go on sale early in the new year with a pre-sale window for Table Tennis England members.