Sheffield was the venue for the second women & girls 1* event held in the North East.

The event was held at The English Institute of Sport and was supported by British Para Table Tennis and the referee was Carol Miles.

The tournament consisted of three categories – under-21s, over-21s and an open category and it had a total of 28 entries. Players came from across the country including Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Durham, Cleveland, Lancashire, Warwickshire, Cheshire, and Hertfordshire.

Under-21s

The under-21s category consisted of three groups, with the top two players of each group going through to the knockout rounds. The groups had lots of excellent matches and saw Anisha Kant, Ally Pang, Lucy Jones, Simona Vassileva, Harriet Goodwin and Elliot Ashford progressing.

Anisha and Harriet reached the final, which eventually saw Anisha win the category after a dominant performance, not dropping a game all morning.

Over-21s

The over-21 category had three groups of five players. There were some notable group matches including Kerry Harvey beating Gabriela Tankel 3-2 (11-6, 9-11 12-10, 9-11, 11-4) and Janet Adams defeating Aneta Kula 3-2 (11-1, 11-1, 5-11, 7-11, 11-7).

Bethany O’Connell, Joanne Keighley, Tankel, Nicia Low and Harvey all progressed through to the next stages of the event, where Tankel and Keighley played a tight match – with Gabriela winning 3-2 (11-7, 9-11, 10-12, 11-3, 11-8).

The semi-finals were between top seed O’Connell and Tankel and Adams versus Harvey. it was Beth O’Connell and Janet Adams who progressed to the final after already playing each other in their group, when Beth had in the fourth set. This time, Beth won much more comfortably in the final, winning 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-7).

Open Event

The open event allowed women and girls of all ages to play in one category and allow for younger players to gain valuable competition experience against more highly ranked players.

The open event had 18 entries in total and again saw Bethany O’Connell and Janet Adams coming in first and second place respectively.

Overall, the competition was huge success, with lots of players getting to play others, who they have never faced before.

I believe these competitions provide a profound opportunity for empowerment and inclusivity, where individuals of all backgrounds and abilities can come together to showcase their talent and passion. I hope those that have attended women and girls’ events feel the significance and impact of women and girls-only table tennis competition, and the transformative power it holds for participants and spectators alike.

If you would like to run a similar event in the North East, please contact Lauren Evans.