Excitement is building as Cippenham Table Tennis Club prepares to host its first ever Junior 4-Star Open Championships this weekend.

Ken Phillips, the entries secretary and mastermind behind the tournament, reports a huge entry with some potential participants for Sunday’s junior events having to be turned away because of over-subscription. However, a total of 167 players have been accepted.

Click here to view the programme, including the draw

Playing such a prestigious event on only nine tables was a bold objective but referee Steve Smith has devised a schedule that will get the matches finished by about 5.30pm on Saturday and 7.30pm on Sunday. He and organiser Mike Atkinson will be busy people manning the control desk over the weekend.

Top seeds in the cadet events on Saturday are Jamie Liu (Berks) and Tiana Dennison (Essex) while on Sunday in the junior events they are Callum Evans (Wales) and Letitia McMullan (Hants). However, there are plenty of players in the draw seeking to knock those off their perch as one of the main objectives of running a 4-Star open at Cippenham is to give players from the south of the country the opportunity to play in a qualifying event for the national championships without having to travel further afield.

A team of 22 volunteers has been assembled to look after all the demands of a very busy weekend and the organisers would especially like to thank the 15 umpires who have kindly given up their time to officiate.