University of Nottingham student Habiba Katsha was impressed with what she saw at the PG Mutual Nationals. Here, she shares here thoughts.

On Friday the 3rd of March, the PG Mutual Championships had begun. From the second I walked into the David Ross sports centre I could sense the excitement from the players and the audience.

As I walked into the sports hall I saw umpires setting up, players warming up and friends and family getting ready for the exciting day ahead. Considering this was my first experience at a table tennis tournament I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but needless to say I enjoyed every second of it.

I wasn’t aware of how passionate people were about table tennis until I went to the PG Mutual Championships. But after the day finished I understood why the players had so much interest in the game.

As someone who is currently studying at the University of Nottingham I know how much the university values sports but I wasn’t aware that my university had so many talented sport players.

It was nice to see students like Gabriel Achampong and Joseph Pilkington representing the university whilst demonstrating their passion for table tennis at the same time.

It was also refreshing to see so many talented young people at the championships. I had the chance of speaking to 18 year old Amy Humphreys about her performance before she had her women’s singles match, she was eliminated in her group of under 21s as she lost in the first round but she said she felt hopeful about her last match.

Needlessly to say I throughly enjoyed my first experience of Table Tennis and would definitely consider going to watch (or even participate) again.