Staffordshire’s Paul Worallo secured his first win of the World Championships of Ping Pong Qualification Series after a dramatic final against Essex’s Joe Kennedy.

Worallo, who had previously battled to a best of a quarter-final finish in the earlier competitions, was in inspired form at BATTS to take the £150 first prize and earn precious points towards the WCPP Finals at Alexandra Palace in January 2014.

His day started with a tight qualification group finish with three players sharing the lead at the top of Group 5. Worallo, Billy Pegg and Tony West all lost once in their group but, despite his 15-12, 14-16, 15-13 defeat to Pegg, Worallo still emerged in top spot.

Soon after he matched his best result of the WCPP Qualification Series by reaching the last eight after comfortably beating Robin Honey 15-8, 15-5 in the last 32 and then Derek Balding 15-6, 15-9 in the last 16.

He faced two tougher prospects in the quarter and semi-finals against the experienced Graham Sandley and the Dutch player Lars Adema to book his place in the final two. A 15-11, 13-15, 15-12 victory over Sandley was built-upon by a 15-9, 12-15, 17-15 win over Adema to set up a meeting with Kennedy in the final.

Kennedy, at the same stage, had beaten two members of the Walsh family, Jimmy 15-13, 15-9, in the quarters and Luke 13-15, 15-8, 15-8 in the semis to book his place.

There was very little to chose between the pair in the decider, which was reflected in a tense 20-18 opening set for Worallo. Kennedy replied in kind 15-12 to force the final game where Worallo was able to seal a maiden victory with a tight 15-13 end.

The series will now move to the WCPP English Closed at Draycott (September 28, 2013) with opportunities to qualify become more and more important as the number of qualification tournaments heads towards a close.

At the links below you can see the leaflet for the WCPP English Closed at Draycott, the full results from the BATTS tournament (August 25, 2013) and the latest ranking and ratings positions.

WCPP English Closed Leaflet – Draycott (September 28, 2013)
WCPP Results – BATTS (August 25, 2013)

UK Series Rankings
UK Series Ratings

Written by Russell Moore (September 3, 2013)