Ashley Stokes and Egle Adomelyte have booked their places at the World Championship of Ping Pong 2016 finals.
The pair know they are certain to feature at Alexandra Palace following the latest qualification event at BATTS in Harlow.
Lithuania’s Adomelyte won the event, beating Kazeem Adeleke in a five-set final – 15-10, 15-14, 8-15, 14-15, 15-10.
Both finalists won their groups without dropping a set and Adeleke continued that form in the knockout stage, though Chris Bartram ran him close in the last 16 in a 15-14, 15-12 scoreline.
The semi-final saw him take on Stokes, who had won the previous two qualifiers, and Adeleke ended his opponent’s 100 per cent record with a 15-12, 15-11 victory.
In the other half of the draw, Adomelyte was taken the distance by Martin Gunn in the quarter-finals before prevailing, effectively on sudden-death, 15-11, 14-15, 15-14. Her semi-final victim was Scotland’s Ian Johnston, who himself had won an even closer quarter-final against Richard Hutchinson 14-15, 15-14, 15-14.
With Adomelyte and Stokes now unable to be caught in the standings, the scheduled fourth qualifier on October 10 has been changed to the English Open Ping Pong Championship, with the winner picking up £350. Click here for more details