Junior Boys Team
The team took a bronze medal and fourth place but this was a disappointment, the semi-final against Russia was lost 3-2 with number one Liam Pitchford totally out of touch, losing both his matches against lower ranked opponents. It was good to see Gavin Evans back after his long layoff and Sean Cullen was a revelation winning three times superbly against higher ranked opponents.
• Sean Cullen: played 7, won 5
• Liam Pitchford: played 10, won 6
• Gavin Evans: played 8, won 4
• Sam Walker: played 2, won 1
• Lewis Grey: played 1, won 0
Cadet Boys Team
The Cadet Boys were playing in the top division and found the going tough against teams such as Germany and Croatia, but a good final match performance giving a 3-0 win over Switzerland kept the Cadet Boys in the top division. Helshan Weerasinghe had to miss two matches with an injury and the doubles was missing most of the time too.
• Igor Morais: played 9, won 5
• Helshan Weerasinghe: played 4, won 3
• Jared Patel: played 2, won 0
• Doubles: played 6, won 2
Junior Girls Team
The Junior Girls team struggled in the second division, wins over Lithuania, Armenia and Belgium but losses against Croatia, Spain and Wales consigned them to 22nd place.
• Chloe Whyte: played 3, won 2
• Karina Le Fevre: played 9, won 5
• Tressa Armitage: played 8, won 3
• Yolanda King: played 3, won 1
Cadet Girls Team
The Cadet Girls started in an exceedingly strong top division group, losses against Russia, Croatia and Serbia, the latter was very close and placed the Cadet Girls with playoffs against the top second division sides. The Girls did much better here. Wins over Belgium and Slovakia and defeats against Holland and Hungary left the Cadet Girls in 19th place. Tin-Tin Ho was outstanding individually, but the doubles average speaks for itself. Better doubles results would have greatly enhanced the teams position.
• Tin-Tin Ho: played 12, won 8
• Megan Knowles: played 5, won 1
• Emma Torkington: played 4, won 1
• Doubles: played 7, won 0
Junior Boys Singles
Gavin Evans, probably due to being a little short of fitness lost a tremendous 7 game battle against Norway’s Eskild Jorgensen in the qualifying round. Sam Walker took the scalps of Marc Rode of Germany and Michal Pavolka before losing in the last 32 to Tamas Lakatos of Hungary, whilst Sean Cullen beat Nuno Gonzago of Portugal, before losing to Tomas Mikutis of Lithunia in the last 64.
Liam Pitchford found his form in this event, wins over Siarhei Afanasenka of Belarus, Ondrej Bajger of the Czech Republic, and Leonardo Mutti of Italy took him into the quarter-finals. Here he challenged the dominance of France in the form of Romain Lorentz, Lorentz was just too good winning in 5 games.
Cadet Boys Singles
Jared Patel starred in this event, wins over Soterious Andreou of Cyprus, Patrik Sukic of Slovenia took him into the last 32 where number 1 seed Adam Szudi was just too strong. Both Igor Morais and Helshan Weerasinghe lost in the last 64.
Junior Girls Singles
All four girls went out in the last 128, Karina Le Fevre lost to Theresa Kraft of Germany, Yolanda King lost to Szilvia Fulop of Hungary, Tressa Armitage to Yana Drykina of Belarus and Chloe Whyte lost to Diniala Moskovits of Sweden.
Cadet Girls Singles
Again it was Tin-Tin Ho who went furthest in this event, a win over Joanna Kiedrowska of Poland, took her to the last 32 where Nina Mittlehem of Germany, the eventual champion was well tested. Megan Knowles had a good run too, wins over Karoline Mischek of Austria and Michaeia Kerousova of the Czech Republic, took her to the last 32 where Natlaia Bajor of Poland was too strong for her.
Doubles
Without doubt the outstanding doubles performance came from Sam Walker and Lewis Grey, wins over pairs from Belarus, Slovakia and Poland took them to the quarter-finals where Belgiums Cedric Nuytinck and Dragan Subotic of Serbia were just too strong for them. In most other cases first round wins were followed by second round defeats.
Consolation
Tressa Armitage reached the quarter-finals of the junior girls consolation before falling to Nina Zupancic of Slovenia. Emma Torkington also reached the quarter-finals of the cadet girls consolation falling to Miriam Krisiakova of Slovakia.
For complete results of the championships visit the event results site
By Malcolm Macfarlane