Picture courtesy of Michael Loveder

Burton Uxbridge TTC will host the first-ever English National Mini-Cadet Masters this weekend as the best under-12s that the country has to offer go head-to-head.

In true ‘Masters’ fashion it will be a gruelling weekend for the players involved with constant tests of their ability against each of their 11 opponents. With no byes, no exemptions and no seedings there will be no rest for the young players who will be fighting it out to impress the national coaches on duty.

It’s been a long journey already for the final 24 competitors (12 boys, 12 girls) as they have had to pass through two phases of qualification to reach the final showpiece. The first phase involved each regional winner of the U12 category event from the National Under 11-14 Championships joining the 14 exempt players from that tournament in an England Youth Development Squad training camp.

There, under the watchful eye of the England coaches, eleven players will be selected from each gender to compete in the Mini-Cadet Masters Final, with a 12th member securing a place unless the winner of the National Under-12s title has not already received an invitation.

This has resulted in the high-calibre field (shown below), which already includes a couple of National Champions such as Harry Dai and Ethan Walsh. You can also view the full schedule of play here.

Boys Girls
1 James Smith 1 Tiana Dennison
2 Harry Dai 2 Bhavika Mistry
3 Shayan Siraj 3 Sophie Barlow
4 Amirul Hussain 4 Katie Holt
5 Jonathan McMullan 5 Gauri Duhan
6 Ethan Walsh 6 Alice Dillon
7 Reiss Vydelingum 7 Shristi Ghosh
8 Tom McIntosh 8 Mollie Patterson
9 Louis Moyes 9 Talia Banin-Reid
10 Joel Bhowmick 10 Jemma Walker
11 Daniel Searle 11 Aimee Evans
12 Harry Nicholls 12 Alice Hazell

Full coverage will be provided this weekend on the ETTA website and social media.

The tournament will run in a similar vein to the Junior Masters and Cadet Masters which take place each season and will be an exhibition of high-quality table tennis played in a round-robin format.