The England squad has been announced for the first ITTF World Tour event of 2012 in Budapest, Hungary.

The World Tour 2012 (previously known as the ITTF Pro Tour) will begin in Hungary and travel to 20 other locations around the world including: Kuwait, Chile, Egypt, Korea, China, Brazil, Russia and Poland.

The Tour will eventually conclude with the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals, which as we all know, were held in London this year culminating in the enthralling event at the ExCeL in London’s Royal Docklands. However, the venue for the 2012 Grand Finals is yet to be decided.

For the tour opener in Budapest, England are sending a strong 10 player squad which includes all the English players selected on the Olympic Long List except for English Mens’ number one Liam Pitchford (who has league commitments).

A number of the players are looking to prove their form after their experiences at the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals in November where many of those involved took positives from the event. This tournament will give the players a good chance to put their words into action before the Olympic List gets cut on the 1st February.

Full details for the Mens’ and Womens’ squads for the Hungarian Open (17-21st January 2012) are listed below:

Men:

Paul Drinkhall, Daniel Reed, Darius Knight, Andrew Baggaley, Gavin Evans, Chris Doran and David McBeath.

Women:

Joanna Parker, Kelly Sibley, Hannah Hicks and Emily Bates.

Coaches:

Alan Cooke, Jia Yi Liu and Nick Jarvis

Doubles pairings: Darius Knight & Daniel Reed, Andrew Baggaley & Paul Drinkhall, Gavin Evans & Chris Doran